In the wake of her stinging defeat in Chicago’s mayoral election, Mayor Lori Lightfoot once again cited her race and gender to complain.
Lightfoot finished behind former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who garnered 34% of the vote with 94% of the votes in, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who gathered 20% of the vote. Lightfoot received 17% of the vote; Vallas and Johnson will meet in a runoff election on April 4.
Asked by a reporter after her concession speech if she was treated unfairly because of her race and gender, Lightfoot, who is gay, replied, “I’m a black woman in America. Of course.”
Lightfoot was elected mayor in 2019 but became the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose a reelection bid. Crime in Chicago has risen 52% since 2022 and over 100% since 2021.
In 2021, Lightfoot was asked, “In recent months, there have been questions raised about your temperament and your reaction to criticism – a Tribune editorial used the term irascible – how much of this do you think might have to do with the fact that you’re a woman and specifically a black woman?”
“About 99 percent of it,” Lightfoot replied, continuing, “Look at my predecessors. Did people say that Rich Daly held tea sessions with people that he didn’t disagree on? Rahm Emmanuel was a polite guy who was a uniter? No. Women and people of color are always held to a different standard. I understand that. I’ve known that my whole life.”
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Lightfoot’s tenure has been marked by controversy. One report from the Chicago Tribune noted that on May 31, 2020, as the riots following the death of George Floyd plagued the city, Alderman Pat Dowell said that police were not “doing a damn thin” and “letting these folks loot.”
Alderman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez informed Lightfoot that there were people downtown that were not looting, asking Lightfoot if the Chicago Transit Authority could start again so they could leave. Lightfoot responded that those people could go west to catch the Blue Line or go to the Brown Line north.
After news broke that the Supreme Court might overrule Roe v. Wade, Lightfoot wrote wrathfully, “To my friends in the LGBTQ+ community — the Supreme Court is coming for us next. This moment has to be a call to arms.”
In 2021, according to a lawsuit filed by a former Chicago Park District deputy general counsel who made a deal with an Italian American group to allow a Christopher Columbus statue to be used in a parade, Lightfoot furiously told him, “My d*** is bigger than yours and the Italians. I have the biggest d*** in Chicago.”
Conservative critics celebrated Lightfoot’s defeat:
There is hope for my home city yet. Lori Lightfoot is out. The greatest potential improvement for the city since 1900 when the direction of the Chicago river was reversed. https://t.co/CiA2q3jC1Z
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 1, 2023
Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot, just got the FOOT!
Other Democrat mayors with run-away crime in your cities, take note. Even liberals are tired of being unsafe. @ChicagoMayor pic.twitter.com/QAJFg43bde
— Vernon Jones (@VernonForGA) March 1, 2023
Lori Lightfoot.
Crime doesn’t pay.— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) March 1, 2023