CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Either way, we'll get to have a very divided city, just as our stupid nation.

I don't think the city is divided like the nation is right now..... Otherwise this thread would mirror CE, and thank god it doesn't.

I just think we have a sharp divide on policy prescriptions for the city's problems, or at least it appears the conversations are not as heavily reliant on candidate's personalities as they are what each side is trying to offer.

[streetline]

Wow, this is turning into a real nail biter of a count.
Johnson is very slightly ahead at this point on chicagoelections.gov.
I didn't expect it to be this close.

Precincts Reported: 1,142 of 1,291 (88.46%)

BRANDON JOHNSON
242,970
50.11%

PAUL VALLAS
241,859
49.89%

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by streetline

I didn't expect it to be this close.

What did...you ...expect?

[twister244]

The only other Alderman race I was kinda looking at was the 46th ward, only because of the conversation about the Uptown Theater in the General thread.

Angela Clay is currently at 55%

As a refresher (if you care about the Uptown Theater):

https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/03...on-want-to-do/

[Kngkyle]

A lot closer than I thought, for the worse. Looks like the CTU might get their blank check after all.

[lakeshoredrive]

I am shocked. Like really shocked. I thought Vallas has this in the bag easily.

[streetline]

Originally Posted by marothisu

What did...you ...expect?

More than a percentage point of spread.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by streetline

More than a percentage point of spread.

Well it is now, but in whose favor did you expect?

[streetline]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Well it is now, but in whose favor did you expect?

Just about exactly 1%, yeah.

Based on the polls not coming directly from campaigns, I expected Vallas to win. Why the curiosity about my read, did you expect differently?

Precincts Reported: 1,194 of 1,291 (92.49%)

BRANDON JOHNSON
258,594
50.70%

PAUL VALLAS
251,415
49.30%

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by streetline

Just about exactly 1%, yeah.

Based on the polls not coming directly from campaigns, I expected Vallas to win. Why the curiosity about my read, did you expect differently?

Precincts Reported: 1,194 of 1,291 (92.49%)

BRANDON JOHNSON
258,594
50.70%

PAUL VALLAS
251,415
49.30%

I was more shocked by not thinking it would be close. Though to be honest, I expected Vallas to be up tonight. Still 25Kish votes left to count and there's no indication of which precincts are outstanding. Johnson certainly has "momentum" but that's only if you believe that they counted all the pro Vallas precincts first with none left to count at the end.

[Kngkyle]

Johnson up by 13k votes now. It's over.... will be interesting to see what happens now.

The moderate candidates in 46 and 48 have both lost as well.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

Johnson up by 13k votes now. It's over.... will be interesting to see what happens now.

The moderate candidates in 46 and 48 have both lost as well.

Well - Here's a question:

Do you think Johnson will be worse than LL?

I expect things to stay the same the same over the next few years politically here. It sucks, but maybe Johnson pivots to be more of a moderate with time, and actually proves himself to be an effective mayor, or at least a better mayor than LL.

And if not..... There's always the next election.

[bnk]

Chicago is fucked

4 more years a being a national punching bag.

I can’t wait to see the returns

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Johnson certainly has "momentum" but that's only if you believe that they counted all the pro Vallas precincts first with none left to count at the end.

Well, turns out it’s the South side wards that have left to report, so I doubt there’s any margin for Vallas left.

The white vote was simply underweighted for Johnson, since black and Hispanic turnout was so low.

[UPChicago]

Originally Posted by UPChicago

Brandon Johnson will probably be the next mayor.

He ran second or third (behind Wilson) in the majority of precincts Lightfoot won. He ran second in a lot of the SW precincts Chuy carried. Vallas's turnout was extremely poor in black precincts (especially on the west side), and Johnson was the second vote-getter in many of the precincts he narrowly won.

Johnson will consolidate the black vote and turn out voters on the lakefront, just like Lightfoot did four years ago but to a lesser extent.

