Brandon Johnson wins Chicago mayor’s race
Subject
Brandon Johnson; Mayor; Chicago
Description
Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson is projected to win the Chicago mayoral runoff, replacing Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) as the city’s next top executive, according to The Associated Press.
Johnson, a progressive, won the election against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, a centrist. The pair made it into the Tuesday runoff after they became the two top vote-getters during the initial February 28 election, which included Lightfoot and eight other candidates.
This is Johnson’s first run for Chicago mayor, and the election comes as voters were forced to choose between two starkly different Democratic challengers.
Speaking to supporters just before 10:00 p.m. local time, Vallas said that “even though of course we believe every vote should be counted, I called Brandon Johnson and told him that I absolutely expect him to be the next mayor of Chicago.”
Those remarks — part of a less-than-10 minute speech that notably omitted the words “concede” or “concession” — drew boos from the crowd, before Vallas interjected “please, please, please. It’s critically, critically important — I mean this campaign that I ran to bring the city together would not be a campaign that fulfilled my ambitions if this election is going to divide us more.”
“So it’s critically important that we use this opportunity to come together, and I’ve offered him my full support on his transition,” he added.
Even before the initial February election, polling had shown that the issue of crime and public safety weighed heavily on Chicago voters in a city that’s still grappling with higher levels of crime compared to before the COVID pandemic.
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https://chicagocrusader.com/brandon-johnson-wins-chicago-mayors-race/
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chicagocrusader.com
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