Brandon Johnson has been elected to be the next mayor of Chicago. I wish him well but, honestly, I’m not hopeful.
I was pretty certain as soon as the early returns began coming in that he would win—Vallas just wasn’t getting enough votes in the wards he needed to win big in. It will be interesting to see the statistics on turnout and who voted for whom.
Well, now City Hall, the State’s Attorney’s office, and the judiciary will be aligned in the same direction—the direction that I already believe to have failed to reduce crime. I suspect the CPD will follow suit. I mean why bother arresting people if you know they’ll just be released?
I also wonder if the mayor-elect realizes that the tax provisions on which he ran will require action from the state legislature and, possibly, amending the state’s constitution. Illinois voters have already rejected such amendments in the past.
Interesting times.
You always say the voters of Chicago (and IL) can’t be blamed because they have no choice. But at a bare minimum this crime infested city has made a choice on that very issue.
We have met the enemy……
It looks like Chicago is getting better. The homicide rate was down 15% last year and on every list of of violent crime rates it ranks about 20th now. If you look at list that also include property crimes it isn’t very high on the lists anymore, with Springfield worse. I can see why someone living in Chicago would focus on Chicago but any idea why the national media focuses so much on Chicago and seldom mentions Memphis, Little Rock, Mobile? They still cover Philadelphia and Baltimore some. NYC also gets coverage despite being one of the safest large cities in the country.
https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/25-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-us-1118227/5/
Steve
Because none of them live in Memphis, Little Rock, or Mobile. That’s also why everything that happens in New York, Los Angeles, or Washington, DC loom so large: that’s where the people covering the stories live.
Also by the standards you’re holding up, the easiest way to reduce crime is to stop arresting people entirely. In other words you’re confusing what gets reported (including by the police departments) with what’s happening.
Vox populi, vox dei — so I guess the correct criticism of the current mayor was she wasn’t radical enough?
I had no dog in this fight, but the winner is the more interesting choice from a policy perspective.
In short, Chicago will be running an experiment to see if progressive crime policy will actually work in practice, especially the defund-adjacent ideas of moving police funding into various services on the theory that will address “root causes” and reduce crime.
I think it’s a good experiment to run, but I’m glad it’s not being run in my city – sorry Dave.
Two big wins yesterday for the liberal Marxist left – the Chicago mayor spot and changing the WI state Supreme Court majority from conservative to liberal.
I think that drawing any conclusions before we have reports on turnout and who voted for whom is premature. Other than that Mr. Johnson clearly had a better “ground game”, i.e. he got his voters to the polls.
I find the party with the “better ground game†has the most money. That party is the progressive wing of the democrats. I bet if infusions of money are tallied, Brandon Johnson will be way ahead of Vallas.
In the WI state Supreme Court election such a money pattern also existed, with an 8-1 advantage for the extremely liberal Democrat prevailing over their conservative opponent. It is predicted that the new liberal majority will now be able to overturn many election reforms such as signature verification, unmanned ballot drop boxes, voter ID, and the like that have established some legal strands of oversight to elections being fairly implemented.
“… Chicago will be running an experiment to see if progressive crime policy will actually work in practice…”
I strongly believe it will work. Why, I saw an interview with a gang member who categorically stated: “Say what? You mean we gonna get more social workers? Damn! Now I don’t have to put no cap in those mfers asses no more. I’m chill now.”
“Because none of them live in Memphis, Little Rock, or Mobile.”
Few of them live in Chicago either, but it gets the huge majority of the coverage. So why the emphasis on Chicago? If you live in NYC, a low crime city, but want to write or talk about crime why always choose Chicago and not places where its actually a lot more common? Or when you drive across the country and make it a point to look at small town newspapers. If there is an article about crime you can be pretty sure Chicago gets mentioned.
“In other words you’re confusing what gets reported (including by the police departments) with what’s happening.”
So only in Mobile and Memphis are they actually truthful? We all just get to make up our own numbers?
Steve
By most accounts Vallas had more money.