Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Loses Reelection Bid

CNN reported that Lightfoot finished behind candidates Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson; because no one received a majority vote, Vallas and Johnson will face an April runoff election. Vallas, who formerly headed Chicago Public Schools, ran on a conservative, pro-police, tough-on-crime message and gained the endorsement of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police. Johnson, who serves as Cook County Commissioner, ran as a progressive and was endorsed by Chicago’s Teachers Union. Lightfoot was left stuck in the middle, and her relatively moderate message and track record did not convince a majority of Chicagoans to keep her in office.

Lightfoot conceded the race on Tuesday night as results were becoming evident. She posted a message to social media telling Chicagoans that “serving as your mayor has been the honor of a lifetime.” She also touted her accomplishments, saying her administration had “made significant progress building a safer, more equitable city” and thanked her supporters.

Serving as your mayor has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am so grateful to all of you who have stood beside me these last four years.

We’ve made significant progress building a safer, more equitable city. I thank each and every one of you for believing in me. pic.twitter.com/l33IGevNPC

— Lori Lightfoot (@LoriLightfoot) March 1, 2023

Lightfoot broke new ground with her election as mayor in 2019. She was the first Black woman to serve as mayor of Chicago and one of the first lesbians to lead any major U.S. city, pushing aside anti-gay rhetoric during her campaign. Presenting herself as a progressive, Lightfoot implemented programs prioritizing medical and mental health first responders and moved away from a police-centric approach to responding to emergencies.

But even as a Black woman, Lightfoot’s term was controversial for Chicago’s Black and brown communities. Critics often called out the mayor for allowing police misconduct and attempting to shield officers from accountability. For example, Lightfoot was heavily criticized for trying to protect officers in the case of Anjanette Young, a Black woman detained naked and handcuffed by officers who raided her home by mistake in 2019. In 2021, Lightfoot faced protests and calls for her to resign after Chicago police shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo; protesters chastised the mayor for the city’s slow release of information, including bodycam footage, following the killing. Mayor Lightfoot also clashed with Chicago teachers who accused her of failing to live up to her campaign promises.

In addition to these policy-based disagreements, Lightfoot also got into more personal political spats during her term in office. For example, in 2020, Lightfoot had a public back and forth with Trump White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany; McEnany called Lightfoot “the derelict mayor of Chicago,” leading to Lightfoot calling McEnany “Karen” on social media. In another incident, the mayor reportedly argued with lawyers representing an Italian American group over the display of a statue of Christopher Columbus; Lightfoot allegedly told the men, “My d**k is bigger than yours and the Italians.”

With Lightfoot now out of the mayor’s race, these personal controversies will likely be left behind, but the policy debates over crime, education and more will continue in Chicago. The two remaining candidates present very different ideas for the direction Chicago will go, and it will be up to voters to decide what leadership will look like in a post-Lightfoot Chicago.