Chicago On Tuesday, voters will vote for the candidate they choose to be their mayoral nominee. The race for the office of mayor has become increasingly bitter in recent months. Mayor Lori Lightfoot The possibility exists that he could be the first to lose his re-election bid in forty years.
There are nine potential candidates who want to compete for the right to vote in the second round. The The top four candidates according to polls include Ms. LightfootA former Head of Chicago’s public schools, Paul Vallas; Congressman Chuy Garcia; and a liberal Cook County commissioner, Brandon Johnson.
The most important issue on Chicagoans’ minds is the city’s rising crime rates. WBEZ Poll from February 9 found that almost two-thirds want a mayor capable of increasing the presence of officers and cracking down on criminals. Fourty-four per cent of voters agree. “crime and public safety” Their top concern.
According to a Chicago Police Department reportThe number of criminal complaints has increased. by In the past year, 43 percent of these cases were reported. Both aggravated and criminal sexual assault have increased. by More than 15%, burglary by Twenty percent theft by Motor vehicle theft is at 54 percent by 114 percent.
Ms. Lightfoot He was elected almost four years back as a reformer in police force. While serving as the city’s chief law enforcement watchdog under Mayor Rahm Emmanuel (Ms. Lightfoot Police abuse was pursued aggressively and the rate of firings and suspensions increased rapidly. More than 70% of voters supported her win in the 2019 mayoral election.
Ms. Lightfoot’s tenure has seen a significant decrease in the number of working officers and low morale for those still serving. Her election has seen the following: Chicago Police Department has lost 10 percent or more of its officers.
Vallas was the former head of Philadelphia’s public schools and advocated a strong-on crime approach. He has criticized Illinois’ abolition of cash bail for violent offenders, which he says has allowed those charged with assault, burglary, and even murder to walk the streets as they await trial.
“I support ‘no cash bail’ with the following distinction: We have to distinguish between violent offenders and nonviolent offenders,” At the February 14th debate, Mr. Vallas stated. “Fifteen percent of the murders and the shootings were caused by people out on pretrial release” He said it was because of cashless bail
Mr. Lightfoot He tried to portray Mr. Vallas in a positive light. “Republican in disguise.” She was supported in her argument by Recently discovered video from 2009 that shows Mr. Vallas speaking out about himself. “more of a Republican than a Democrat.” He was officially endorsed in January by the city’s Fraternal Order of Police — one of the largest and most influential unions in Chicago. The Union leadership is close to Donald Trump and held a reception on Monday with Governor DeSantis.
Johnson and Garcia have virtually equal polling results, with Garcia running to the left. Lightfoot With the support of strong Chicago unions. Johnson is a former organizer of unions and has the support of Chicago Teachers Union went on strike in protest against Ms. Lightfoot.
As a left-wing candidate to replace Mr. Emmanuel, Mr. Garcia was elected mayor of San Juan in 2015. The Congressman moves to Chicago Mexico 9-year old, who is asking for increased police oversight as well as more cops on the streets in dangerous neighbourhoods.
An online poll by Victory Research shows Mr. Vallas as the winner with 22.9% of the vote. by Ms. Lightfoot At 17 percent. Garcia and Johnson received 15% each.
The Rod McCulloch from Victory Research told the Sun the endorsement by the police union helped Mr. Vallas’s performance in the recent weeks. “There’s no question where his support comes from,” Mr. McCulloch said. “It comes from the northwest part of the city and the southwest part of the city where a lot of first responders live.”
Despite Mr. Vallas’s lead in the first round polls, Mr. McCulloch predicted a competitive race between the Tuesday vote and the April election. “I think he starts off ahead of all of them,” McCulloch, Mr. Vallas. “It depends whether or not they can make the ‘Paul Vallas is a Republican’ thing stick.”
The mayor was criticized by her opposition for insensitive language she used at a South Side rally last week. Ms. Lightfoot told The crowd is that “any vote coming from the South Side for somebody not named Lightfoot is a vote for Chuy Garcia or Paul Vallas.”
The implication was that no one in the predominantly Black South Side neighborhood should vote for a Black candidate — like Mr. Johnson — other than Ms. Lightfoot, as that would risk putting either a white man or a Hispanic man in the mayor’s office. Ms. Lightfoot’s campaign had to backtrack, telling the Chicago Tribune, she’d like “every Chicagoan to vote,” It’s not only the Black vote on the South Side.
The On Tuesday, the first round will take place. The top two vote-getters from each category will move on to the April runoff if no candidate gets more than 2% of the votes.
Did Ms. Lightfoot If she loses Tuesday’s election, she will be the first sitting mayor not to move onto the next round of the process since 1999 when it was established. This would make her the first mayor not to be reelected since 1983.
