Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was defeated in Tuesday’s election, getting just shy of 17% in the mayoral election. The leading vote getter is the CEO of Chicago Public Schools Paul Valles with nearly 34%, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 20.32%. Lightfoot, the city’s first gay, female, black mayor, has conceded.
Vallas and Johnson will be in the April 4 runoff for mayor.
With 9.5 million residents, Chicago is the nation’s third largest city, after New York City and Los Angeles. Runaway crime was one of the big discussions during the election season. Lightfoot tried to battle the perception that she had no plan for tackling it.
“You wouldn’t know it by watching the news or listening to the haters. But on crime, Mayor Lightfoot’s got a plan,” her commercial said, as she ran for reelection for a second term.
But Chicagoans know too well that the crime surge has been worse than ever: In the week ending Feb. 19, crime has been up over 55% this year compared to 2022, and 107% higher than in 2021. In every single category, except for murders and shootings, there have been double and triple-digit increases in reports of crime. Vehicle thefts are 255% higher in 2023 than they were in 2021.
Meanwhile, the rate of arrests are down by at least 6%. A recent poll revealed that crime and personal safety was the driving issue for 44% of Chicago voters.
“When Lightfoot first ran for mayor of Chicago, she came out of practically nowhere, polling in the single digits against a large field of better-known candidates. Back then, she tried something different for Chicago politics: not centering race. She made corruption and reform her prime topics and did not seek to carve out a piece of the city’s racial and ethnic puzzle for herself. In the end, she appealed to voters across the city – white, Black and Hispanic. She came out in front in the first round of voting and dominated the runoff, carrying all 50 wards and practically every precinct,” Governing Magazine wrote earlier this month.
“Well, four years is a long time in politics. Lightfoot is up for re-election on Tuesday and her campaign this time around looks a lot more like the traditional Chicago model. (The two top finishers on Tuesday will go to a runoff in April.) Lightfoot’s formerly broad appeal has evaporated, with her approval rating underwater, but she might not even make it to the next round because she can’t count on solid support from any racial or ethnic group, or any corner of the city,” Governing Magazine wrote. “Lightfoot, the city’s first Black woman mayor (and first openly gay mayor), has focused most of her attacks on Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, the other leading Black candidate. On Monday, she accused former schools and budget chief Paul Vallas, who is white, of ‘blowing the ultimate dog whistle’ for his call to ‘take back our city.'”
The state of Illinois has lost population for the past nine years. Only two other states lost more population in 2022 — New York and California. According to Illinois Policy, a conservative think tank, “Traditionally, the major reasons Illinoisans are choosing to leave the state are for better housing and employment opportunities, both of which have been made worse by poor public policy in Illinois. Nearly half of Illinoisans have thought about moving away, and they said taxes were their No. 1 reason. Population decline also contributes to the lower economic prospects of the state.”
Chicago has become the slowest growing major city in the U.S. for the past two decades.
“Since its peak in 1950, Chicago has lost nearly 1 million residents. Rather than a simple pattern of population ‘booms’ and ‘busts,’ groups have migrated to and away from Chicago at different points in time,” reported a MacArthur Foundation study in 2022.
The defeat of Lightfoot comes as the National Democratic Committee is trying to decide if it will hold its national nominating convention in New York, Atlanta, or Chicago in 2024. Big Labor has been making a push for Chicago.
Best news ! Hopefully the new Mayor will be decent.
Brandon Johnson, who is essentially a communist, is in the runoff. Not optimistic.
Voters must be racist.
It would be nice to see similar change in the Anchorage assembly election. Get out and vote!!
Seems there is a level of inept Chicago won’t tolerate.
Yeah, like rock bottom.
Beetlejuice did everything she could to destroy Chicago. Businesses fled; Michigan Avenue – the Magnificent Mile, the once famous stretch of real estate is now a shell of its former beauty. Most store fronts are boarded up. Retailers could not withstand the crime. But the moron mayor had help in destroying the city. Fellow Democrats ended bail- statewide- and Soros backed prosecutor Foxx gives criminals a pass.
Illinois is beyond saving.
One florist in Palatine, in Cook County, got a $180,000.00, annual, property tax bill. The Democrat assessor thought that was fair. So the family business that started in 1937 had to bulldoze its five acre property- destroying the greenhouses that were carefully built over decades.
