Mayoral race critical to future

She won in an April 2019 runoff, earning about 74 percent of the vote to Tony Preckwinkle’s 26 percent.

In the general election barely a month earlier, when 14 candidates were on the ballot, Lightfoot earned about 17 percent and Preckwinkle 16 percent to earn their spot in the runoff.

The 2023 election could also be headed for a runoff, as candidates continue to emerge.

Raymond Lopez, who is alderman of the 15th Ward and an outspoken critic of Lightfoot, has officially announced his campaign, and Willie Wilson, a businessman known for distributing over $1 million of free gasoline in recent weeks, was expected to announced his candidacy on April 11.

Lightfoot has not officially announced that she is running for re-election, but on April 11, her campaign announced new hires, and her team members said in an email that they “are grateful to have these talented individuals on Team Lightfoot as we gear up ahead of a reelection announcement.”

Just like 2019, it is difficult to predict who will emerge victorious in 2023—but voters should pay close attention as the city deals with a long list of issues.

Lightfoot has her place in history, but she has been justifiably criticized for how she has dealt with crime, the COVID-19 pandemic and relations with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Chicago Police Department (CPD).

She does, however, deserve sympathy for having to deal with some problems that no other recent mayor has—such as a pandemic.

At the end of the day, Chicagoans want to feel safe; they want their children to feel safe; and they want to know where their tax dollars are going.

Parents do not want any more CTU work stoppages, regardless of who is at fault.

Citizens also want the CPD to protect them while also being transparent in its activities.

And, CPD officers deserve to feel safe while they are on the job.

Every election season, candidates say that the current election is the most important ever held.

Next year in Chicago, that might actually be true.