Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for reelection on February 28th when she came in third to Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson. As she becomes the first Mayor of Chicago in 40 years to lose reelection, the issues with her administration during her term may be the reason why.
Lightfoot, 60, was elected mayor in 2019. She quickly made history as the city’s first Black woman and gay person to be elected mayor. The former federal prosecutor from Ohio swept every ward of the city during the 2019 election. She ran on a campaign of rooting out corruption in city hall to better serve Chicagoans.
Issues with Chicago Teachers Union
Very quickly in her tenure, she got into spats with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). They were angry due to budgeting from the mayor they disagreed with. This caused a strike that lasted eleven school days and affected around 300,000 students all over the city. Eventually, both the union and Lightfoot came to the agreement that five of the eleven days be made up at the end of the year. This immediate quarrel shook the leadership of the new mayor.
COVID and Crime
When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit Chicago in 2020, it was met with an increase in crime throughout the city. Many people in the city didn’t like Lightfoot’s plan for dealing with the increase in crime, which involved using federal resources.
Despite this plan of hers, in 2021 Chicago had the deadliest year in 25 years. The Chicago Police Department reported that 797 homicides occurred in the city that year, making it one of the deadliest cities in the United States that year.
Many people put blame on Lightfoot for this increase in crime because it happened under her administration.
During her administration, many businesses stationed in Chicago left, including companies like Tyson Food and Boeing. Another business, Citadel LLC., left after several of its employees became victims of crime.
Invest in South/West
One of Lightfoot’s achievements around this same time was the Invest South/West program. This program promised to bring $250 million into underfunded neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West sides.
After three years of the project, though, many citizens of Chicago feel as though the funds were incorrectly used. As well as the fact that many of the projects touted by the Lightfoot administration were already set to be done prior to her election.
One of the biggest projects of the Invest South/West program was a new headquarters for the Chicago Parks District. This was to be in the South Side’s Brighton Park neighborhood. Although the $64 million project was seen to completion by Lightfoot, the conception and approval of the project were done by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2018.
Another project conceived and approved by the Rahm Emanuel administration was a $17 million project for development in North Lawndale, which was closed in 2019 when Lightfoot was elected.
All in all, people feel as though Invest South/West funds weren’t properly allocated. Furthermore, citizens of the South and West sides feel that the Lightfoot administration misused the funds and those within the communities never felt the change promised.
Campaign Corruption
As her term as mayor came to a close, the promises of the end of corruption fell flat. In January, incriminating emails from the Lightfoot Campaign were leaked. They asked CPS teachers to tell students to volunteer for her campaign for class credit.
While nobody knows what is next for Chicagoan politics, many people in the city are happy about the end of the Lightfoot administration as two new faces duke it out in the runoff.
Written by Caroline Buehler
Sources:
Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s signature Invest South/West program is 3 years old. But some of its big projects were already planned when she took office by Gregory Pratt
NBC Chicago: 2021 Ends as Chicago’s Deadliest Year in a Quarter Century by
Wall Street Journal: Why Lori Lightfoot Is the First Chicago Mayor to Lose Re-Election in 40 Years by Joe Barrett and Ben Kesling
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Prachatai Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Daniel Gillaspia Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
