CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago lost her bid for a second term on Tuesday, The Associated Press said, a resounding defeat that reflected widespread dissatisfaction from voters over her handling of crime and policing in the nation’s third-largest city.
Four years ago, Ms. Lightfoot made history as the first Black woman to be elected mayor of Chicago when she swept all 50 of the city’s wards. But she saw her popularity plunge during the coronavirus pandemic as Chicago suffered a spike in violent crime, with looting and destruction on its famed Magnificent Mile in 2020.
The two candidates to emerge from Tuesday’s first round of voting — Paul Vallas, a former public schools executive, and Brandon Johnson, a county board commissioner — will advance to a runoff election on April 4.
The race showcased the political divide that has emerged in some of America’s largest, most liberal cities, where hard-on-crime policies have increasingly resonated with voters.
The contest for mayor is now narrowed to two candidates with starkly different views on policing and education. Mr. Vallas has portrayed Chicago as being in a state of turmoil under Ms. Lightfoot’s leadership. With an endorsement from the local Fraternal Order of Police, he has run an aggressive campaign arguing that he can make the city safer, calling for bolstering the police force, improving arrest rates for serious crimes and expanding charter schools.
“The city clearly is in crisis and people want a crisis manager who can come in and focus on getting things done,” Mr. Vallas said after casting his ballot in an elementary school gym on the South Side on Tuesday.
Mr. Johnson, 46, a former educator who was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, staked out a position to the left of Ms. Lightfoot, at one point suggesting that he agreed with the movement to reduce funding to police departments, though he later backtracked.
At a polling place on Tuesday, Serena Mascio, 40, said she moved to Chicago from the suburbs in 2017 and was voting for mayor in the city for the first time.
“I’m voting for Brandon Johnson because instead of more police, he’s focused on more mental health needs,” she said. “He brings a different perspective.”
Ms. Lightfoot, whose victory four years ago also made her the first openly gay person to lead Chicago, was challenged on the campaign trail by residents unimpressed with her handling of crime, an issue that loomed above all others in the campaign.
Mr. Johnson, who was one of seven Black candidates, won over many political progressives, while Mr. Vallas consolidated support in more conservative neighborhoods. Mr. Vallas was the only white candidate in the race; Chicago has roughly equal numbers of Black, white and Hispanic residents.
In the days leading up the election, Ms. Lightfoot remained hopeful that she would secure a spot in the runoff, despite a clear loss in support. She told voters that crime was on its way down — homicides and shootings had, in fact, decreased in 2022 from the peak during the pandemic. But in 2022, robberies, thefts and burglaries increased from the year before, leaving many Chicagoans unsettled about the direction of the city.
In the Beverly neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago on Tuesday, Megan Hayes, a 40-year-old mother and lifelong city resident, said crime was the biggest issue facing the city. Although she voted for Ms. Lightfoot in the last election, she said she was disappointed in the mayor’s performance.
I don’t think she managed the city very well,” she said.
Ms. Hayes was among those to cast a ballot for Mr. Vallas, though she did so with some reluctance. “I’m not a huge Vallas supporter,” she said, “but he seems to be the best of the lot.”
Ms. Lightfoot had pointed to investments in long-neglected neighborhoods and made the case that the city had emerged from the pandemic in a strong position.
On Tuesday, she greeted Chicagoans outside a grocery store and a sandwich shop on the West Side, telling them that she was hearing from voters who were “fearful” of Mr. Vallas and his views.
Tina Marie, a West Side resident who had just finished buying groceries when she spotted Ms. Lightfoot, said she was impressed by the mayor’s leadership during the pandemic.
“When the pandemic broke out, her and the governor shut Chicago down,” said Ms. Marie, a retired department store worker. She said there was “no telling where we would be if they hadn’t shut Chicago down.”
On the South Side, Lindsay Ramirez, a 47-year-old medical worker and Lightfoot supporter, said crime would continue to be a problem for Chicago, no matter who won the election.
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