The results are not very surprising.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by bnk

Chicago is fucked

4 more years a being a national punching bag.

I can’t wait to see the returns

There's a city council and various state/city laws to get through on everything. Do you think maybe there's a reason why Johnson started backtracking on 95% of the stuff he "promised." Candidates run on empty promises because they take advantage of peoples' lack of understanding of how government actually works in the US. We don't elect someone who just calls the shots unchecked.

I hope he can unite people more but I'm really not very certain that it's as doom and gloom as various people think. The only way he gets what he wants is if a majority of progressives get elected in City Council, which I'm pretty sure is still not the case even after tonight.

[Chicago Shawn]

Welp I’m pissed and my fiancé is even more pissed. Honestly putting our place up for sale is not out of the question. I’m tired of the crime and the awful state of the CTA while also stomaching a huge property tax increase, and none of this is going to get better within the next couple of years. I hope city council stonewalls Brandon on the tax increases, we can’t afford a anti-business billboard hanging over the city because the rest of us will be left holding the bag for city budget required to pay into the huge pension obligations. Will Brandon pivot to a more pragmatic approach with more carrots and fewer sticks? His sudden support of One Central is encouraging I suppose, hopefully it’s a signal that he wants to encourage growth as a tool to support his goals rather than draconian taxes at a time when we are trying to encourage businesses that maintaining operations in the city is a good investment.

Yes there are still 91,363 mail-in ballots still outstanding, but those aren’t going to favor Vallas.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn

I’m tired of the crime and the awful state of the CTA while also stomaching a huge property tax increase, and none of this is going to get better within the next couple of years. I hope city council stonewalls Brandon on the tax increases, we can’t afford a anti-business billboard hanging over the city because the rest of us will be left holding the bag for city budget required to pay into the huge pension obligations.

I agree with most of what you say, but also were you outwardly tired of the crime in 2016 thru 2018? Some parts of 2019 too?

Anyway, you know there's a reason he's backtracked on a lot of the things, including many taxes, he proposed right? It's this plus other things like state laws. He backtracked completely on a city income tax after finding you have to change a state law. He backtracked on a commuter tax when people convinced him how stupid it is, etc. Just like Lightfoot, I think that Johnson already realizes that he faces an uphill battle with city council and other things. He will have a harder time than Lightfoot passing things because he's more to the left than she is and there's not enough support in this camp in city council (I don't think) to get most of what he wants that is far left.

I know it's upsetting, but I suggest taking a step back and realizing how things are passed here. This reminds me of when my mom threatened to move to Belize when Trump won in 2016. It's a very valid response to be pissed but IMO things are typically never as bad as people fear them to be regarding mayoral, governor, and presidential elections. They aren't as powerful as people think. The real power is in city councils, senates, etc. There are a lot of things I will bet a ton of money on, tax wise, that will never get passed as long as there's not a progressive majority in the city council.

[SIGSEGV]

Johnson wasn't my first choice in the runoff, and to be honest I thought he'd be toast against Vallas, but I'm glad the populists scaremongering candidate with few actual plans (other than, *checks notes*, bringing cops out of retirement somehow?) candidate lost. Here's hoping he's a more effective leader than Lightfoot (at least he's more charismatic, and clearly has more political savvy). Now the important question is if he's going to try to reclaim "Let's Go Brandon"?

Ok, I know Vallas was doing his scaremongering as a schtick (that he for some reason didn't drop after the first round) and probably would have for the most part been perfectly fine, but I also expect Johnson to be more pragmatic than people expect.

[JMBasquiat]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Anyway, you know there's a reason he's backtracked on a lot of the things, including many taxes, he proposed right?

It's because he has no idea what he's talking about and is constantly shifting positions in an effort to keep up with what's cool at that moment. Let's hope he wakes up and realizes he needs to work with others to implement sound policy instead of trying to squeeze out whItE CapITaL like he said he would multiple times.