2019 Chicago mayoral election
The 2019 Chicago mayoral election was held on February 26, 2019, to determine the next Mayor of the City of Chicago, Illinois. Since no candidate received a majority of votes, a runoff election was held on April 2, 2019, between the two candidates with the most votes, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle.[5] Lightfoot defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff election to become mayor,[6] and was sworn in as mayor on May 20, 2019.[7]
The election was officially non-partisan, with its winner being elected to a four-year term. The elections were part of the 2019 Chicago elections, which included elections for City Council, City Clerk, and City Treasurer.
Incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel initially announced he would run for a third term but withdrew in September 2018.[8] Emanuel was first elected in 2011 (winning in the first round with 55.19% of the vote) and re-elected in 2015 (receiving 55.7% of the vote in the runoff election).
The runoff was historic, as it assured Chicago would elect its first African-American female mayor, its second elected African-American Mayor, after Harold Washington, and its second female mayor, after Jane Byrne.[9] Not only is Lightfoot the first African-American woman mayor in Chicago's history, but she is also the first openly LGBT person to lead Chicago. Lightfoot's election made Chicago the largest city won by an African American woman, as well as the largest by an openly LGBT person, in United States history.[10][11]
Campaign[edit]
First round[edit]
Incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel declared his intent to seek re-election on October 17, 2017.[12] One month later, Troy LaRaviere became the first opponent to declare their intent to run against Emanuel.[13]
Later, in 2018, more opponents would declare their intent to run against Emanuel, with Garry McCarthy and Willie Wilson doing so in March,[14][15] Dorothy A. Brown Cook, Ja'Mal Green, and Neal Sáles-Griffin doing so in April,[16][17] Lori Lightfoot, John Kozlar, and Paul Vallas doing so in May,[18][19] Matthew Rooney doing so in June,[20] and Amara Enyia and Jerry Joyce doing so in August.[21][22] By the end of the Summer of 2018, a dozen individuals had declared their candidacies.[23]
On September 4, 2018, Emanuel announced that he would no longer be seeking re-election.[24] Emanuel's announcement shook up the race, with many new candidates declaring their candidacies for mayor in the weeks that followed.[25]
In late November, much of the media coverage on the race showed Toni Preckwinkle and Susana Mendoza (both of whom had entered the race after Emanuel bowed out) to be considered its two frontrunners.[26][27][28]
The race for mayor was upended by Alderman Ed Burke's corruption scandal. Mayoral candidates Toni Preckwinkle, Susana Mendoza, Gery Chico, and Bill Daley all had connections to the disgraced alderman, and the scandal encouraged an anti-corruption and anti-machine politics sentiment among voters.[29][30][31]
A number of issues were debated by the candidates throughout the campaign. One of the major issues was pensions, as the city's annual pensions contribution had been projected to double between 2018 and 2023.[32] Another issue was education, where sub-issues included school closings that had taken place under the Emanuel administration and the possibility of reforming the school-board selection method.[32] Another issue was crime.[32] Particularly in light of cases such as the murder of Laquan McDonald, issues regarding practices by the city's law enforcement were also discussed by candidates.[32] Another issue was the use of tax increment financing by the city.[32] Affordable housing was another issue debated.[32] Ethics reforms were also debated.[32] Taxes were another issue debated, with some candidates advocating for a commuter tax and some candidates advocating for a property tax freeze.[33]
After ballot challenges were settled, a total of fourteen candidates were included on the ballot for the first round of the election. This is the most candidates that have ever been on the ballot in the history of Chicago mayoral elections.[34][35][36]
The first round of the election was considered highly competitive to the end, with a number of candidates shown by polls to be viable contenders to potentially advance to the run
off. For example, a poll conducted February 11–13 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. for the media outlets Telemundo/NBC 5 Chicago illustrated what the outlets described as a tight five-way race between (in alphabetical order) Chico, Daley, Lightfoot, Mendoza, and Preckwinkle.[37] On February 24, The Wall Street Journal described the race's polling as showing six candidates with the possibility of making the runoff, with the five strongest contenders being described as (in alphabetical order) Chico, Daley, Lightfoot, Mendoza, and Preckwinkle.[38] Also on February 24, Chicago magazine wrote that it considered six individuals to have a chance of making the runoff, with those individuals being (in alphabetical order) Chico, Daley, Lightfoot, Mendoza, Preckwinkle, and Wilson.[39]
In the first round, Lori Lightfoot placed first and Toni Preckwinkle placed second, securing them both a spot in the runoff election.
