The Patriot Post® · Lori Lightfoot: Anti-Democracy Democrat

Chicago has always had a reputation for underhanded politics, mafia-influenced elections, and other seedy goings on. And yet the Windy City has carried on apace as the cleaner New York with a higher murder rate. Chicago has been the making of many Democrat elected officials such as former President Barack Obama, who was first a community organizer in Chicago before becoming a senator, and Rahm Emanuel, who previously served two terms as mayor of Chicago and who is the current U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Lori Lightfoot, the current mayor of Chicago, has now seen her own political star fall, as she lost reelection yesterday. “I’m a black woman and, let’s not forget, some folks frankly don’t support us in leadership roles,” she huffed. Wrong.

Lightfoot was an underdog candidate when she took office in May 2019. As she herself will tell you, she is the first black woman mayor of Chicago who is also openly gay. In a deep-blue city like Chicago, she checks all the identity and grievance political boxes. However, her four years in office have also given many Chicagoans an especially bad taste in their mouths. Between her openly autocratic handling of COVID, doing nothing to curb the quickly rising crime, poor economic policy, and using illegal practices to promote her current campaign, she has not made herself very popular.

Lightfoot made her mark during COVID when she earned the nickname “little Napoleon in pant suits.” She, along with other Democrat mayors and governors, would scornfully oppose anything that the Trump administration would propose. She personally became the biggest acolyte of the mask and mandatory vaccine cult, even going so far as to make crazy promotional videos telling Chicagoans to “stay at home” and dressing up as the “rona destroyer” to let the city know the trick-or-treat rules in October 2020.

Ironically, she also made headlines in 2020 when, after she put the city on lockdown, she herself flouted her own rules and went to see a hairdresser, proving that she is much better at telling people what to do than following her own edicts.

As ridiculous a spectacle as she made of herself during COVID, Lightfoot also has overseen a 20% increase in crime with a decided spike in 2022. Between murders and other sorts of violence in the city, Lightfoot has had to ask for help from the Department of Justice and has raised the budget to refund the Chicago Police Department (CPD). However, throwing money at the problem or blaming Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx for her crime imbroglio isn’t solving the issue (though in Foxx’s case she does have a valid point). The CPD feels unsupported by her. The police blame her policies for tying their hands and for getting officers killed.

Businesses have moved their companies out of the city.

The Chicago Bears are even planning to move their stadium to a northern suburb to prevent their fans from suffering from city criminals.

This issue of high crime and public safety were definitely on the ballot this election. According to a recent poll of Chicago voters, two-thirds are unhappy with progressive prosecution policies. Sixty-seven percent replied that they disapprove “of the way the criminal justice system in Chicago handles those who are arrested for certain violent crimes such as carjacking, armed robbery or home invasion,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Lightfoot has also proudly instituted progressive and oppressive economic burdens on the citizenry. She is the proud pusher of the $15 minimum wage and is a loud advocate for universal basic income. The economy is the second-most important issue for Chicago voters.

Then there are the unethical campaign strategies that Lightfoot has employed leading up to this election. As stated before, Chicago is hardly a beacon for clean politics. However, Lightfoot has stooped to new lows. In January, she was blasted both locally and nationally for violating election ethics. She had sent a letter to Chicago public school teachers advocating for an “externship” — i.e., campaigning for her reelection campaign for class credit.

Then there was her latest gaffe. A few weekends ago at a campaign event where she was speaking to Southside Chicago residents, she said if they were voting for “somebody not named Lightfoot,” it amounted to “a vote for Chuy Garcia or Paul Vallas,” the two front runners. “If you want them controlling your fate and your destiny,” she said, “then stay home. Then don’t vote.” These comments could be considered election interference. The criticism of her comments was swift and decisive, forcing her to walk things back, claiming she “misspoke” during the heat of a campaign.

As if her policies, her electioneering, and her overall destruction of Chicago weren’t enough of an indictment against her, Lightfoot’s character is the nail in the coffin. She dismisses her concerned constituents as “haters,” racist, or sexist. This is a tried and true strategy for radical leftist politicians but alienated the city that has suffered under her policies.

Chicago’s elections yesterday determined who all 50 aldermen will be as well as Chicago’s mayor. It was a high-interest election with lots of early voting as a result. Lightfoot was one of nine candidates running for mayor, and Chicago has spoken. Lori Lightfoot has gone out in the first round with 83% voting against her.

The runoff election will be held in April and the candidates are Paul Vallas, who won 33.8% of the vote, and Brandon Johnson, who won 20.3% of the vote.

Just remember, Lightfoot wasn’t ousted by a Republican but by a couple of fellow Democrats. The last time Chicago had a Republican mayor was 1931, and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.

(Updated)