David Axelrod is a Chicago prosecutor who failed to win a nine-way primary election runoff with Paul Vallas

CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod was a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns. He worked for the Chicago Tribune as a reporter, and then as a media strategist for seven successful Chicago Mayoral campaigns. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. You can view more opinions on CNN.

The first Black woman and first lesbian to lead the city, the former prosecutor upended the political establishment with promises to clean up a city weary of corruption.

Lightfoot managed just 17% of the vote in a nine-way general election, failing to make the April 4 runoff that will now pit former school superintendent Paul Vallas against County Commissioner Brandon Johnson.

“Obviously, we didn’t win the election today, but I stand here with my head held high and a heart full of gratitude,” Lightfoot told her supporters after the polls closed.

Reared in the industrial belt of Northeast Ohio, the daughter of a factory worker and a health care aide, Lightfoot fought her way up to the University of Chicago Law School and, ultimately, to the US attorney’s office with a stint as president of the Chicago Police Board.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/01/opinions/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-political-mistake-axelrod/index.html

The Chicago Public Health Crisis and the Rise of Crime: The Rise of a Chicago Police Chief, Lightfoot’s Disagreement, and her Resignation

Despite an unprecedented public health crisis, she generally won decent marks for her handling of it. But one element of that crisis – the scourge of rampant violence that spiked during the pandemic – contributed greatly to her repudiation at the polls on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON: Public safety and crime were the issues that topped the list. Chicago’s been experiencing a surge in crime, particularly violent crime, in the last several years. And the issue is not just the fact that crime is increasing, but it is spreading throughout the city – murders, shootings, carjackings. That is an issue of concern for voters.

Her handpicked police chief, David Brown, recruited from Dallas, seemed overmatched in a city and a department often impenetrable to outsiders. And Lightfoot’s unwillingness to dismiss her police chief, who often seemed isolated from his officers and the community, left voters with little hope for change. (Brown announced his resignation on Wednesday following Lightfoot’s election loss.)

But Lightfoot’s fall is a more complicated story that goes to a clenched-fist, go-it-alone style of leadership that made consensus hard to build and drove many who should have been her allies away.

Deeply suspicious of the motives of other politicians, she systematically alienated Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Democrat-led state legislature and the Cook County leadership, all of whom are fellow Democrats.

She lost a number of legislative battles, including a law that will make Chicago schools the largest in the country by the time she leaves office and a law that will shift control of the schools from the mayor to an elected board.

She ran on limiting the prerogatives of the City Council, humiliated them in her inaugural speech, and then she decided to get a new job as a city councilwoman. Police, fire, teachers, aldermen, businesses, manufacturing.”

A sense of a city backsliding was caused by the departure of some high-profile businesses, and the likely move of the Chicago Bears to the suburbs.

On the First Black Woman and Openly Gay Mayor of Chicago and the 2016 Runoff Election: Laura Washington, Analytic Contributor and Political Analyst

CHANG: The first black woman and openly gay mayor of Chicago will not serve a second term. She and eight other Democratic candidates were chosen by voters, and none of them met the 50% threshold to avoid a repeat of the 2004 presidential election. After nearly four tumultuous years in office, including a lot of criticism over crime and public safety, Lightfoot came in third place. There are two candidates that are headed to a second round. Let’s hear more about them and the runoff election from Laura Washington, a political analyst and contributing columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Welcome.

Vallas, who is White and endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, ran almost exclusively on public safety and the promise to add officers to fight crime. He finished with 34% of the vote, far ahead of the field, but well short of the 50% necessary to win without a runoff.

WASHINGTON: And he has said that he believes that the police need more support. And, in fact, he has said something along the lines of taking the handcuffs off the police to allow them to be more assertive in terms of fighting crime. Brandon Johnson supports defund the police movement. He has backed off of that stance and wants to move more resources into social services. And he feels that more policing is not the solution.

Despite spending weeks of advertising against other candidates, the mayor was passed over for a spot in the second round by Johnson, as she feared the most.

A debate about race. Is it a debate about the haves or not? When did Brandon Johnson go to the second round of voting?

CHANG: Lightfoot did note a year-over-year drop in homicides last year, but there is no denying that there has been an overall spike in crime during her tenure. Is that a person?

WASHINGTON: I think it’s a difficult issue. The city is dealing with many social and economic problems and challenges. There’s not enough of city money being devoted to anti-violence programs, to social service programs. We just went through a pandemic. We went through a lot of social unrest. I think that some of it is to blame for the instability. But I think voters expect her to be able to – you know, she’s the mayor. They expect that she can solve the problem. Crime is still a pretty serious issue. And every day you hear about events and incidents, and people are pointing the finger at her.

CHANG: Yes. Let’s discuss the candidates who will go into the second round of voting. We have Paul Vallas, the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, followed by Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. What are they doing to improve public safety?

The United States of America. Paul Vallas would say that he wants to address some of the inequities in the city as well, but his big argument is that we need to get our public safety situation in line first.

WASHINGTON: This city is full of people of different races. That’s a good thing, but it’s also a segregated city. People of color tend to vote for other candidates of color, and whites tend to vote with white candidates. Brandon Johnson got the areas of the city that were mostly white, more conservative, had more city workers, and had a higher density of people who were of color, to go to Vallas. So there’s a debate around race. There’s a debate about whether the haves or not. That’s something that Brandon Johnson talked about in his acceptance speech.

NPR’s Vision of the City: From Pedestrians to the Equality of Schools, Families and Families in a Chicago Public Housing Complex

The NPR transcripts are created by a contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Over the last dozen years, the teachers union has emerged as a defining voice on Chicago’s political left, and put forth a progressive vision for the city that extends well beyond its classrooms. After highly public fights with the last two mayors that led to work stoppages, union leaders see in Mr. Johnson a chance to elect one of their own, a former teacher who shares a goal of rebuilding Chicago by spending more on schools and social programs.

Mr. Johnson, who taught social studies to middleschoolers in a Chicago public housing complex, sometimes refers to the time when a student told him he should, even though he said he didn’t.