Politics is Chicago’s favorite sport. There always seems to be an election or at least a discussion on what politicians did and what It means. For sure, the majority of people are voting less. In the last election, over one million did not vote. And more people are running for office. Some aldermanic races had eleven candidates, while the mayoral race had nine. So, too many people are running, and not enough are voting.
We have seen politics move from a tight, controlled Daley machine run by precinct captains awarding snow removal on the neighborhood streets and garbage cans on the back porch. We have seen candlelight parades where all candidates walk a significant street right before the election.
We have seen a mayor turn off the train to the Southside and lose the election because of a snowstorm, where he forgot the city’s Black population. We saw a gutsy lady walk up to the fifth floor and label the councilmen a “cabal of evil men.” We have seen the Black voter taken for granted and ignored and awarded with turkeys and hams in the housing projects. The food giveaways were a token of goodwill for the vote. Sound familiar? Now we use gas and groceries, with the same effect. We have seen the Black community rally like no other and elect the darling Harold Washington. We have even seen a new fresh face run and beat the seasoned pro by winning all the wards. We have seen the first Black, woman, and lesbian elected by Chicagoans to run this magnificent city. We have seen history come and go. We have seen a brilliant political operative come straight from the White House with a presidential endorsement to land on the Fifth Floor, and a cover-up police criminal act caused him to decide not to run for office.
And here we are, with yet another historical race, waiting for the public to choose between the experienced technocrat and the fresh face educator. Both are well-heeled financially. Paul Vallas with $11.1 million in his campaign coffers and Johnson with $7.1 million. Both have enough to run TV commercials galore. But once again, we see race playing a significant role. Some will vote for Paul simply because he is white. And some will vote for Brandon Johnson, simply because he is Black. We see propaganda take the front stage in defunding or not defunding the police. We see the citizens, all of the citizens, concerned about the overwhelming crime problem. We see the final candidates approach the subject differently. We see the endorsements from out of town, the blessings from the use-to-be politicians, the newcomers, the progressives, the die heart democrats, and the behind-the-scene republicans. We view the battle of the candidates in multiple debates with pat questions and answers. For the next election, we should have a ‘People’s Debate.” Only the people in the audience can ask questions.
We see the unions lead the campaigns with great vigor and finance to the point where out-of-towner campaign people come in to run the race with their expertise. We see the badge of courage and know the experience. We see the dead heat to the very end. We see the candidates who lost take sides. We see the north side versus the south side versus the west side. We see the Hispanics versus the Black vote versus the white vote. We see the polls with a dead heat, a statistical tie. We see so much that it overwhelms us, so much so that some choose not to vote. Yet, two good men are running to be the boss of a world-class city and take it to the next level. We contemplate the future as we recognize history.
We are still waiting to hear from the one voice that might make a real difference in this election, Mayor Lori Lightfoot herself. Her endorsement could be significant in determining the next mayor of the city.
Oh, how much we see. I hope we see voters at the poll, participating in the democracy in our city’s decision-making about who will be the next mayor.
Oh, how we see a tale of two candidates. The election is on April 4. Early voting all over the city began on March 20.
