Chicago Mayoral Runoff: Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson Make Final Push as Voters Head to Polls

The April 4 Chicago Mayoral runoff is seeing Paul Vallas, a moderate Democrat, and Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat, trying to get last-minute votes ahead of polls closing.

The winner will succeed Lori Lightfoot who lost in the Feb. 28 primary following years of coming under fire regarding issues like COVID and public safety.

Johnson, 47, serves as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Commissioners governing the county where Chicago is located.

Vallas, 69, was the CEO of Chicago Public Schools and has held numerous educational leadership positions in Philadelphia, Louisiana, and Bridgeport, Louisiana.

Vallas is shown ahead in the polls by a slight margin.

One of the major issues surrounding the election, which has drawn nationwide attention, is public safety given the overall increase in crime in 2023 compared to last year.

While murders this year, compared to 2022, have gone down by 15 percent, according to the Chicago Police Department, criminal sexual assaults have increased by 6 percent, robberies are up by 15 percent, aggravated batteries by 6 percent, burglaries by 8 percent, thefts by 23 percent, and motor vehicle thefts have skyrocketed by 133 percent. Overall, crime has gone up by 46 percent.

Johnson: ‘I Expect to Lead the City of Chicago for Everyone’

Johnson’s coalition has mainly consisted of fellow progressives, typically those in the 18 to 35 age group. However, in response to a question from The Epoch Times after casting his early-morning ballot at a public housing building, Johnson said that he would be a mayor for not just progressives, but for everyone.

“I expect to lead the city of Chicago for everyone,” he said just prior to leaving the polling location.

Bill Lowry, one of Johnson’s fellow commissioners on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, remarked that Johnson seeks to work for all people and that he has a “commitment to communication” and is “action-oriented after he first listens and collaborates.”

“I know he has certainly tried to appeal to all of Chicago. All 77 communities and all of the facets of those 77 communities,” he told The Epoch Times. “That’s all you can ask of a candidate. He has tried to do so. I think he’s done it.”

Vallas has run on a moderate platform, including school choice and calling for more police officers. After casting his ballot later in the morning at an elementary school, he told The Epoch Times that he has tried to appeal to everyone.

Vallas: I’m ‘as Progressive as Anybody’

He touted his “progressive agenda on investing on the south and west sides, on returning schools to the control of the community so that they can be centers of community activities … my stand on protecting women’s reproductive rights and obviously supporting, early on before many did, the issues important to the LGBTQ community … makes me as progressive as anybody.”

Vallas ran on a pro-police platform, while Johnson has come under fire, including from Vallas, for his past support of the “Defund the Police” movement, which he called an “actual, real political goal” in 2020. Johnson has since sought to distance himself from that cause.

Johnson told Laura Washington, a political analyst for ABC’s Chicago affiliate, in March, that he “said it was a political goal. I never said it was mine.”

“As far as my vision for public safety, I’m not going to defund the police,” he said.

Lowry told The Epoch Times that Johnson would look to use public safety resources judiciously.

“For a fact, he wants to look at the resources that we have, that we can commit for public safety and he’s gonna commit those resources,” he said. “He’s not going to detract any of the funding. He just wants to make sure that we’re utilizing it to the best of our ability to solve the problem.”

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