Mayoral candidates Lori Lightfoot, left, and Toni Preckwinkle appear on “Chicago Tonight” on May 14, 2018 and Oct. 16, 2017, respectively.

Calling Tuesday’s election a referendum on the “crumbling political machine of the past,” former Chicago Police Board chair Lori Lightfoot claimed a spot in the historic mayoral runoff set for April 2.

Paris Schutz moderates a forum with, from left, mayoral candidates Jerry Joyce, Neal Sales-Griffin, Bob Fioretti and John Kozlar on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019.

Chicago Tonight kicked off its series of forums Thursday with four of the 14 candidates vying to be Chicago’s next mayor: Jerry Joyce, Neal Sales-Griffin, Bob Fioretti and John Kozlar.

In less than two weeks, 14 candidates will appear on the ballot for mayor of Chicago. The first in our series of three mayoral candidate forums kicks off with four of those candidates.

(Courtesy Jerry Joyce)

You may have heard his family name in local politics before. Mayoral candidate Jerry Joyce joins us in conversation.