IL Comptroller Susana Mendoza To Run For Chicago Mayor (VIDEO)

CHICAGO — Nature abhors a vacuum, and so too does Chicago politics, apparently. Less than a day after Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, dropped out of the city's 2019 mayoral race, the vacancy left by his departure was quickly filled by the newest — and perhaps least surprising — addition to an already crowded candidate field.

Susana Mendoza, who was re-elected as Illinois comptroller Nov. 6, announced Wednesday that she would be back on the campaign trail again, this time in a bid to become Chicago's next mayor. In a race that has already had its share of surprises, Mendoza's decision was one of the least shocking turns of the upcoming election in February.

“The challenges people face in the city are my challenges, too," she said in a video released Wednesday. "We live in a middle-class neighborhood, and we pay high property taxes. Our child goes to a Chicago public school, and we’re proud to be Chicago public school parents for the next 13 years.

"Safe neighborhoods, good schools, high property taxes. They’re not just issues to me. I live them, too," Mendoza added.

RELATED: Leaked Video Shows Susana Mendoza Announcing Chicago Mayoral Run

What made Wednesday's announcement by the former Chicago city clerk — Mendoza held the office from May 2011 to December 2016 — somewhat anticlimactic was that it came after an earlier, six-second video revealing her decision was leaked. In fact, the brief clip began circulating just days before this month's election.

Before the video leaked, Mendoza had said in the past that if both she and Gov. Bruce Rauner had won re-election last week, she would serve out her full four-year term, because the Republican governor would pick a replacement if she vacated the office.

RELATED: Mendoza Wins 2nd Comptroller Term; Tells Rauner, 'You're Fired'

The video was recorded by AL Media, and Eric Adelstein, the media strategist behind the company, told the Chicago Tribune he didn't know how the clip leaked.

"When we were filming the ads for the comptroller re-elect, I suggested that she record some lines in the event that she decides to run for mayor," he said. "I said, 'There's not a lot of time, and I know you haven't made up your mind, let's get 'em.' I can tell you she absolutely has not made up her mind, and I might have jumped the gun on this."

RELATED: Troy LaRaviere Drops Out Of Chicago's Mayor Race

Mendoza's candidacy brings the field to nearly 20 individuals running for Chicago's highest office. Along with Mendoza, the list of candidates vying for a spot on the Feb. 26 ballot include:

• Dorothy Brown, Cook County Circuit Court clerk
• Gery Chico, lawyer, Democrat politician and former head of the Illinois State Board of Education
• William M. Daley, former White House Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton, son and brother of former Chicago mayors Richard J. Daley and Richard M. Daley, respectively
• Amara Enyia, community activist supported by Chance the Rapper and Kanye West
• La Shawn K. Ford, 8th District Illinois state representative
• Ja'Mal Green, community activist
• Jerry Joyce Jr., attorney and son of former Alderman Jeremiah E. Joyce
• William J. Kelly, radio broadcaster
• John Kozlar, 11th Ward alderman candidate in 2015
• Lori Lightfoot, former Chicago Police Board president
• Garry McCarthy, former Chicago police superintendent
• Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Board president
• Matthew Roney, pharmaceutical tech
• Neal Sales-Griffin, 30-year-old tech entrepreneur
• Paul Vallas, former Chicago Public Schools CEO
• Roger Washington, Chicago police officer and 24th Ward alderman candidate in 2015
• William "Dock" Walls III, owner of American ShirtShak and 2015 mayoral candidate
• Willie Wilson, businessman and 2015 mayoral candidate

One prominent name missing, of course, is current Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who revealed in September that he wouldn't be seeking re-election. On Tuesday, LaRaviere, who had thrown his hat into Chicago's mayoral ring in November of last year, withdrew from the race, citing an inability to collect the 12,500 signatures needed to appear on next year's ballot.

The deadline for signatures is Nov. 26, but petitions can be turned in as early as Monday.

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza (Photo via State of Illinois)