(RightIsRight.co) – Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot may fail to get reelected or even reach the runoff in the city’s mayoral election on February 28, according to the latest polls and reports.
If no candidate wins Chicago’s municipal election with a clear majority at the end of February, the runoff will be held in April.
Lightfoot, a first-term far-left mayor who has become controversial on various issues, faces eight challengers on the ballot.
She has said it was “impossible not to have a runoff” because of the sheer number of candidates, but polling shows she may not even make it to the second round, Newsmax reported.
In a recent poll by The Chicago Sun-Times, 71% of respondents said Chicago was on the wrong track, three-fifths disproved of Lightfoot’s performance, and over half viewed her unfavorably.
The same survey gives roughly equal election chances to Lightfoot and two Democrat challengers, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Paul Vallas. Another poll, however, put her third, behind both of them.
“[The mayoral election contest is] looking harder and harder for her. It’s a hell of a front to be fighting on, from her vantage point,” Garcia recently told ABC News.
Lightfoot, however, has claimed that falling behind in the polls could play to her advantage.
“[I love] people thinking of me as the underdog. I’ve been an underdog my whole life. And I’ve always proven people wrong, so I’m OK in that lane,” she said in an NBC interview.
Poll results have established that the residents of Chicago are “fed up” with the rampant violent crime and problematic police relations, and they would like to have a mayor who could fix those issues.
Vallas, a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, has received the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police. The city’s police union has been in conflict with the leftist mayor for much of her term.
Another formidable competitor for Lightfoot is Brandon Johnson, a county commissioner endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union. The latter is another major union in the city at odds with the mayor.
Besides falling out with essential organizations, Lightfoot has been in conflicts with Illinois’ Democrat Governor, J.B. Pritzker, and her fellow aldermen.
In 2021, she was sued by a media organization after declaring that she would exclude white journalists from her interviews.
At the same time, Lightfoot’s major competitors have also had trouble lately.
Garcia is facing challenging questions over donations that he has received from Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted CEO of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Vallas has been criticized for being supported by Chicago’s police union because, on Monday, the Fraternal Order of Police is hosting Florida’s popular Republican Governor and potential presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is saying that with nine people on the ballot for her seat, it will be "impossible not to have a runoff," but it appears highly possible that she won't reach that point in her reelection bid. https://t.co/Dhlo1N3N9z
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) February 19, 2023
