https://sputnikglobe.com/20230301/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-concedes-defeat-in-reelection-bid-as-runoff-set-for-april-1107888527.html
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Concedes Defeat in Reelection Bid as Runoff Set for April
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Concedes Defeat in Reelection Bid as Runoff Set for April
Sputnik International
Lori Lightfoot was elected in 2019, winning every ward of the city to become both its first black and first openly gay mayor.
2023-03-01T04:20+0000
2023-03-01T04:20+0000
2024-03-11T10:58+0000
americas
lori lightfoot
brandon johnson
paul vallas
jesus 'chuy' garcia
chicago
mayoral election
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Four years after becoming Chicago’s first Black and first openly-gay mayor, Lori Lightfoot will be leaving her spot as the head of the city’s government. On Tuesday, Lightfoot failed to get the votes needed to be included in a runoff election, coming in third out of a field of nine candidates. Lightfoot only received 16.8% of the vote at press time (with 91% of the vote reporting).In a statement posted to her Twitter account after conceding the race, Lightfoot thanked Chicagoans for their support.The two leading candidates, the more conservative and tough-on-crime Paul Vallas and the more progressive Brandon Johnson, who ran to Lightfoot’s left, will compete in a runoff election on April 4. Lightfoot’s term will end on May 15.It was a shocking plunge for Lightfoot, who won all 50 of the city’s wards when she was elected in 2019. However, an increase in crime and a coronavirus response that was praised by some but despised by others hurt voters’ views on her.Lightfoot also lost a lot of progressive support when she clashed with the Chicago Teachers Union, leading to an 11-day strike in the city. And while she insisted crime was on its way down, with homicides and shooting reducing in 2022 compared to its high in 2021, robberies and burglaries increased, leading many Chicagoans to question her ability to crack down on crime.Vallas was endorsed by the local Fraternal Order of Police and ran a campaign promising to bring crime in the city to heel by increasing the police budget, increasing arrest rates for serious crimes and expanding charter schools.Meanwhile, Johnson, a former teacher who was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union has promoted an alternate strategy for tackling crime in the city. He says the city should be focused on the mental health needs of its residents. Two years ago, during the height of the George Floyd protests that swept the nation, Johnson, as a county commissioner, introduced a nonbinding resolution calling for the county to “redirect funds from policing and incarceration to public services not administered by law enforcement,” saying it would provide “a road map for taking millions of waste spent on incarceration and policing and reinvesting it.”But after announcing his campaign for mayor, the candidate backtracked those comments, refusing to say if he would reduce the Chicago Police Department’s $1.94 billion budget.Still, despite the backtracking, Johnson is seen as more progressive than Lightfoot and especially Vallas who said in 2009 that he considers himself more of a Republican than a Democrat (Chicago’s mayoral elections are nonpartisan), a faux pas in the heavily Democratic city of Chicago.Vallas easily took the lead in the election, gaining 34.1% of the vote at press time, while Johnson secured 20.3%. A fourth candidate, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a well-known figure in Chicago and current US Representative for Illinois managed 13.8% of the vote. Commentators are already calling Vallas the front-runner for April’s election, and it will likely come down to how many Lightfoot and Garcia voters Johnson can secure.Garcia, who has run for mayor multiple times, called for the removal of Police Superintendent David Brown and investment in neglected communities; those views may indicate that his voters are closer in line with Johnson than Vallas.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20200729/more-police-dont-seem-to-make-a-difference-to-chicagos-gun-crime-as-trump-butts-heads-with-mayor-1080006864.html
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lori lightfoot, paul vallas, chuy garcia, chicago mayor election, mayoral elections
lori lightfoot, paul vallas, chuy garcia, chicago mayor election, mayoral elections
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Concedes Defeat in Reelection Bid as Runoff Set for April
04:20 GMT 01.03.2023 (Updated: 10:58 GMT 11.03.2024) Lori Lightfoot was elected in 2019, winning every ward of the city to become both its first Black and first openly gay mayor.
Four years after becoming Chicago’s first Black and first openly-gay mayor, Lori Lightfoot will be leaving her spot as the head of the city’s government.
On Tuesday, Lightfoot failed to get the votes needed to be included in a runoff election, coming in third out of a field of nine candidates. Lightfoot only received 16.8% of
the vote at press time (with 91% of the vote reporting).
In a statement posted to her Twitter account after conceding the race, Lightfoot thanked Chicagoans for their support.
“Serving as your mayor has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am so grateful to all of you who have stood beside me these last four years. We’ve made significant progress building a safer, more equitable city. I thank each and every one of you for believing in me.”
The two leading candidates, the more conservative and tough-on-crime Paul Vallas and the more progressive Brandon Johnson, who ran to Lightfoot’s left, will compete in a runoff election on April 4. Lightfoot’s term will end on May 15.
It was a shocking plunge for Lightfoot, who won all 50 of the city’s wards when she was elected in 2019. However, an increase in crime and a coronavirus response that was praised by some but despised by others hurt voters’ views on her.
Lightfoot also lost a lot of progressive support when she clashed with the Chicago Teachers Union, leading to an 11-day strike in the city. And while she insisted crime was on its way down, with homicides and shooting reducing in 2022 compared to its high in 2021, robberies and burglaries
increased, leading many Chicagoans to question her ability to crack down on crime.
Vallas was endorsed by the local Fraternal Order of Police and ran a campaign promising to bring crime in the city to heel by increasing the police budget, increasing arrest rates for serious crimes and expanding charter schools.
“The city clearly is in crisis and people want a crisis manager who can come in and focus on getting things done,” Vallas said after casting his ballot.
Meanwhile, Johnson, a former teacher who was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union has promoted an alternate strategy for tackling crime in the city. He says the city should be focused on the mental health needs of its residents.
Two years ago, during the height of the George Floyd protests that swept the nation, Johnson, as a county commissioner,
introduced a nonbinding resolution calling for the county to “redirect funds from policing and incarceration to public services not administered by law enforcement,” saying it would provide “a road map for taking millions of waste spent on incarceration and policing and reinvesting it.”
But after announcing his campaign for mayor, the candidate backtracked those comments, refusing to say if he would reduce the Chicago Police Department’s $1.94 billion budget.
Still, despite the backtracking, Johnson is seen as more progressive than Lightfoot and especially Vallas who said in 2009 that he considers himself more of a Republican than a Democrat (Chicago’s mayoral elections are nonpartisan), a faux pas in the heavily Democratic city of Chicago.
Vallas easily took the lead in the election, gaining 34.1% of the vote at press time, while Johnson secured 20.3%. A fourth candidate, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a well-known figure in Chicago and current US Representative for Illinois managed 13.8% of the vote. Commentators are already calling Vallas the front-runner for April’s election, and it will likely come down to how many Lightfoot and Garcia voters Johnson can secure.
Garcia, who has run for mayor multiple times,
called for the removal of Police Superintendent David Brown and investment in neglected communities; those views may indicate that his voters are closer in line with Johnson than Vallas.
