On Monday, activist Ja’Mal Green withdrew from Chicago’s nonpartisan mayoral race, bringing the candidate field to 17.

 

In his withdrawal announcement, Green said his campaign lacked sufficient resources to continue amid a petition challenge launched by candidate Willie Wilson’s campaign lawyer. The challenge stated that Green didn’t have the required number of valid signatures (12,500) to qualify for the ballot.

 

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners was in the process of considering the challenge at the time of Green’s withdrawal.

 

Last week, three candidates were disqualified from the ballot. Richard Mayers and Conrein Hykes Clark did not have the required number of valid signatures, and Sandra Mallory filed her paperwork incorrectly, an election board spokesperson said.

 

Petition challenges against five candidates are still being considered by the board: Dorothy Brown, Catherine Brown D’Tycoon, La Shawn Ford, Neal Sales-Griffin, and Roger Washington.

 

A total of 21 candidates initially filed to run in the mayoral race, left open after incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced in September that he would not seek re-election. The election is on February 26, with a runoff on April 2 if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in February.

 

Chicago is the third-largest city in the U.S. by population.