Chicago sees record early voter turnout in runoff election to pick next mayor

Geoff Bennett:

Chicago voters head to the polls tomorrow for a final chance to cast ballots in the mayor's race.

County Commissioner Brandon Johnson is facing off against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas. Both of them beat a crowded field of nine candidates, including incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The two candidates offer a stark choice for voters as they weigh issues such as crime, public safety and education.

Following this all closely is WTTW Chicago PBS reporter Heather Cherone.

Heather, thanks for being with us.

So, we have got Brandon Johnson, this progressive Cook County commissioner, running against the moderate former Chicago Public Schools Chief Paul Vallas. Help us understand how this race in many ways illustrates the broader divides within the Democratic Party.

Heather Cherone, WTTW:

Well, you have somebody like Brandon Johnson, who really comes out of the movement launched by Senator Bernie Sanders to be a more progressive alternative in the national Democratic Party. Brandon Johnson has really picked up that mantle, while Paul Vallas got his start under former Mayor Richard M. Daley, and is really looking to draw support from people who remember his work, as you said, as head of the Chicago Public Schools, but also somebody who's vowing to be tough on crime.

As you know, Chicago, along with most major cities, has yet to sort of see a return to the crime and public safety levels that existed before the pandemic. And both Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson are offering two very different solutions.

Geoff Bennett:

Well, let's talk more about that, because, as you point out, crime was a major issue in the first mayoral election back in February.

What issues are driving or animating this run-off race?

Heather Cherone:

Well, Paul Vallas says that the biggest issue is the need to get more Chicago police officers on the city streets. And he has vowed to do that as quickly and efficiently as possible.

But Brandon Johnson sees what ails Chicago as sort of a more complicated problem and is promising a more holistic approach by funding anti-violence efforts, reopening public mental health clinics that have been closed for more than a decade in Chicago, and embracing a policy known in Chicago as treatment, not trauma, which really seeks to put the onus on preventing crime, as opposed to sort of enforcing the law and responding to it afterwards.

The choice facing Chicago voters is really, really clear. And I think that's part of the reason why it is the closest mayoral contest in 40 years. Not since 1983 have we seen a mayoral contest go down to the wire like this.

Geoff Bennett:

We also know from following your reporting that there is a racial dynamic at play here too.

How is that evident in this run-off?

Heather Cherone:

Well, it's a cliche to say that the only issue in Chicago politics is race, but there's a germ of truth in that as well.

Paul Vallas was the only white candidate to run to unseat Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was the first gay and the first Black woman to be elected Chicago mayor. Brandon Johnson is Black. And he is hoping that he will win the wards on the South on the West Side that voted to put Lightfoot in first place in the first round of voting.

He hopes that combining those votes with progressive votes from progressive Latino and white voters will be enough to get him over 50 percent, whereas Paul Vallas is really hoping to capitalize on people in the Black community who do want to see more police officers on their street, because, of course, we know that those neighborhoods are among the most violent in Chicago.

But, again, two very different approaches, as exacerbated by the fact that this whole sort of race has sort of pitted a white man against a Black man, really for the first time, again, since 1983.

Geoff Bennett:

Heather, what, if anything, will the outcome of this race tell us about what Democrats are seeking in terms of leadership?

Heather Cherone:

Well, whatever the result is, it will be used as sort of one of the first examples of what could happen in the 2024 elections.

If Brandon Johnson wins, you're going to see progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders say, this is the way progressive candidates can win in a time of high crime and backlash from more conservative voters, not just those in the Republican Party, but also those in the Democratic Party.

If Paul Vallas wins, you will see people say that Joe Biden, if he's going to run for reelection, and then win a second term, will have to sort of take a more moderate approach to not only issues of policing and crime, but also sort of the so-called culture war issues, to tack to a more middle ground position.

Neither of those takes, I think, will be exactly right, because Chicago is an idiosyncratic city that sort of has its own issues. But that, I think, is how it will be read nationally, even though there are of course, other issues besides crime and violence, even though that's dominated motivating people to go to the polls tomorrow.

Geoff Bennett:

Heather Cherone with WTTW Chicago PBS.

Heather, thanks so much.

Heather Cherone:

Thanks very much.