2023 Chicago Mayoral/Aldermanic Elections

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Why exactly is Lori Lightfoot so unpopular?

*gestures at everything that has happened since 2019 in Chicago*

But to seriously answer your question: she has done a lot to not just alienate, but also actively antagonize, people since summer 2020. Crime is up, school closures dragged on far too long, she puts her foot in her mouth, and broke a lot of her promises. She also comes off as petty and vindictive, and not capable of managing politics. She also defends herself from criticism with cheap identity politics.

In fairness, some of these things are outside of her control, and she did deliver on a small number of key promises (e.g. 15 dollar minimum wage, civilian police oversight commission, paid down part of the city's pension debt, crime is lower in 2022 than it was in 2020 or 2021 but higher than 2015-2019, etc.). Also, there has been a lot of new investment in the city (I personally noticed how many new industries and businesses have moved to areas in the far south/southeast side like South Deering). She has raised billions to be invested in neglected neighborhoods in the west and south sides. Chicago's credit rating has improved under her. She has both increased and accelerated payments into the pension system, making a small but noticeable dent in the decades-long backlog of payments.

But she isn't good at her primary job of being a leader and administrator; she is instead antagonistic when she doesn't get her way. She doesn't inspire confidence. She engages in a zig-zag type of relationship management with various interest groups (e.g. the business community, progressives, the public sector workers, unions, homeowners, etc.), where one day she will be antagonistic and then the next she'll come crawling back and want to strike a deal, followed again by antagonism. She doesn't seem to acknowledge that the city is in a crisis.

And then there is the fundamental issue of things getting worse under her in terms of schools, crime, and affordability: even if these things are not directly her fault, they happened under her watch and she doesn't seem capable of handling them for another term. Even if you like her and think she has good intentions and is working hard, she doesn't seem effective or capable.

That said, her approval ratings are surprisingly high for how much flak she has gotten:


Maybe it will be enough to save her if all of those 38-40% approvers stick with her in the first round and then the second round opponent isn't appealing. But I wouldn't bet money on that happening.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Really disappointing candidates and disgusting campaign this year all around. Can't believe I practically want Rahm back despite all the slimy stuff. Nobody in this race comes even close to his caliber. At this point it's just minimizing the damage and trying again in 2027.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The worst scenario, basically pick your poison

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Some questions: from the aldermanic elections, it seems like there will be a solid non-DSA progressive plurality, which would have a majority the few DSA pols. Is that accurate?


The mayor in Chicago is actually a rather weak position relative to the city council, from what I understand. If Vallas gets elected and tacks too far to the right, that could provide a majority to check him, no?

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I am still deeply suspicious of Vallas and fear that he will be a Thatchercrat in office, but Johnson did not do well at all in the debate last night. He came off as unprepared and inarticulate, and relied heavily on the "Vallas is a Republican" line. I think this line is risky for him, because while Vallas does sound conservative on crime, on everything else he gave relatively inoffensive answers.

Neither Vallas nor Johnson did exceptionally well in terms of actual content, but Vallas generally came off as composed and prepared, and given how things have gone in Chicago over the past few years, I think many voters will see Vallas as the "safe" option and this will be a No Experiments election result.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Congratulations to Johnson. I really do hope that he will be a better mayor than Lightfoot, and that the best predictions about him come true and not the worst.

I would say the same about Vallas winning too, before you jump on me. The last three times I've been back at my parents' and drove into the city, every intersection felt like a good chance I would get t-boned by someone blowing a stop sign or red light. It's gotten crazy

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Not really encouraging that Johnson's response is full of empathy for the teenagers but there is not a word of empathy for the people who were attacked at random on the street. Combined with his stand-offish attitude towards that journalist who asked him a basic and easy question about his transition team, getting Lightfoot 2.0 vibes here.