You can read the story here:
‘https://abc7chicago.com/cook-county-property-taxes-kinsch-florist-and-garden-center-assessor-fritz-kaegi/11019866/
When people vote Democrat, you are literally voting for destruction.
It always amazes me that people this corrupt can hold office “serving the people” for so long!
Alaska has lost population in the last few years also, poor public policy and education funding are contributing factors
Utterly stupid comment, “frank”.
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Alaska does not have the officially sanctioned, officially orchestrated, out-of-control levels of crime that Chicago has.
You are attempting, in typical disingenuous radical leftist fashion, to compare apples to giraffes here.
Wow.
And this has… well… what exactly to do with the article?
Please provide context.
Agreed. Ethan Berkowitz was a disaster and the leftist assembly is doing their best to burn down what’s left. See? Not everything you say is complete nonsense.
I lived in Chicagoland for 7 years . . . . born, bred Alaskan (Skagway, fortunes of war brought me to Chicago). Lori came like a firestorm. She is going out with a whimper. She has done absolutely nothing for Chicago. Nothing. Absoutely worthless Mayor.
It will still be a crap hole. The only thing that’s changes will be who’s getting their pockets lined. The mob has owned this city forever.
I used to think the same. But all joking aside, wouldn’t the mob run the city better? When the mob takes over a business it’s to make money. If the business is run into the ground it cannot make money and becomes useless.
I guess Beetlejuice can crawl back into her crypt now.
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Honestly, who could elect that ghoul, that extra from “The Walking Dead”?
To look upon it is to behold the face of evil.
That cracked me up. I never observed her under that light but you may be spot on. I like the people watch and classify their features. See if I can figure out what they do or where they came from. If I saw her in person I think I would be stumped.
A clear demonstration that what you are (black, lesbian) is not an indicator of what you do.
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She was elected because of her pigmentation, plumbing, and preference. And Chicago got what they deserved.
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If only every other leftists, woke hellhole could learn their lesson and stop electing idiots because of what they are, and start electing people because of what they do.
It is if you have the powers like I do.
Posting incoherent trolling comments that are not actually relevant is not some kind of power greg.
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Besides, didn’t you indicate on a different article that you should know better than to engage with me? Cannot remember the exact text, but I knew you were not going to keep your promise.
Interesting turnout. 2023 population of Chicago = 8.9 million. 1.6 million registered voters. Of those, only 508,000 ballots cast by 7 PM last night. This includes 245,000 early votes.
Registered voters are 18% of the population. Of those 32% voted. And the leading candidate to the runoff got 172,000, 34%.
Looks like the population of Chicago has for the most part opted out of elections, given up, opening the door for grifters. Dispiriting works. If there is anyone out there that knows why the number of registered voters in Chicago is so low, please let me know because I am more than normally confused. Cheers –
Chicago has under 3M people Alex.
Even NYC doesn’t have 8.9M people.
1.6M voters (50%) sounds about right; Dems there are registered & active.
Yeah, that 8.9M is for the greater Chicago metropolitan area, which includes cities that are not politically part of Chicago.
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Still valid point. Of the people eligible to vote in Chicago politics, a very small percentage actually do.
She was incompetent, lazy, and DUMB.
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An example, once again, how hardcore, Left-wing Democrats eff everything up.
Guess rank choice voting didn’t come quickly enough for her
Haha, and now they will try a different progressive and see how that works. It doesn’t matter who gets the job because they will always elect an extreme left progressive. It’s just fun to watch the left turn on each other. Nothing at all will change Chicago’s decent into the abyss.
Violent crimes are up but arrests are down?! She needs to go! The next candidate may be no better but they need to replace her to find out. Good luck Chicago!
Hopefully Chicago will benefit from a fresh administration. How nice for her to pursue other interests.
Just in time for her presidential bid.
Chiraq won’t change.
I’m thinking she/it was booted out because she was just plain ugly.
Between Lori Lightfoot and Ramm Emmanuel, more Black youths were shot and killed by other Black youths than in any other American city. Meanwhile, the Democrats want gun control for all law-abiding adults. Chicago is good for one thing:
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purging the airline toilet holding tanks while flying overhead.
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