CHICAGO — Monday was the last day for Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas to sway votes in their favor.

“I know our people work hard in this city,” Johnson said. “I want our city to work harder for the people who do the work.”

“It’s about leadership. It’s about somebody with the experience,” Vallas said. “It’s about somebody who is a career public servant and has demonstrated the willingness to make sacrifices for the public good.”

Recent public surveys give the edge to Vallas, who earlier in his campaign seized on voters’ concerns about crime in the city of Chicago.

“We will make all of our communities safer,” Vallas said. “We will take the issue of quality schools.”

Brandon Johnson, a Cook County Commissioner and union organizer, is counting on a get-out-the-vote army made up of the Chicago Teachers Union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to help carry him across the finish line.

“We’ve literally knocked hundreds of thousands of doors. I believe we’ve made almost one million phone calls already,” Johnson said. “We have a ground operation that we have not seen in a generation. I am confident that the people of Chicago want a better, stronger, safer city and I’m taking that confidence into tomorrow.”

Over the weekend, both campaigns focused largely on African American wards where mayor Lori Lightfoot performed well in the Feb. 28 election. The defeated incumbent has not endorsed Johnson or Vallas in the leadup to the runoff.

Polls show that white voters overwhelmingly support Vallas, while Black voters largely break for Johnson, meaning the Latino vote could prove pivotal for the candidate who ends up moving into the fifth floor of city hall.

Polling places across the city of Chicago will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., but because of severe weather, the Chicago Board of Elections is encouraging people to vote earlier in the day.

Tens of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots are expected to not be counted by Tuesday night, meaning the release of officials results could be delayed for days.

Election officials have until April 18 to count the ballots.