Mayor Lori Lightfoot was quick to agree that she had lost her re-election in Chicago, even before the conclusion and end of vote counting.
“We didn’t win the election today, but I stand here with my head held high and my heart full of gratitude,” Lightfoot said in her concession speech.
With two-thirds of the results counted in Chicago’s mayoral election Tuesday night, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas was leading with 36% of the vote, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson was in second position with 20% and Lightfoot was in third place with only 16% of the vote.
A run-off election will now be conducted between the top two contenders — Vallas and Johnson, on April 4, as no candidate received at least 50% of the votes.
Analysts had told Courthouse News earlier that the most likely outcome from Tuesday’s election would be a run-off between Lightfoot and either Vallas or García. However, Lori Lightfoot was taken out of the equation.
In recent times, Lightfoot’s popularity has been on the decline. In a recent poll conducted by Victory Research which was released on Monday night, Lightfoot was behind Vallas and Johnson.
Lori Lightfoot’s defeat in reelection is a heavy blow to the Chicago’s first openly gay Black mayor who won her seat in 2019 by running as a progressive reformer.
The question over the next five weeks is if Vallas’ more conservative message will get him enough support to win in a city where nearly 83% of votes in the 2020 presidential race went to the Democratic ticket.
Johnson, in his speech Tuesday night, showed the first signs that he will seek to consolidate liberals who supported other candidates in the nine-person field. He cited each candidate by name.
“If you voted for one of those other candidates, I want you to know that I’m running to be the mayor of you, too,” Johnson said.
