Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot learned the hard way crime does not pay after voters gave her the boot, sending a clear message they are sick and tired of elected leaders who fail to keep them safe or improve the standard of living in their neighborhoods.
The Lightfoot loss makes her the first sitting mayor in Chicago to lose re-election since 1989 and the latest casualty in a raging debate over the pandemic-era surge in violence that pits the defund-the-police sympathizers against the tough-on-crime crowd.
Chicago voters were blunt in their assessment of Ms. Lightfoot’s tenure.
Chris Trott, a 39-year-old independent-leaning Democrat, said he backed Ms. Lightfoot four years ago, but could not pull the lever for her again because she seemed more interested in knocking heads with police than working with them.
“This crime situation is not tenable,” Mr. Trott said, describing Ms. Lightfoot’s loss as a warning sign for Democrats outside the state. “You have to get tough on crime, or you have to leave.”
A sense of lawlessness has gripped Chicago since the start of the pandemic, infuriating residents that still love the nation’s third-largest city, but, in many cases, have contemplated what once was unthinkable: moving out.
“There is no question it was the first, second, and third issue in the race,” said Peter Giangreco, a Chicago-based Democratic strategist. “It was crime, crime and crime.”
The thorny issue has created headaches for elected leaders from across the country. The debate has twisted politicians in knots and accentuated the divide between the more moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party.
Christopher Z. Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said the mayor got caught in a national crime spike and then failed to allay people’s fears enough to retain their confidence in her leadership.
“Two years, ago, it was all about let’s rethink policing, let’s do this and that. Then there was a couple of carjackings and people were like [forget] this, let’s get a machine gun,” he said. “Fear is such a powerful motivator.”
For Ms. Lightfoot, it came to a head on Tuesday when she pulled in 17% of the vote in the eight-person runoff race.
Paul Vallas, a former public schools executive, and Brandon Johnson, a county board commissioner, advanced to a Feb. 4 runoff race after receiving 33.3% and 20.3% of the vote, respectively.
Ms. Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor who had not previously run for office when she jumped in the mayor’s race in 2019, entered office with high hopes after replacing her brash predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, who didn’t seek reelection.
She made history as the first Black woman to be elected mayor of Chicago after capturing a whipping 70% of the vote.
Ms. Lightfoot misread her margin of victory as an all-out mandate, according to analysts who say she fought with almost everyone that challenged her approach, including the teacher’s union and law enforcement.
When rank-and-file members of the police department lost faith in the superintendent of police she brought in from outside the state, Ms. Lightfoot said the “cowards” were most interested in defending the status quo than serving the public.
Mr. Giangreco said a big takeaway from Ms. Lightfoot’s loss boils down to: “if you want to come in and manage the third largest city, don’t be a lone wolf.”
Chicago voter Pat Guinane, an electrician from the city’s South Side, said Ms. Lightfoot failed to live up to expectations.
“I voted for Lori four years ago because I thought she was progressive and competent enough to tackle tough challenges,” the 42-year-old said. “I saw little evidence of either.”
The mayoral race, meanwhile, is more evidence of the shifting discussion over public safety that a few years ago gave birth to the defund the police movement that sought to redirect money away from police departments and toward social services in the name of stopping police brutality against Black residents.
That line of thinking has cooled off in a lot of places.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former New York City police captain, won the 2021 election after rejecting the defund-the-police talk.
Mr. Adams has stood his ground. Last month, he railed against progressive members of the city council that are calling for reducing the size and scope of the police force. He lamented that this small faction of the party has hijacked the progressive mantle.
The issue is also at the heart of an intense debate in Washington.
Congressional lawmakers, including Democrats, are trying to overturn the city’s new criminal code, which Congress has the authority to do as caretakers of the District’s government.
The new criminal code, according to critics, watered down criminal penalties, making it easier for criminals to thrive, and harder to stop the carjackings, thefts and murders that have rattled city residents.
