Lori Lightfoot loses bid for re-election as Chicago mayor

Daily Caller News Foundation

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for re-election Tuesday, sending leading challenger Paul Vallas and second-place candidate Brandon Johnson to an April 4 runoff contest, The Associated Press reported.

Fellow candidates criticized Lightfoot in light of Chicago’s rampant crime problem, with polled likely voters citing crime and public safety as the mayoral election’s foremost issue after the city recorded more major crime complaints in 2022 than during 2019, the year she took office, according to Chicago Police Department (CPD) data. Vallas, who previously served as CEO Chicago Public schools and later the Philadelphia School District, won the Chicago Fraternal of Police’s endorsement, pledging to fire CPD Superintendent David Brown and grow the department’s sworn officer staff back to the level it reached when Vallas was Chicago’s city budget director in the mid-1990s.

Lightfoot told supporters Tuesday night that she had called to congratulate Vallas and Johnson, the AP reported. The Chicago Teachers Union endorsed Johnson after expressing support for police defunding, and Lightfoot had claimed Saturday that he “wants to cut your police,” according to Politico.

Lightfoot declared prior to Election Day Tuesday that only she could beat Vallas. He ran against her for mayor in 2019 but failed to reach that year’s runoff election, with Lightfoot eventually defeating Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle by more than 45% in the contest.

Lightfoot accused Vallas of a “pathetic attempt to hide his MAGA Republican ways” in early February after the Chicago Tribune reported his Twitter account had liked a series of tweets that used racist language, backed police tactics like “stop and frisk” and personally insulted Lightfoot. Vallas claimed to have been “shocked” upon learning of the account’s activity “because this kind of abhorrent and vile rhetoric does not represent me or my views” and said he did not personally manage the account, according to the outlet.

Vallas said in a 2009 interview that he was “more of a Republican than a Democrat now,” which Lightfoot pointed out, but recently called himself a “lifelong Democrat,” Politico reported.

All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].

 

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles