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Chicago mayoral race debate was heated

Nicholas Alexander on March 20, 2023

Chicago – The mayoral candidates in Chicago sparred on Thursday night in a televised debate ahead of the April 4 runoff.

This is the latest big-city mayoral election to put people’ perspectives on crime and policing to the test.

Paul Vallas accused opponent Brandon Johnson of supporting the “defund the police” movement.

Nevertheless, Johnson, a lefty, criticized Vallas’ attempts to expand police officer recruitment as slow and ineffective.

The two mayoral contenders have said that they are Democrats competing in a nonpartisan election.

They advanced to the runoff when incumbent Lori Lightfoot lost her reelection campaign after finishing third in the February 28 primary.

The candidates

Chicago is a Democratic stronghold, with 83% of residents backing President Joseph Biden in the 2020 presidential race.

Johnson and Vallas, although professing to be members of the same party, are on opposing sides of the party’s schism on police problems.

The more conservative candidate is Paul Vallas, a former public school administrator who has the backing of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.

His campaign revolves around being pro-police and tough on crime.

Vallas vowed to lower the number of municipal police officers while boosting the number of policemen stationed on CTA buses and trains.

Brandon Johnson is a progressive Cook County commissioner who has the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union.

While Johnson has periodically backed the “defund the cops” movement, he has maintained that he would not cut police spending.

Instead, he plans to boost his investments in underserved areas.

The debate

Johnson and Vallas sparred verbally at the mayoral candidate discussion on ABC 7 on Thursday.

Johnson’s prior remarks, in which he broadly favored diverting taxpayer money away from enforcement and toward community-based projects, were brought up by Vallas.

“I’m not going to defund the police, and you know that. You know that,” Johnson responded.

“I have passed multi-billion dollar budgets, over and over again.”

Brandon Johnson went on to announce that he will recruit 200 extra detectives to assist in the investigation of more serious offenses.

He also indicated that he will strive to prevent gun violence by enforcing stronger “red flag” legislation.

Red flag laws allow judges to temporarily seize firearms from those who are judged dangerous to themselves or others.

“The best way to engender confidence in public safety, you’ve got to catch people,” said Johnson.

Similarly, Paul Vallas vowed to quickly fill thousands of police posts.

He intends to station officers in communities and on public transit once the jobs are filled.

“There is no substitute for returning to community-based policing,” said Vallas.

“You can’t have confidence in the safety of public transportation when there are no police officers at the platforms and police officers at the stations.”

As violence in Chicago rose between 2020 and 2021, the mayoral election in Chicago has become increasingly focused on crime.

Shootings and killings have fallen, but other crimes have grown, according to the Chicago Police Department’s 2022 year-end report.

Burglaries
Car-jacking
Robberies
Theft

A turn in the race

Paul Vallas stood above the fray in the prior discussion, while Brandon Johnson went on the offensive.

Everything changed on Thursday night when Vallas launched an all-out assault in the opening few minutes of the debate, changing the race into a contender with only three debates and three candidate forums remaining.

Vallas attacked Johnson’s proposal to boost hotel and airline fuel taxes, as well as a $4-per-head corporation tax and a higher sales tax on high-end real estate.

Brandon Johnson stated that Vallas is seeking increased spending on public safety without explaining how he intends to fund it.

“You can’t run a multi-billion dollar budget off of bake sales,” he said.

Vallas then chastised Johnson’s participation in school closures.

Brandon Johnson is a teacher who has openly clashed with Lori Lightfoot on the reintroduction of in-person classes.

According to Vallas, 15 months of closures is not an investment in people.

Johnson said that Paul Vallas was making a Republican argument by condemning school closures due to the epidemic.

“That’s a part of your party,” he said.

Johnson attempted to paint Vallas as being too conservative for the blue metropolis.

Endorsement

President Joseph Biden, Illinois Senators Dick Turbin and Tammy Duckworth, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker all declined to participate in the runoff.

Nonetheless, other national voices have endorsed Brandon Johnson, including:

Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren
Jim Clyburn

Johnson, according to Sanders, has been a champion for Chicago’s working families.

Toni Preckwinkle, President of the Chicago County Board, also supported Johnson.

But, city alderman and former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White has endorsed Paul Vallas.

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Lori Lightfoot fails to advance mayoral reelection

Leah Cooper on March 6, 2023

Lori Lightfoot – The city of Chicago has seen substantial transformations as its political dynamics have shifted.