Lightfoot's first-place finish in the first round was regarded to be an upset.[40][41][42] She was seen as a long-shot when she first entered the race.[25] In late-January, Lightfoot's support in publicly released polls had only ranged between 2% and 5%.[43][44][45][46] Despite her low poll numbers in January, Lightfoot had persisted in her campaign, performing well in debates and running some ads on television.[40] She won the endorsement of the Chicago Sun-Times.[40] She also garnered new personal endorsements, including those of the Scott Waguespack, David Orr, and Robin Kelly, of whom the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Brown would later write in exploring the contributing factors to Lightfoot's first-round victory, "none of them heavyweights but influential enough to point the way for progressive voters looking for some sign, any sign, of how to pick their way through the thicket of candidates."[40] While Lightfoot rose to the top of some polls near the end of the race, she had peaked in support so late in the race that none of the other candidates had been focused on running negative ads against her.[40] Lightfoot also was seen as ultimately benefiting from the Burke corruption scandal, as she was running as a "political outsider" on an anti-corruption platform.[25][47][48] Preckwinkle's allies had also, accidentally, provided Lightfoot with free media attention on two noteworthy occasions. The first incident occurred February 18, when one of Lightfoot's press conferences was crashed by Preckwinkle ally Robert Martwick, with whom Lightfoot got into a heated exchange.[49] The second incident where Preckwinkle's camp generated free headlines for Lightfoot was when, days before the first round of the election, her campaign manager, Scott Cisek, published a Facebook post likening Lightfoot to a Nazi, leading to his firing by the Preckwinkle campaign.[50]
In Chicago, ethnic/racial coalitions had often played a key role in elections. As such, many of the candidates were seen as targeting different groups with their campaigns.[48] Hispanic candidates Gery Chico and Susana Mendoza were seen as vying for the Hispanic vote.[48] Toni Preckwinkle and Willie Wilson were seen as targeting the black vote.[48][51] Bill Daley was seen as targeting the white vote.[48] Lightfoot was seen as breaking the rules of traditional Chicago politics by not basing her candidacy on seeking the support of particular ethnic/racial groups.[48]
Runoff[edit]
Throughout the runoff, Lightfoot led Preckwinkle in polls.
For the runoff, Lightfoot received endorsements from seven of the twelve candidates that had been eliminated in the first round (Gery Chico, Jerry Joyce, John Kozlar, Susana Mendoza, Neal Sales-Griffin, Paul Vallas, and Willie Wilson). Preckwinkle, in contrast, received no endorsements from any candidates that had been eliminated in the first round.[52]
In what was considered a "sweep" of the city's major publications,[53] retaining her endorsement from the Chicago Sun-Times,[54] for the runoff, Lightfoot also received the endorsements of the Chicago Tribune[55] and Crain's Chicago Business[56] (both of which had endorsed Bill Daley in the first round).[57][58]
Both Lightfoot and Preckwinkle positioned themselves as self-declared, "progressives".[59] In a November 2019 retrospective, however, Edward McClelland of Chicago magazine wrote, "Lightfoot didn’t run as a progressive. She ran as a reformer, the political outsider who promised to quash the Chicago Way, as exemplified by Alderman Ed Burke and all the mayoral candidates who took his money. (Lightfoot's opponent, Toni Preckwinkle, ran as a progressive, but not a reformer.)"[60]
In the runoff, Preckwinkle highlighted her depth of government experience and sought to emphasize a contrast with Lightfoot's lack of experience in elected office.[61] Lightfoot criticized Preckwinkle's connections with controversial figures such as Ed Burke and Joseph Berrios.[61]
The two candidates differed on rent control, with Preckwinkle seeking the repeal of a state law prohibiting local governments from imposing rent control, while Lightfoot did not advocate for rent control in Chicago.[62] The candidates differed on prospective term limits, with Preckwinkle opposing them, and Lightfoot advocating limiting both mayoral tenures and City Council committee chairmanships to two terms.[62] Preckwinkle sought to create a ban on aldermen holding outside jobs, while Lightfoot differed, instead preferring to only ban them from holding outside jobs that pose conflicts of interest with official their duties.[62] Preckwinkle wanted the power to draw ward maps to remain in the hands of the City Council, while Lightfoot wanted a non-partisan and independent process to be created for redistricting.[62] Preckwinkle defended retaining the practice of "aldermanic prerogative", while Lightfoot sought to bring an end to the practice.[62] The candidates also differed on whether they would retain incumbent Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department Eddie T. Johnson, with Preckwinkle having stating that she planned to immediately dismiss Johnson of his post, while Lightfoot stated that she planned to retain him at least through the summer of 2019.[61]
Lightfoot ultimately won a landslide victory in the runoff.
Voter turnout[edit]
First round[edit]
Turnout in the first round of the election was 35.20%.[1][2] The low turnout was attributed to poor youth turnout and a drop off in voter turnout from the 2018 midterms.[355][356][357]
The 35.32% turnout was higher than that of the first round of the 2015 election,[358] but was lower than that of the 2015 runoff.[359] Turnout was lower than in the previous open race in 2011.[360]
Turnout was reported to be lowest among the millennial age demographic, with a lower turnout among those under 35 than the previous lowest under-35 turnout in 2007.[361]
Portrayal in media[edit]
The Steve James documentary series City So Real, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was later televised on National Geographic on October 28, 2020, centers on the mayoral election.[362]