In 4 years, Lori Lightfoot went from breakout political star to divisive leader of a city beset by pandemic, crime
CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s failure to advance to a runoff election Tuesday represents an astonishing fall from power four years after she was ushered into City Hall with a promise of reform.
Instead, she struggled through a storm of skyrocketing crime, the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of personality conflicts that left her labeled as a divisive leader who was unable to build political coalitions.
Lightfoot conceded defeat late Tuesday. With 94% of precincts reporting, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson had secured spots in a runoff election, with Lightfoot running third in the nine-candidate race, according to unofficial result.
The difference between Lightfoot’s political position from four years ago couldn’t be starker.
Buoyed by a corruption scandal involving powerful Ald. Edward Burke, Lightfoot won all 50 wards in a 2019 runoff election against Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, defeating the powerful Democratic Party chairwoman as badly as Mayor Richard M. Daley used to beat political has-beens and nobodies, and making history as the first Black female and first openly gay Chicago mayor.
This time around, Lightfoot was dealt a political embarrassment unlike any suffered by a sitting mayor seeking reelection since Jane Byrne — the first and only other female mayor of Chicago — lost the 1983 Democratic primary to Harold Washington.
Lightfoot’s transformation from breakout ballot-box star to also ran centered on three key issues: a dramatic spike in crime during the pandemic, an astonishing array
