A dozen or so candidates appeared on the ballot in Tuesday's election. To win, a candidate needs to achieve 50% plus one vote; according to the totals from Tuesday evening, with most precincts counted, no candidate had managed to reach 20% of the vote. But it appears to be settled that the two candidates who will run off are African American women:
- The leading vote getter, Lori Lightfoot, is a former assistant US attorney who has held various non-elective offices in the city. She is a reformer with a strong track record of reining in Chicago Police Department excesses. Her finishing on top in Tuesday's first round is widely seen as a surprise
- Toni Preckwinkle, who probably has been considered the favorite since she entered the race in the wake of current Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision not to run for reelection, is the president of the Cook County Board. At age 71, she is a generation or so older than Lightfoot, has held elective offices for three decades or so, and surely is the more establishment candidate of the two, even though she positions herself as progressive on many issues.
Lightfoot, who was virtually unknown prior to this race, managed to surpass Preckwinkle's vote total despite the latter's big advantage in name recognition, which was among the strongest on the ballot, probably rivaled only by the candidate who appears to have grabbed third place, Bill Daley, brother and son of former Chicago mayors and Al Gore's campaign chairman in 2000.
There were two sets of political minefields in this race for candidates to navigate:
- The shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald by white police officer Jason Van Dyke (for an overview of that case, see this previous NewGathering post). This incident has haunted current mayor Rahm Emanuel since the last mayoral election, and surely is among the chief reasons he chose not to run for reelection this time. The controversial incident may have worked to Lightfoot's advantage: Emanuel appointed her to chair an investigation of the incident, pursuant to which she published a report that was highly critical of the Chicago Police Department
- Chicago alderman and political powerhouse Ed Burke is under federal investigation. Burke has been among the City Council stalwarts and a legendary political operator for decades. Now that the feds are breathing down his neck, it is thought to be problematic to be too close to him - and a number of the mayoral candidates had histories of being cronies of Burke or connected to him in some way. Preckwinkle is one of them.
Last year, Preckwinkle encountered some political turbulence when, taking a page from Michael Bloomberg's playbook, she attempted to institute a countywide tax on soda pop. This was positioned to residents as a way to combat obesity, but its chief purpose was to raise additional tax revenues to address a county budgetary shortfall. County residents created more ruckus over the soda tax than any other tax I can recall in Illinois, and the county board eventually rolled back the tax increase.
Lightfoot is gay, so a win in next month's runoff would be historical in several ways. Either way, Chicago seems poised to elect itsfirst second woman mayor and, if I am keeping score accurately, its third African American mayor (bonus points to those of you who can name the other two).
Lightfoot is gay, so a win in next month's runoff would be historical in several ways. Either way, Chicago seems poised to elect its
Jane Byrne didn't get the snow removed, but she was a woman mayor of Chicago, wasn't he? Can I have half a bonus point for remembering Harold Washington?
ReplyDeleteDang, you're right. I'll fix the post.
DeleteLet's not forget Michael A. Blandic, Croation-American.
ReplyDeleteTalk about an outlier as mayor? Now the Cardinal Archbishop shares the honors.
I think Jane Byrne went to my high school. How to fact-check.
Anybody taking bets on who's the next mayor?
"Anybody taking bets on who's the next mayor?"
DeleteI'd think Preckwinkle is the safe bet. Reformers rarely do well in Chicago. She's a veteran campaigner. Lightfoot got more votes on Tuesday, but her total was less than 20% of the total, and the biggest share of her votes came from a handful of wards, mostly on the north side and along the lake. She's still largely unknown. Everyone knows Preckwinkle already. Of course, if this is an anti-establishment voting year, then being familiar can be a liability rather than an asset.
Since we're all searching our foggy memory banks here: my recollection is that it was Mayor Bilandic who failed to get the snow removed. Jane Byrne (who was mayor when I moved to Chicago as a freshman at Loyola - can't believe I forgot about her) capitalized on the snow removal fiasco by becoming Bilandic's successor. She got the streets plowed but was seen as shaking down city contractors for campaign donations, so in the next cycle's Democratic primary, which was the most racially charged I ever recall, Harold Washington won the Democratic primary as two white candidates, Byrne and the younger Richard Daley, split the white vote. Washington then defeated Bernie Epton, the (white) Republican candidate, in the general election, in another racially charged election. That's the only time I can recall a general election, or a Republican candidate, garnering any attention whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteWashington was the first black mayor. When he died suddenly while in office, he was succeeded by Eugene Sawyer, who was the second black mayor. I don't clearly remember what happened to Sawyer; I assume he ran against, and lost to, Richard Daley in the following election cycle.
New York has had, in my memory, one black mayor, David Dinkins.
ReplyDeleteAny Daley, Washington, or Preckwinkle would be better than our current mayor, Bill di Blasio. If comes to Chicago or Palm Springs campaigning for President, tell him you won't vote for him on good advice.
Philadelphia has had two black mayors, Wilson Goode in the 80's and more recently, Michael Nutter. Wilson Goode is known for the bombing of the radical group MOVE's house which resulted in eleven deaths and the incineration of the entire block. He still defeated Frank Rizzo for a second term. Colorful times in the City of Brotherly Love.
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