The Chicago mayoral race, where crime and public safety have emerged as primary issues, comes to an end on Tuesday and Lori Lightfoot could become the first incumbent mayor in 40 years to lose reelection.
Currently, nine candidates, including Lightfoot, are running to be the mayor of Chicago.
Lightfoot, a former prosecutor, is the city’s first Black woman and openly gay person to serve as mayor. But her tenure has been met with notable challenges, leading Chicago during the COVID-19 pandemic and now trying to address crime.
Last summer, as she announced her reelection bid, Lightfoot implicitly responded to some of the strain, saying then: “Change doesn’t happen without a fight. It’s hard. It takes time. And, I’ll be the first to admit I’m just not the most patient person. I’m only human, and I guess sometimes it shows.”
“But just because some may not always like my delivery doesn’t mean we’re not delivering,” she said.
At the end of 2022, Chicago had nearly 700 murders, down from 804 in 2021 but still high compared to earlier years, according to the Chicago Police Department’s end-of-year report. In addition, the city saw more than 20,000 incidents of theft in 2022, up from 10,590 incidents in 2021.
But there still have been improvements overall regarding crime in Chicago. ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas spent a day with Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown in October for an inside look at the department’s efforts to curb gun violence — incidents affecting many Chicagoans — throughout the city.
At the time, shootings in Chicago were down 20% through the end of summer and homicides had fallen 16%.
Lightfoot has said she is working to make Chicago “the safest big city in the country” by working on getting illegal guns off the streets, hiring more officers and investing in communities to address violence.
Others, though, have said she needs to do more.
Given the crowded field against her, including some notable challengers, Lightfoot could be forced into a runoff.
In Chicago, if no candidate receives 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff election scheduled for April 4.
One of Lightfoot’s most formidable challengers is Paul Vallas, a Democrat with more conservative views. Vallas, a former Chicago schools chief executive, has made combatting crime the central issue for his campaign — echoing how public safety came to define high-profile races for New York governor, where incumbent Kathy Hochul faced a major rival in Lee Zeldin, and the 2022 recall of San Francisco’s top prosecutor.
Vallas has called for an increased number of police officers in Chicago and supports the return of a community policing model. He also has an endorsement from the local Fraternal Order of Police.
Another candidate in the mix is Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia, who is fighting for the support of progressive supporters and has also run mainly on the issue of crime. Garcia ran for mayor against incumbent Rahm Emanuel in 2015, forcing a runoff.
A fourth candidate, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, is also seen as another contender who could advance in the likely runoff. Johnson has run on investing in community-based interventions that deescalate conflict. But he has avoided answering questions on whether he would divest in or reduce the Chicago Police Department budget.