Lightfoot fails to qualify for runoff within the mayoral race, the place crime within the third largest US metropolis was a prime concern.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has misplaced her bid to guide the US’ third-largest metropolis for a second time period after failing to qualify for the runoff election in a race the place public security took heart stage,
Lightfoot got here in third within the mayoral election on Tuesday — behind Paul Vallas, a former faculties CEO, and Brandon Johnson, a Cook dinner County commissioner — turning into the primary Chicago mayor to lose re-election since 1983.
Lightfoot’s loss indicators rising discontent in US cities the place crime charges rose and housing grew to become costlier amid rising financial hardship. and inflation after the COVID-19 pandemic.
As not one of the candidates cleared 50 p.c of the votes in a crowded discipline of contenders on Tuesday, Vallas and Johnson will face off in a runoff election in April.
Lightfoot made historical past 4 years in the past when she grew to become the primary Black girl and overtly homosexual individual to guide town of two.7 million folks.
She promised to place an finish to corruption and backroom dealings in native politics. However her tenure was marred by mounting challenges that confronted different main cities as nicely.
Crime charges, already a difficulty in Chicago, went up through the COVID-19 pandemic, with town seeing 804 homicides in 2021, in comparison with 500 in 2019, in response to police information. Almost 700 folks have been killed within the metropolis final yr, a decline from 2021 however nonetheless nicely above pre-pandemic ranges.
“No matter tonight’s end result, we fought the suitable fights and we put this metropolis on a greater path,” Lightfoot mentioned on Tuesday. Requested if she was handled unfairly due to her race and gender, Lightfoot mentioned: “I am a Black girl in America. In fact.
Proper-wing politicians typically cite gun violence in Chicago – a Democratic stronghold – as a logo of what they see because the failure of liberal insurance policies.
Though each Vallas and Johnson determine as Democrats and the race is non-partisan, many Republicans celebrated Lightfoot’s loss on Tuesday.
Lori Lightfoot. Crime does not pay,” far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on Twitter.
Lightfoot had clashed with the police union and academics’ union over her dealing with of the pandemic, sparking criticism from each conservatives and progressives.
The mayor confronted off in a authorized and political battle with the Fraternal Order of Police in 2021 over town’s requirement for legislation enforcement officers to report their COVID-19 vaccination standing.
She additionally feuded with the academics’ union early in 2022 over her push to return to in-person studying amid educators’ well being and security considerations.
Serving as your mayor has been the dignity of a lifetime, and I’m so grateful to all of you who’ve stood beside me these final 4 years.
We have made important progress constructing a safer, extra equitable metropolis. I thank every one among you for believing in me. pic.twitter.com/l33IGevNPC
— Lori Lightfoot (@LoriLightfoot) March 1, 2023
The opponents who bested her on Tuesday have been respectively backed by the 2 unions. Vallas was supported by the police union, and Johnson was endorsed by the Chicago Academics Union.
The highest vote-getter, Vallas had made public security a focus of his marketing campaign.
“Public security is a human proper, and it’s the authorities’s duty to make sure residents really feel secure and safe. Confronting town’s crime downside and making certain our residents’ security is my prime precedence,” his marketing campaign web site reads.
On Tuesday, he pledged to “make Chicago the most secure metropolis in America”.
Johnson, who’s backed by progressive teams, has vowed to pursue a unique strategy to public security by investing in social applications, youth employment and psychological well being clinics to stop crime.
“I’ll work with police and first responders to put money into community-based interventions that de-escalate battle, scale back violence and make our neighborhoods safer,” his marketing campaign web site reads.
