Going to a Run-off

No mayoral candidate received 50% or more of the vote yesterday so there will be a run-off election on April 2. The Chicago Tribune reports:

Chicago will elect its first African-American female mayor after former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle won enough votes Tuesday amid a record field of 14 candidates to move on to an April runoff election.

It’s only the second time Chicago has had a runoff campaign for mayor, which occurs when no candidate collects more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.

Unofficial results showed Lightfoot with 17.5 percent of the vote, Preckwinkle with 16 percent and Bill Daley with 14.7 percent, with 96 percent of precincts counted. They were trailed by businessman Willie Wilson with 10 percent, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza with 9 percent, activist and policy consultant Amara Enyia with 8 percent, Southwest Side attorney Jerry Joyce with 7 percent and former CPS board President Gery Chico with 6 percent.

The graphic above is illustrative. Ms. Lightfoot, who ran as a reformer, received most of her votes from the North Side of Chicago; Ms. Preckwinkle from the West and South Sides where she shared the vote with businessman Willie Wilson who was also endorsed by the Chicago Republican Party. The Northwest Side, where I live, went for Bill Daley, no surprise to me based on the lawn signs I’ve seen here, most of which are for Daley. I did not vote for Daley on the grounds that we’ve already had two too many Daleys as mayor in Chicago.

The irony of Chicago electing a black mayor at this time appears to be lost on the media. Blacks are fleeing Chicago in thousands, driven out by violence in the neighborhoods in which they live, rising taxes, and the city’s apparent indifference to their situation. It is likely that during the next mayor’s term of office the percentage of black population will decline to its lowest in generations while the percentage of white population reverses its multi-generation decline.

I am likely to vote for Lightfoot in the run-off. Toni Preckwinkle has been quoted as warning Chicagoans that they should expect their property taxes to equal their house payment during her tenure. She has already displayed her indifference to small businesses through her support for the soda tax which did little to boost the city’s coffers since Chicagoans just bought their soft drinks outside the city. Its primary effect was to reduce the margins of small retailers. That debacle also revealed that she doesn’t have the fortitude to do what Chicago needs to be done.

In my ward no aldermanic candidate received 50% or more of the vote so we’re going to a run-off as well. Samantha Nugent received 32% of the vote while Robert Murphy received 29%, the balance being received by the other two candidates in the race. IMO Ms. Nugent is essentially a county apparatchik and does not possess basic qualifications and knowledge required for the job. We need a determined and informed reform candidate here.