CHICAGO – Lori Lightfoot misplaced her bid for a second time period as Chicago mayor Tuesday within the nation’s third-largest metropolis after going through widespread criticism over her divisive management and town’s enhance in crime.
Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will advance to the April 4 runoff to be the subsequent mayor of Chicago after not one of the 9 candidates gained a majority within the formally nonpartisan election.
Lightfoot, who made historical past in 2019 when she turned town’s first Black girl and first overtly homosexual individual to function mayor, fell in recognition after Chicago noticed a spike in crime following the coronavirus pandemic.
Since then, opponents have blamed her for the rise in crime and criticized her as being a divisive, overly contentious chief. She’s additionally acquired criticism for her dealing with of an 11-day lecturers’ strike, the COVID-19 pandemic, and protests in the summertime of 2020.
Talking to supporters Tuesday evening, Lightfoot known as being Chicago’s mayor “the glory of a lifetime.”
“No matter tonight’s consequence, we fought the fitting fights and we put this metropolis on a greater path,” Lightfoot mentioned. She informed her fellow mayors across the nation to not worry being daring.
Public security has been a key poll situation within the Windy Metropolis’s native election the place insurance policies on crime have more and more resonated with voters. Residents additionally made alternatives for different native workplaces, together with for representatives on town’s new police district councils — the most recent effort to enhance police oversight and accountability.
Who will head to the April 4 runoff?
Paul Vallas, 69, is the previous head of Chicago Public Colleges and scored endorsements from the Chicago police union and the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board. His marketing campaign has centered on law-and-order, faculty selection, and reforming town’s funds. Vallas beforehand ran for mayor in Chicago and for governor and lieutenant governor in Illinois. His opponents have criticized him as too conservative to guide the Democratic stronghold.
Brandon Johnson, 46, is a former trainer who serves on the Prepare dinner County Board of Commissioners. In accordance with The Related Press, Johnson acquired about $1 million from the Chicago Academics Union for his marketing campaign and had assist from a number of different progressive organizations, together with United Working Households. The previous trainer and union organizer has argued that the reply to addressing crime shouldn’t be extra money for police however extra funding in psychological well being care, schooling, jobs, and reasonably priced housing, and he was accused by rivals similar to Lightfoot of desirous to defund the police.
What are the important thing points in the Chicago mayoral election?
Most Chicago voters say crime is the highest situation, the ballot discovered. Violent crime rose in cities throughout the nation in the course of the pandemic, together with in Chicago, the place carjackings and shootings soared.
Whereas homicides and shootings in Chicago fell by double-digit percentages final 12 months from the 12 months prior, different kinds of crimes – like robberies – rose, in response to metropolis knowledge.
Candidates have laid out varied plans to handle the problem, together with hiring extra cops, bringing again retired officers, eradicating the sitting police chief, including a witness safety program, eliminating town’s gang database and instituting applications designed to handle the foundation causes of crime.
Different key points embody reasonably priced housing, the state of Chicago Public Colleges and public transit.
What are Chicago’s new police district councils?
Residents on Tuesday additionally casted votes as a part of town’s new civilian police oversight mannequin. In 2021, within the wake of the homicide of George Floyd and subsequent racial justice protests, metropolis leaders handed an ordinance creating two our bodies — a citywide fee and district councils — aimed toward enhancing community-police relations.
Voters elected three folks to serve on councils in every of town’s 22 police districts. The councils are tasked with constructing stronger connections between the police and the neighborhood on the district stage, holding month-to-month public conferences, working with the neighborhood to get enter on police division insurance policies and practices and extra.
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Contributing: The Related Press
