As discussed on today’s Three Martini Lunch podcast, there’s a good chance that Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot is on her way out:
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection battle is clouded in uncertainty, her chances of beating either U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia or former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a run-off appearing slim — and her prospects for even making it to the April election up in the air.
With the election less than three weeks away, three out of five voters disapprove of the job the mayor has done in her first term, more than half hold an unfavorable opinion of her and 71% think the city is on the wrong track.
Those are among the key findings of a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times/Telemundo Chicago/NBC5 Poll conducted last week.
All falling within the poll’s margin of error, Lightfoot, Garcia and Vallas were essentially locked in a statistical dead heat when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if the Feb. 28 election were held today.
Chicago’s mayoral election will be held on February 28. If none of the ten candidates wins a majority, the top two finishers will go on to a runoff on April 4.
Both Garcia and Vallas have vowed to hire more police and pledged to remove current Chicago Police Department superintendent David Brown. Vallas wants to add almost 1,800 more cops. Garcia wants to add more civilian employees to free up police officers from administrative duties.
I’m sure that, if elected, Garcia or Vallas will make a lot of decisions I won’t like. They are Democrats competing for the mayorship of a mostly Democratic city. But there are better Democrats and worse Democrats, and if San Francisco voters can get rid of a district attorney who fails to protect innocent people from violent crime, Chicago voters can get rid of a mayor who has failed her city.
Faced with a choice between an incompetent incumbent and a challenger about whom you have doubts, the challenger seems to at least come with the possibility of change rather than a reflexive defense of the status quo.