(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Following one of the worst defeats of a big-city mayor in recent memory, Chicago’s Lori Lightfoot blamed anyone and everyone but herself.
Yet, as political observers on the ground in Chicago and numerous voters told the media, the reality is that Chicagoans were fed up with Lightfoot’s attitude and inability to reduce crime.
In short, the message voters sent Lightfoot yesterday at the polls was “good riddance.”
As the New York Post assessed the political carnage, Lightfoot, who became the city’s first black female and openly gay mayor, blamed her defeat in yesterday’s re-election bid on racism and gender.
Lightfoot received just 16.4% of the vote, finishing behind the former head of Chicago Public Schools, Paul Vallas, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who will now face each other in an April 4 runoff election.
The defeat of Lightfoot came after a wave of criticism over rising crime rates, homelessness, and other problems in the city, leading the Chicago Tribune to call it a “political embarrassment.”
Lightfoot claims it had more to do with being a black woman in America and says that played a role in her defeat.
However, she still views her time as mayor as “the honor of a lifetime” and urged other mayors not to be afraid to be bold.
Still, it was Lightfoot who injected race into the election, telling the New Yorker that “certain folks, frankly, don’t support us in leadership roles” and that she was the first African American mayor in power in 40 years.
In reality, Lightfoot’s loss is being celebrated by those who believe it signals the end of her “experiment” and hope for a change in the city’s direction.
And, no doubt, crime was a huge factor in Lightfoot’s resounding defeat.
The city recorded over 800 murders in 2021, the highest in a quarter-century, and while the homicide rate dropped 14% in 2022, it remained nearly 40% higher than in 2019.
The police department’s end-of-year report also showed over 20,000 cases of theft in 2022, nearly double the amount of the previous year. In the first three weeks of this year, crime rates have risen by 61% compared to last year, according to police data.
Lightfoot’s loss has been celebrated by Republicans, with US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeting, “Lori Lightfoot. Crime doesn’t pay,” and former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who clashed with Lightfoot while serving in the Trump administration, tweeting, “Perhaps she should have woken up when I referred to her as the ‘derelict mayor of Chicago’ from the White House podium for ignoring victims of crime in her city!”
As you’ll see in the following tweet, even the satirical Onion ridiculed Lightfoot as she heads for her exit from City Hall.
Lori Lightfoot Can’t Believe City She Hates Wouldn’t Vote For Her https://t.co/RvaShoLCxc pic.twitter.com/qDkrZkd17Z
— The Onion (@TheOnion) March 1, 2023
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