Chicago Mayor's Race Exposes Weakness of Field
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is in a battle to get into the runoff election for a second term, is considered by many observers to have failed in her first term.
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OPINION
When the race for Chicago Mayor began taking shape late last year, many experts assumed we were barreling toward a runoff slugfest between incumbent Lori Lightfoot and Congressman Jesús “Chuy” Garcia. Lightfoot, for all her struggles governing the city (which we’ll get to), still won nearly 80% of the vote four years ago, and Garcia has been a top tier name in Chicago politics since garnering 44% of the vote as a gigantic underdog against then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2015.
Since then, the two frontrunners have looked anything but.
Garcia’s struggles have likely been the most shocking. Latinos have nearly pulled even with Blacks as the largest minority in the city and Garcia is the only Latino candidate in the race. Seven of the nine candidates in the race are African Americans. It’s also really tough to get Hispanic voters to turn out. Whether it’s arrogance or not understanding the dynamics of the race, Garcia has looked disengaged and, at times, brutally unprepared for the issues facing the city.
Former Chicago Public Schools CEO and 2014 Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Paul Vallas has done a better job of making the crime issue stick than any Republican was able to do in the state in 2022. Vallas seems to be the only candidate in the race who understands, and has the ability, to fix the tremendous fiscal issues in Chicago. Progressives have attempted to make Vallas look like the second coming of Donald Trump for his support from police and firefighters and business leaders (capitalist pig!) and have pinged him for some silly comments he’s made over the years.
Super-progressive Cook County Board member Brandon Johnson is essentially the Chicago Teachers Union-funded candidate in the race, and has been peeling progressive support from Garcia. But when he’s been asked for any policy specifics, he has looked a lot like me trying to solve a trigonometry equation.
I, like many centrists, had high hopes for Lightfoot when she won the office four years ago. She was the nobody nobody sent, and it seemed as if her take-no-prisoners approach may finally shake the system up enough to make some much needed progress in getting the city back on track. From crime, to finances, to her combative relationship with just about everyone, Lightfoot certainly hasn’t made the gains many hoped for.
With the primary Tuesday and a wide open potential path for the runoff, Chicago voters may get exactly what they deserve if they advance two candidates who are unprepared or unserious for the job.
Millionaire businessman Willie Wilson has a following of a block of African American voters, but has drawn criticism for comments like police should be able to “hunt down” criminals “like rabbits.” Anyone who has seen Wilson campaign for U.S. Senate or for President (really) or previous runs for Mayor should know by know that he shouldn’t be taken seriously, no matter how much free gas he gives away. Wilson could sneak his way into the runoff or could keep a candidate like Lightfoot or Johnson out.
While a Lightfoot/Garcia runoff felt like a lock months ago, it’s interesting to see how both could be locked out of the runoff, especially if a candidate like Johnson overperforms expectations. If Vallas, who has been the brunt of attacks in recent days, collapses and misses the runoff, it would prove to be an even bigger failure than Garcia.
The hope is the city won’t wind up with two final choices for Mayor in May that are completely out of their depth. When Chicago succeeds, the whole state success. When the city fails, the whole state fails. But the field has not given those of us with a critical eye a ton to be excited about.
No matter the results, we should root for two candidates that can help raise up the city and state.