The Chicago city’s first Black woman and openly gay mayor, Lori Lightfoot, was defeated in her bid for re-election on Tuesday. Her historian campaign came to an end on Tuesday.
A runoff election will be held on April 4 since Democratic candidate Lori Lightfoot fell short of the required number of votes in the nine-person field.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced her defeat on Tuesday night, dissolving her bid for a second term. Her defeat paved the way for Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johson to challenge former CPS Director Paul Vallas for the position of Chicago Mayor.
Lightfoot was upset when she announced her withdrawal from the race. She said she would pray and root for the city’s next mayor to serve its residents well in the coming years.
She added that she has directly addressed young kids that resemble her color. In her brief remarks, Lightfoot noted how the city overcame a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and achieved real gains in public safety. She concluded that she is thankful to everyone even though she failed in the election.
Former Chicago school chief executive Paul Vallas will compete against Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson, who has the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Vallas and Johnson present a clear alternative in terms of ideologies. Johnson ran on an openly progressive platform, while Vallas ran as a moderate law-and-order candidate.
Nonetheless, people in Chicago made it clear that they desired change by voting against the current mayor and congressman. Since Jane Byne, the city’s first female mayor lost her primary in 1983, Lightfoot is the only sitting mayor of Chicago to lose her reelection bid.
Vallas won the top slot in the preliminary mayoral election. According to unofficial results, Vallas won 35% of the vote after 90% of the constituencies had reported. Lightfoot was defeated by coming in at 17%, Johnson came in at 20%, and Garcia came in at 14%.
Businessman Willie Wilson, state representative Kambium, alderman Sophia King, Roderick Sawyer, and community activist Ja’Mal Green were also the candidates for Chicago mayoral race. Wilson received 9% of the vote, while other candidates got 2% or less.
The outcome of the race depended more on where Wilson finished. The billionaire actively campaigned alongside Lightfoot in 2019, but their connection indeed before she took office, motivating him to run.
Wilson said he hadn’t thought who he would support in the runoff, even though he didn’t publicly concede.
It’s a desperate finish to a turbulent tenure for Lightfoot, who swiftly gained a reputation as a national conservative lightning rod and frequently drew ill of institutional interests, including Chicago’s Teachers Union, the media, and the rank file of police.
She received praise at timeless for handling the pandemic, but she also experienced violent rioting after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis by a white police officer.
Lightfoot was at risk of losing her reelection race quickly and faced steep odds. She was one of seven Black candidates battling for votes among the city’s black population, having lost the support she formerly had along Chicago’s lakeshore communities and with main labor unions fighting against her.
She was up against tough opposition, especially from Johnson, who benefited from the organization and financial support of the influential Chicago Teachers Union, and Willie Wilson, a Black businessman who led Johnson in the polls.
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As Chicagoans are increasingly frustrated with gun violence, carjackings, and other crimes, Lightfoot’s disapproval rating has skyrocketed.
However, despite being the current mayor, she frequently lagged behind Vallas and Democratic Rep. Jess Garcia in recent polls. She targeted Johnson specifically later in the campaign, which many perceived as evidence that her internal data showed him as an increasing threat.
The Chicago city under Lightfoot recorded 797 murders in 2021, the most in a quarter of a century. They witnessed 3,500 gunshots, 1,400 more than in 2019 when Lightfoot assumed office. Lightfoot has made a point that there was less violence last year.
Nevertheless, this hasn’t made Chicagoans feel any less anxious. According to a recent survey, 63% of Chicago residents indicated that they still feel unsafe.
The campaign saw the two candidates, Vallas and Johnson, often on opposing sides of the two most important topics in the race; education and crime.
The 69-year-old Vallas has long been critical of the Chicago Teachers Union, which Johnson helps to lead. He claims that the Union’s work shutdowns during the pandemic affected children’s development for generations and harmed their well-being.
The 46-year-old Johnson frequently characterizes the approach of Vallas to public education as morally bankrupt due to his advocacy of private school vouchers and nationwide expansion of charter schools.
The third-largest city in the country will now face off in an ideological conflict with Vallas as a result of Johnson’s triumph. The two will square off on April 4 in five weeks.
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