Chicago voters may now have begun the long climb back to civic sanity.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a divisive and demagogic figure, failed to win a place in the April 4 runoff amid widespread concern she’d let crime run rampant. She is the first Chicago mayor to lose reelection in over 30 years.
Paul Vallas, a former chief of Chicago’s public schools, placed first with 34 percent and will face Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner moonlighting as an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, who won 20 percent. The stark contrast on education in the runoff will be crystal clear. Vallas has shown support for various forms of school choice, while Johnson has supported teacher strikes.
63 percent of Chicagoans say they don’t feel safe, according to a recent survey. Chicago killings are the highest in a quarter century. Vallas, who campaigned on “ensuring our residents’ safety” and confronting crime as his “top priority,” clearly benefited from his message.
“There is hope for my home city yet,” tweeted Jonathan Turley, a criminal-defense attorney and Fox News contributor. “Lori Lightfoot is out. The greatest potential improvement for the city since 1900 when the direction of the Chicago river was reversed.”