Lori Lightfoot, the first black woman and openly gay mayor of Chicago, lost her bid for re-election after facing criticism for her soft-on-crime approach. Under her leadership, Chicago experienced a massive increase in violence, with crime rates up 52 percent from last year and more than 100 percent from 2021. Despite her failure to address these issues, Lightfoot claimed after her defeat that she was treated unfairly because she is a woman of color. She secured only 17.1 percent of votes, trailing behind in third place.
Republicans and many others criticized Lightfoot for her approach to public safety, with US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeting, “Lori Lightfoot. Crime doesn’t pay.” Paul Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO and budget director, secured first place with 35 percent of the votes, followed by Brandon Johnson, a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, with more than 103,000 votes. The two candidates will move on to the run-off election scheduled for April 4.
Lightfoot faced backlash after joining calls from Democratic mayors in 2021 to cut police department budgets, a move that resulted in officers quitting the force and violent crime spiking. She later changed course, opting instead to refund the police and hire more officers, but this move failed to curb crime. According to the Chicago Police Department’s latest report, rapes have shot up by 16 percent so far this year compared to the same time in 2022. Robberies are up 13 percent, and theft in the windy city is up 31 percent, with vehicle thefts soaring up 143 percent.
In addition to rising crime rates, Lightfoot oversaw vacancy rates of nearly 30 percent after flagship stores on the Magnificent Mile bailed. Many stores, including Macy’s, Old Navy, and Banana Republic, were victims of the series of mass looting incidents that plagued major cities in 2021 and 2022. The vacancy rate on the once tony shopping strip rose 10-fold since 2016, to the current 30.1 percent vacancy rate. Vallas and Johnson’s histories working with schools in the city are playing to their advantage in the race after Lightfoot went to war with teachers over returning to teaching full-time in person.
In her concession speech, Lightfoot said, “Obviously, we didn’t win the election. But, I stand here with my head held high and my heart full of thanks.” However, her comments about her loss harken back to her previous controversial statement that the bulk of her criticism stemmed from being a black woman. Ultimately, Vallas and Johnsons’ commitment to returning law and order to the city may sway voters in the upcoming runoff election.
»Lori Lightfoot loses bid for re-election«
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