Chicago’s upcoming election will take place at a critical moment.
Once known as “The City That Works,” Chicago no longer functions, reeling from deindustrialization, poverty, homelessness, and rising gun violence.
In 2019, some Chicagoans were hopeful when the city elected its first African American woman mayor. However, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now deeply unpopular, with 68 percent of voters rating her performance negatively. She has refused to cut police spending, flip-flopped on an elected school board, and refused to re-open mental health clinics closed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The combination of deep disillusionment with Lightfoot and an unprecedented wave of retirements from the City Council has created a unique possibility for change.
A total of 345 people submitted their candidate nominating petitions by the Nov. 28 dead-line, filing for positions such as mayor, clerk, and treasurer, as well as positions on the City Council and the new civilian police oversight board.
Nine candidates are running for mayor. In addition to Lightfoot, the candidates include Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson; U.S. Representative Jesus “Chuy” Garcia; former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas; and several others.
Brandon Johnson is a former teacher backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, the Service Employees International Union, and several other unions. Chuy Garcia helped forge the coalition that elected Chicago’s first reform mayor, Harold Washington, in 1983. Garcia has the support of some well-known leaders of that movement.
While some mayoral candidates are putting forward the progressive positions that communities are demanding, others are running demagogic campaigns. Paul Vallas, the former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, has unleashed a media blitz claiming that only he can solve the problem of gun violence and boasting about his ties to the police.
In several wards, activists are using the aldermanic races to highlight key issues. On the Far North Side, several leaders in the fight for affordable housing are running for spots on the City Council. On the pollution-burdened Southeast Side, activists who organized opposition to a city permit for a notorious metal-shredding business will be on the ballot.
Voters will also have a chance to elect the members of a new civilian police oversight board. This entity was created as a direct result of years of struggle by opponents of police brutality.
This election gives Chicago’s voters a great way to send a message. The campaign provides a practical way to ask candidates claiming to support voters’ demands what those candidates will actually do to guarantee those de-mands are implemented. Every candidate who fights for affordable housing and public education and immigrant rights and an end to police brutality must be supported.
It’s especially important that people vote for good candidates for the new police oversight board. Chicago voters should not allow apologists for police misconduct to wrest control of those oversight bodies by default.
The election of Harold Washington as mayor in 1983 changed the politics of America. It opened the doors of City Hall to the people. This year, if Chicago elects a new, progressive mayor and City Council, that move would be an important step forward.
