I read, with great amusement, Noah Rothman’s piece about the resounding rejection delivered by Chicago voters to Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday despite her “historic” achievements as mayor of the city. I can only add that, while Noah’s listing of Lightfoot’s accomplishments in office is impressively thorough (violent crime up, arrests down, corporations fleeing the city, etc.) it is by no means comprehensive.
For Lightfoot’s greatest achievement — her “Mystery Achievement,” if you will — is in fact relevant to her status as a progressive, African-American lesbian, and it is churlish of Noah to deny her credit for it. To be more specific, this achievement lies in her being a progressive Chicago Democrat and African-American lesbian politician who somehow managed to lose the support of the progressive Democratic, African-American, female, and LGBT communities.
It’s unsporting of commentators such as Rothman to try to take that away from her, especially at a time like this.