Vallas in runoff for Chicago mayor; opponent not yet decided

[brooklynite]

Source: Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Paul Vallas, the former schools CEO endorsed by the Chicago police union, advanced to a two-candidate runoff for Chicago mayor on Tuesday. His rival in a bid to unseat Mayor Lori Lightfoot had not yet been decided.

Lightfoot, the first Black woman and first openly gay person to lead the city, was still vying to make the April 4 runoff for a second term. Among her top opponents were Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, and U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

Vallas served as an adviser to the Fraternal Order of Police during its negotiations with Lightfoot’s administration. He has called for adding hundreds of police officers to patrol the city, saying crime is out of control and morale among officers has sunk to a new low during Lightfoot’s tenure.

Lightfoot has criticized Vallas as too conservative for Chicago and for welcoming support from the police union’s controversial leader, who defended the Jan. 6 insurrectionists at the Capitol and equated Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate for city workers to the Holocaust.

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/live/chicago-election-day-2023-results-live-updates

[LiberalFighter]

1. I tend to not trust police. Especially this police leader.

[ancianita]

2. Paul Vallas is a hack. He was bad for Chicago Public Schools and he'll be bad for Chicago. A HACK.

Go ahead and Alert on me. I know what I'm talking about. He's a Democrat who makes our party look bad.

He's an old Daley machine guy. Don't trust him. Disappointing as Lightfoot has been, she's still better than that opportunist hack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Vallas

[RandySF]

3. Lightfoot is conceding.

[brooklynite]

4. UPDATE: Garcia bid to be Chicago's next mayor falls short

Roll Call

Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García fell short in his bid to become Chicago's next mayor, trailing former Chicago public schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson in unofficial results Tuesday night.

Nine candidates, including incumbent Lori Lightfoot, were running in the nonpartisan contest. Since no one got more than 50 percent, Vallas and Johnson will meet in an April 4 runoff, The Associated Press reported.

According to unofficial numbers from the city's Board of Election Commissioners, with more than 90 percent of precincts reporting, Vallas captured nearly 35 percent of the vote and Johnson received 20.21 percent. Lightfoot was running third, with 16.4 percent and Garcia had less than 14 percent.

Crime dominated the race, as Lighfoot, the first Black gay woman elected to lead Chicago, came under increasing criticism for the rising violence. She also tangled with the teachers union over pay and class sizes, which culminated in an 11-day strike in 2019. Lightfoot conceded the race shortly before 9 p.m. central time.

[Rebl2]

8. Seems like

the mayor before Lightfoot didn’t get along with the teachers either. Maybe it’s time mayors in Chicago not be involved with the schools. I live in a suburb of KC. and the mayor of my city has nothing to say about what goes on in the schools. School board and the superintendent run the school district. Same with KC. They have a superintendent and school board and mayor not involved. Guess it’s different for all states.

[mucifer]

5. I voted for Brandon Johnson. He's liberal.Fingers crossed he will kick vallas ass

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Let's Go Brandon?

( just joshing )

[ancianita]

7. Best of luck and votes to him. I donated and voted for Chuy back in the day, but am glad to know

Vallas still has possible competition.

[brooklynite]

9. Analysis from a Chicago friend who works for the Cook County Democratic Party...

Where Vallas won are wards you can count on turnout. Black wards were either Lori or Brandon with Willie getting some decent numbers. Vallas has to pick up some votes to stay viable. Vallas actually won some hispanic wards and he needs to pick up Chuy’s voters many who might just not vote in April but who tended to be much older

I think it comes down to Vallas on the lakefront not be viewed as “republican” anti choice and Brandon has to start putting out message for age 50 plus to pull in lakefront