Chicago Mag: Will Lori Lightfoot Be One and Done?

 You might have seen this in Chicago Magazine recently.

Just a year before the election, Lightfoot looks in danger of becoming the first elected mayor in 40 years not to win a second term.https://t.co/WUIeVQLbcH

— Chicago magazine (@ChicagoMag) January 26, 2022

Here's a brief excerpt.

After Lori Lightfoot won the 2019 mayoral runoff with 73 percent of the vote, an alderman commented, “Her support is a mile wide and an inch deep.” In other words, she was a candidate for a moment in which voters were fed up with corruption, but she didn’t have a base that would stick by her in a crisis.

That has turned out to be the most prescient assessment of Lightfoot’s political appeal. The world has changed a lot since her election. The COVID-19 pandemic is about to enter its third year, and the city is as violent as it’s been in a quarter century. Chicagoans are exhausted — with life, and with Lightfoot. According to an Ogden & Fry poll conducted for Fox 32 in November, 62 percent don’t believe she deserves reelection. Just a year before the election, Lightfoot looks in danger of becoming the first elected mayor in 40 years not to win a second term.

Lightfoot has been praised for leading the city through the pandemic and for investing in neglected neighborhoods, but crime is causing the city to turn against her. The year before she was elected, there were 547 homicides in Chicago; last year, the total topped 780, the most since the mid-1990s. In the summer of 2020, the Magnificent Mile was trashed and looted twice during protests against police brutality. Carjackings were up 43 percent in 2020, compared with the year before. “One of the major issues she ran on was she’s going to take control of the crime issue,” says Matthew Podgorski, who conducted the Ogden & Fry poll. But now 75 percent of voters disapprove of how she’s handling it.

Well we have another year before we vote for mayor, clerk, treasurer and the 50 members of the city council. Perhaps we'll know by fall if the Mayor decided to bow out after a term or run for re-election. 

WGN: Lightfoot focused on safer Chicago, reelection after 'relatively mild' COVID bout

 

[VIDEO] If you didn't know Mayor Lori Lightfoot earlier this month put out a tweet stating that she tested positive for coronavirus. WGN later caught up with her at Rainbow Beach as she talked about the issue of crime and her re-election in 2023. Believe it or not that's a year away.

Me personally I'd rather believe that she'd opt not to run for re-election however we shall see how the next few month shake out. Besides who knew that Mayor Rahm Emanuel by September 2018 would bow out of running for a third term as mayor in 2019.

What's also noted in this report is while she does have enough money for a potential re-election campaign it wasn't as good of a monetary haul as Mayor Emanuel as he geared up for re-election in 2015.

However, until the 2023 mayoral race we still have the issue of crime which was noted in the above report as she's point her finger at the Chief Judge of Cook County Timothy Evans as she wants to keep the most dangerous criminals at Cook County Jail.

She's also going to Washington, DC to meet with the Biden administration with regards to federal help for the crime issue in Chicago. Genuinely I'm glad the mayor is healthy and back to work. We also have a little bit more time until we know what her future political plans will be.

Who's running for Bobby Rush's seat

I've made some hay about Jahmal Cole and he doesn't mind saying that he was the first one to place his hat into the ring. Of course that was before Rep. Rush decided he wasn't running again.

I see on wikipedia and of course if you have any names that isn't in the picture feel free to share.

To start some names were through around in the news such as Ward 3 Ald. Pat Dowell who announced that she was pursuing this today. She also dropped out of the contest for yet another open seat for Illinois Secretary of State. 

Then other names that surprises me State Sen. Elgie Sims, Ward 6 Ald. Roderick Sawyer, Ward 8 Ald. Michelle Harris, former city treasurer Kurt Summers, or State Rep. Marcus Evans. Sims, Sawyer and Harris are names familiar to those who live in the 6th ward. It's interesting that they're looking into this open seat.

However this is a wide open contest and time will tell who might ultimately get the nod once the primary is over in June - don't forget the primary is on June 28, 2022 this year. Let's see how many of those names listed as potential challengers will contest for the Congressman's seat.

Here's a story about Rep. Bobby Rush's announcement regarding his retirement [VIDEO]

Oh wait, Ald. Sawyer was quoted in the above story from CBS 2 saying he's happy with where he is, however, admitted that he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested. Another name is activist Ja'Mal Green and also Rush's son Flynn Rush - who's listed in the wikipedia article linked above.

CPS classes are cancelled on Wednesday

 Due to a surge in coronavirus cases and concerns over this Omicron variant Chicago teachers have opted to not report for work and CPS is forced to cancel classes on Wednesday. This was the result of a Chicago Teacher's Union vote on Tuesday evening.

BREAKING: CPS classes are canceled Wednesday as teachers vote to refuse to work in schools until COVID-19 cases drop sharply.

Teachers voted to refuse to work in schools through Jan. 18 unless the city's positivity rate falls below 10%. https://t.co/SNqNg5EnGa

— Block Club Chicago (@BlockClubCHI) January 5, 2022

If you're a parent of a CPS student, are you able to adjust to your children being at home at least through January 18 which is how long CPS teachers will refuse to work in person?

Congressman Bobby Rush to retire

 This is huge news to start the new year 2022. It started breaking Monday afternoon and now that we have an open seat in the 1st Congressional District who else besides Jahmal Cole will go for this seat.

It'll be official in the morning, but it's confirmed. U.S. @RepBobbyRush, D-Chicago, the only person ever to have beaten @BarackObama in an election, is retiring at this end of this term after nearly 30 years in D.C. Cld be lots of potential successors. https://t.co/J4Yvh4daDH

— Greg Hinz (@GregHinz) January 3, 2022

Also bear in mind primaries will be held in June 2022!