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In 2019,\u00a0Lori Lightfoot<\/strong> took the stage in a downtown ballroom and promised to usher in \u201cone Chicago, indivisible and united for all.\u201d She had just won the runoff in a landslide, taking all 50 wards to become the first Black woman and openly gay person to lead America\u2019s third largest city. Lightfoot, who had never held elected office until then, had not only vowed to usher in police reform in a city still reeling from the murder of Laquan McDonald and the handling of it by\u00a0her predecessor; she’d promised to \u201cremake\u201d the city\u2019s infamous machine-style politics. \u201cTogether, we can and will finally put the interests of our people \u2014\u00a0all of our people \u2014 ahead of the interests of a powerful few,\u201d she said after defeating Cook County Board President\u00a0Toni Preckwinkle<\/strong>. \u201cI really hope that Lori can be the light for this city,\u201d one supporter\u00a0told me<\/a> during Lightfoot\u2019s jubilant victory party.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Tuesday night, Lightfoot had to give a very different speech.<\/p>\n After four tumultuous years in office, Lightfoot became the first Chicago mayor in four decades to fail to win reelection. \u201cIt\u2019s been the honor of a lifetime to be mayor,\u201d Lightfoot\u00a0said<\/a> in an emotional speech Tuesday night, conceding to\u00a0Paul Vallas<\/strong> and\u00a0Brandon Johnson<\/strong>, who will square off in a runoff election in April. \u201cObviously, we didn\u2019t win the election today,” she added, “but I stand here with my head held high and a heart full of gratitude.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Her rapid downfall\u2014from a landslide victory in 2019 to a third-place finish with less than 20 percent of the vote\u2014can be partly attributed to her proclivity for big, messy political fights: The acrimonious battles with\u00a0City Council<\/a> and the\u00a0Chicago Teachers Union<\/a>; the\u00a0hostilities with the press<\/a>; the notorious scrap over a Christopher Columbus statue that, according to a lawsuit last year, allegedly boiled over with the mayor berating staff with this line:<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But her loss Tuesday also reflects the undercurrent of strife and anxiety that has run through big cities like Chicago in the wake of the pandemic and the social unrest of 2020. Though Lightfoot certainly faced criticism for her handling of COVID and the 2020 racial justice protests\u2014including the city\u2019s\u00a0aggressive police response to the demonstrations<\/a>\u2014polls<\/a> through 2020 generally showed\u00a0broad approval<\/a> for her leadership. But support\u00a0fizzled through 2021<\/a>, amid a spike in violent crime, and continued to\u00a0plummet<\/a> through 2022, despite improvements in\u00a0some public safety metrics<\/a> that she cited during her reelection campaign in an effort to combat attacks from her opponents.\u00a0<\/p>\n As I\u00a0reported<\/a> earlier this week, those attacks proved especially potent for Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO who has run on a conservative, \u201ctough-on-crime\u201d platform that echoes\u00a0Eric Adams<\/strong>\u2019 winning bid for New York mayor a little more than a year ago. \u201cWe will make Chicago the safest city in America,\u201d Vallas\u00a0said<\/a> in a primary victory speech Tuesday. But public safety has also proved a powerful message for Johnson, the crowded field\u2019s most progressive candidate, who has argued that Lightfoot failed to deliver on her promise of police reform and has called for a more holistic approach to crime reduction that includes more investment in historically neglected neighborhoods on the South and West sides. \u201cWe get to turn the page on the politics of old,\u201d Johnson told supporters Tuesday night. \u201cWe\u2019re going to finally retire this tale of two cities.\u201d Needless to say, the Vallas-Johnson race will be a study in stark contrasts: a candidate who\u00a0boasts the support<\/a> of the right-wing Fraternal Order of Police versus another candidate who has spoken in favor defunding the police<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whereas Lightfoot four years ago promised a united Chicago, voters here now appear sharply divided between her opponents’ competing visions for the city: With about 34 percent of the vote, Vallas led the initial round Tuesday\u2014to cheers from\u00a0Darren Bailey<\/strong>, the MAGA Republican whose failed 2022 challenge to Governor\u00a0JB Pritzker<\/strong> hinged, in part, on the idea that Democratic leadership had turned Chicago into a\u00a0\u201chell hole.\u201d<\/a> \u201cGod Bless Chicago!\u201d Bailey\u00a0tweeted<\/a> Tuesday night. \u201cYou are finally figuring it out!!!\u201d Should Vallas receive in the runoff the roughly 10 percent of votes garnered by the race\u2019s other conservative\u2014perennial candidate\u00a0Willie Wilson<\/strong>\u2014he\u2019d have about 45 percent. Meanwhile, Johnson, who took about 20 percent of Tuesday\u2019s vote, would get to about 40, if voters from the race\u2019s other more progressive candidates\u2014United States Congressman\u00a0Chuy Garcia<\/strong>, 27-year-old activist\u00a0Ja\u2019Mal Green<\/strong>, State Representative\u00a0Kam Buckner<\/strong>, and Alds.\u00a0Sophia King<\/strong> and\u00a0Roderick Sawyer<\/strong>\u2014were to shift to him in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n That means the race for City Hall could come down to the 17 percent of voters who voted for Lightfoot, who didn\u2019t run as far to the right as Vallas but not as far to the left as Johnson. Where her middle ultimately goes could be as potent a symbol for national attitudes on issues of public safety as her loss itself.\u00a0It\u2019s unclear if Lightfoot herself will make an endorsement or which of her two rivals she\u2019d back, but on Tuesday she called each to congratulate them on making the runoff, and\u00a0said<\/a> she\u2019d be \u201crooting and praying\u201d for the city\u2019s next mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n