Preckwinkle has long-standing ties to the Obama family, going back to at least the 1990s, and she certainly has plenty of backers in the mayor’s race with ties to the Obama White House. That includes Valerie Jarrett, a onetime senior adviser to the president who is so close to the couple that she was often referred to as their “first friend.” Jarrett and Tina Tchen, Michelle Obama’s chief of staff in the White House, have both endorsed Preckwinkle; Tchen even cut an online ad. And Ken Bennett, a deputy assistant to the president in the Obama White House, is chair of Preckwinkle’s campaign; his famous son Chance the Rapper just announced his endorsement of Preckwinkle on Thursday morning.