I’d really like to say I was surprised by the outcome of the Chicago mayoral race last night but it was probably inevitable. The residents of the Windy City were offered a choice between someone who wanted to rebuild the Chicago PD and bring down the crime rates and someone who was on the record saying he wanted to defund the police. By the slimmest of margins, a bare majority of voters decided to stick with the carjacking epidemic because it’s been working out so well thus far, I suppose. “Progressive” candidate Brandon Johnson bested pro-cop Paul Vallas with a 51.4 to 48.6 margin. (The official vote count is embedded at the bottom of this article.) So don’t look for any major changes coming to the landscape of Chicago anytime soon. (Fox News)

The Windy City decided on its new mayor Tuesday after a tight race between two blues, with a progressive, Bernie Sanders-endorsed Democrat taking the keys to the Chicago mayor’s office.

Progressive Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson defeated his moderate opponent, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, to take the Chicago mayor’s race, replacing outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who came in third before the runoff.

Vallas garnered the support of the Chicago police union and major business groups while Johnson got the backing of Chicago’s teacher’s union.

Chicago is well known for the “Magnificent Mile,” a formerly prosperous and productive retail district filled with high-end shops and fine dining establishments. Now it looks like a war zone. For the past year or more, it’s been the site of robberies, assaults, smash-and-grab heists, and even murders. Business owners have been fleeing the area.

Under Mayor Lori Lightfoot, conditions in Chicago have deteriorated. The city’s residents were offered a chance to turn things around, assuming that’s still possible. The choice was rather stark. Paul Vallas had been endorsed by the Chicago Police Union while Brandon Johnson had the endorsement of the teachers union. (That really sums up the race in a nutshell.) But despite most polls showing that crime was the number one concern on the minds of voters, the “defund the police” guy wound up winning.

So how did this happen? As we discussed in the final weeks of the runoff, it really came down to a question of race. Vallas is white and Johnson is Black. Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor was making the rounds of every political rally in the city and preaching about the need to hold together “our Black and brown coalition.” And it looks like she managed that feat, if only by a slender margin.

In the end, those of us who don’t live in Chicago don’t really have a voice in the discussion. The residents have made their choice and now they’ll have to live with it. (At least those who manage to survive.) Chicago has been losing residents for a while now. Over the past two years, Cook County (home to Chicago) experienced the second-largest percentage decrease in residents in the county, coming in behind only Los Angeles County.  Don’t expect that trend to change in 2023.

Here are the official vote totals I mentioned above:

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