(Originally published in CNS News.)
When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost her bid for re-election last month, most people assumed the largest contributor to the loss was the rampant crime in the city. A poll conducted Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 found that 47 percent of likely mayoral election voters identified crimeand public safety as the most important issue in determining their vote.
“Throughout her term, she has been criticized for her soft-on-crime approach, which has led to massive increases in violence in the city, which is up 52 percent from last year and more than 100 percent from 2021,” according to the UK Daily Mail.
Chicago Police statistics show that during Lightfoot’s time in office, crime was up 19 percent in the city.
While some categories have decreased, murders have increased 20 percent since 2018, and shootings are up 19 percent. Motor vehicle thefts saw the largest increase of 114 percent over that time. Criminal sexual assaults decreased (down 4 percent), but this is not enough to improve the city’s violent image, especially among its residents.
Voters believed Lightfoot wasn’t doing enough to fight crime and voted her out. Not only did she lose the primary, she came in third in field of nine candidates.
Lightfoot is the first black woman and openly gay mayor of Chicago. She is also the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose a re-election bid.
Brandon Johnson is now mayor elect.
As such, the people of Chicago shouldn’t expect things to improve. They will get the kind of government they voted for, which is simply more of the failed status quo.
It should be obvious that if they wanted to see a change for the better in the city’s crime rate, then they needed to make a real change and not just continue on the same path.
But it seems they chose the guy whose biggest claim was that he was more left than the other candidate. What are they thinking?