Lori Lightfoot, the city’s mayor, did not place in the top two in the April runoff.

The development is the first time in over 40 years that a full-term incumbent Chicago mayor has lost reelection.

The news

Lori Lightfoot did not make the top two for the runoff on Tuesday, indicating how the political situation has evolved.

In recent years, Chicago has become the third large city to hold a mayoral election that puts public opinion to the test, notably with crime and policing.

Lori Lightfoot placed third in a nine-person municipal election field, with support from around one in every six Chicago voters.

She is the first Chicago mayor to lose reelection in 40 years.

Lightfoot’s term

Lori Lightfoot battled with police and teachers’ unions during her tenure.

At the same time, she had a chilly relationship with city councilors and Illinois’ Democratic governor, severing ties with a number of powerful friends.

Violence has escalated under Lori Lightfoot’s leadership, making voters nervous.

Chicago’s public transit system was likewise plagued by delays and service deficiencies.

While she was praised for her handling of the Coronavirus outbreak, Chicago’s economic recovery left much to be desired.

Violence in the Second City

While crime in Chicago increased in 2020 and 2021, Lightfoot’s performance highlighted her focus on public safety.

Shootings and homicides have fallen, according to the Chicago Police Department’s 2022 year-end report.

Nevertheless, additional crimes began to become an issue, such as:

Burglaries
Car-jacking
Robberies

Changes

The mayoral election has focused on crime and public safety, demonstrating that voter opinions have shifted.

Lori Lightfoot campaigned as a police reformer four years ago, promising to alter how cops are supervised and penalized.

In 2019, she came in first place in a crowded mayoral race, garnering 17.5% of the vote.

“We can and will remake Chicago,” Lightfoot vowed.

Despite the mayor’s first-round victory in 2019, it would subsequently play a factor in the mayor’s future troubles.

Lori Lightfoot was elected to a position considered a “political lightning rod” because she lacked a steady support base.

Throughout the campaigns, her toughness was a key selling factor, but it lost her supporters.

Clashes

Lori Lightfoot disagreed with teacher and police unions prior to (and during) the pandemic, which cost her the election in 2023 because the groups favored competitors.

A dispute with the Chicago Teachers Union in 2019 over compensation and class size resulted in an 11-day walkout as she attempted to cut expenditures.

They fought again in 2022, when Lightfoot attempted to get instructors to return to the classrooms in the face of mounting Covid cases.

The union backed Brandon Johnson, who was previously unknown outside of the Chicago County commission area, in the fall.

“Chicago is ready to break with the politics of the past that ignore the needs of our students, their families, and school communities,” said Stacy Davis Gates, the union president.

Lori Lightfoot also alienated police last year during a spat over overtime pay in a department struggling to attract and retain officers.

Lightfoot contended the cops had more than ample vacation time.

The fight was one of the worst in the administration’s years-long feud with the police as she fought to cut on overtime spending.

Paul Vallas was sponsored by the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.

Vallas has previously served as a school superintendent in the following areas:

Chicago
Philadelphia
New Orleans
Bridgeport
Connecticut

He also aired a pro-police ad, referencing cops in his family.

Conservative voters were drawn in by Vallas’ tough-on-crime campaign.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown announced his departure this month on Wednesday, giving the next mayor the opportunity to bring in fresh leadership to the department.

A focus on crime

The political winds in Chicago are similar to those in New York, where former police captain Mayor Eric Adams was elected in 2021.

Last year, former Rep. Karen Bass defeated Richard Caruso, a millionaire developer who spent millions on a law-and-order campaign.

Bass won by proposing more police officers and declaring a state of emergency to handle the homelessness epidemic.

Although their comparable messages, Vallas and Adams vary in that Vallas is White and Adams is Black.

Vallas and Johnson gained more support from Chicago’s predominately White north side.

Lori Lightfoot, on the other hand, enjoyed backing from Black communities in the south and west.

The two outcomes highlight the significance of the runoff, which will be a struggle to gain the support of Black voters.

Johnson showed hints of uniting liberals who backed other names in the nine-person field, naming each contender individually.

“If you voted for one of those other candidates, I want you to know that I’m running to be the mayor of you, too,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vallas tweeted that he is running to be a mayor for all of Chicago because “public safety is a human right and people in every neighborhood deserve to feel safe.”

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