Showdown in Chicago

Amid concerns about rising crime, Chicagoans will head to the polls on Tuesday. Lori Lightfoot will not be on the ballot.

Due to riots in Chicago, on May 31, bridges over the north branch of the Chicago River were raised to stifle traffic going in or out of the downtown area. May 30, 2020. (photo: Stephen Hogan)

“Mayor Lori Lightfoot Loses Reelection Bid, First One-Term Mayor In 40 Years,” wrote Noah Asimow for Block Club Chicago on the evening of February 28, 2023.

Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot had just failed to garner enough votes to make it to the runoff and the presses were running hot.

“Lightfoot’s historic loss marks the first time since Jane Byrne’s loss to Harold Washington in 1983 that the city has not elected a sitting mayor who ran for reelection,” wondered Asimow.

Before Lightfoot, Jane M. Byrne left the office of Chicago mayor on April 29, 1983, after losing her bid for re-election in the Democratic primary to Harold Washington. Byrne had been the first female mayor of Chicago, serving from 1979 to 1983.

In 1987, Harold Washington, who was Chicago’s first African American mayor, died during his second term in office. In the subsequent special election held in 1989, the incumbent acting mayor, Eugene Sawyer, lost in the Democratic primary to Richard M. Daley, who went on to win the general election and serve as mayor for the next 22 years.

“Lori Lightfoot becomes the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election,” blared NBC News in unison on February…