Chicago is a laboratory city in the politics of the United States.
Known as the Windy City, it teaches lessons to Republicans and Democrats alike.
Become a regular resource of Donald Trump to describe the apocalypse in which, according to him, the country has entered (only the territories where he won are saved), the increase in crime and public insecurity emerge as the most mentioned problem by their neighbors
The current mayor, the progressive Lori Lighfoot, the first African-American and openly gay, will not renew the position precisely for this reason. She was eliminated in the first round.
This week the second and final vote took place. The two candidates were of Democratic affiliation, but on completely opposite spectrums.
They faced the favorite, Paul Vallas, white, moderate and, for many, a Republican masquerading as a liberal, and Brandon Johnson, African-American and even more radical than Lightfoot.
If, respectively, one was the law and the order, the other had chanted about “taking funds from the police”, although once he entered the final stretch he tempered.
You only need to see the supports. Vallas, former head of the public school system, was bet by the city’s police union – its chief supported Trump in the 2020 elections – while Johnson, a former teacher and county commissioner, went support the powerful teachers union, beacon of progressivism in the United States.
It is a game of sensibilities within the same party. In line with the mayor of Los Angeles (Karen Bass) and contrary to the police officer Eric Adams in New York, the leftmost sector prevailed in Chicago. Johnson, 47, has the opportunity to develop his agenda and create a trend for other cities.
Within his party there were voices that described him as a politician too far to the left, a circumstance that had caused him to lose his majority in the Lower House of Congress in November. This radical wing of the Democrats, however, emerges strengthened from the municipal dispute.
Johnson was rather unknown when he began his career, until he received the embrace of two senators as important as Elizabeth Warren and, above all, Bernie Sanders. Vallas, 69, seemed excessively right-wing and pro-police.
No issue divides progressives as much as the crime rate and gives Republicans the rope to accuse them of being weak against “the bad guys.”
During the campaign, Johnson insisted on raising taxes on the richest, tourist fees and for corporations to pay for new services, money that should be used to finance social programs that serve to create a new culture in the fight against crime.
While he downplayed his criticism of the uniformed, he defended a different approach to the issue of public safety in a metropolis marked by violence. His idea is, instead of more police, to call for economic and community development, with more social workers, educators, mental health experts and more detectives to actually solve crimes.
As Delia RodrÃguez, a progressive legislator, pointed out, “the police department has tried to do the work of social workers, counselors, mediators and the result is that it has not helped.”
There is a 45% increase in crime this year, compared to the same period in 2022, in several categories (sexual abuse, theft, car theft). Although the number of homicides has fallen compared to the time of the pandemic, it remains 50% higher than in 2019.
Despite everything, the polls gave victory to the candidate who did not bet on punishment and the iron fist.
“This is the beginning of a Chicago that really invests in all its citizens,” he pointed out with joy on the night of the victory. He spoke of a new chapter in the city’s history, in which the administration “will take care of everyone, regardless of how much money they have or who they love”, he stressed.
He recalled that he grew up in a poor family, that he worked as a teacher at a school in Cabrinni Green, a former public housing complex, where he tried to protect children from bullets in the West Side neighborhood.
“Today the dream is alive”, he said in reference to Martin Luther King. “We celebrate the resurrection of Chicago,” he added.
