Earlier this year, I announced my endorsement for Amara Enyia for the February 26 Chicago mayoral election.
Unfortunately, Amara did not win, and with the election gone, we now have two candidates that will advance to an additional runoff election on Tuesday, April 2: Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle.
While I do have my reservations for both of these candidates, who will guarantee that Chicago's next mayor will be a black woman, given the history of both of these candidates on the issues facing the city, one of them seems to come on top as being the best out of the two.
And that woman is Toni Preckwinkle.
With the mayoral election not turning out as planned, Chicago could see up to 5 progressives join the ranks of City Council. Even if the top jobs end up to be the worst-case scenario, there seems to be a sizable resistance against that should it ever be needed.
With that being said, Toni Preckwinkle is the best candidate in this race because she is not tied to a deeply tied history with the police that enables some of Chicago's longstanding and infamous segregation. And while her history of taking full credit for bringing justice for Laquan McDonald is troubling, she opposes the building of the controversial $95 million cop academy, establish an office of criminal justice, and hold Chicago Police accountable in order to end the culture of the code of silence within the police department.
Lori Lightfoot, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. While Lightfoot touts her time on the Chicago Police board as proof she's held cops accountable, the fact of the matter is that only 21 cops were fired under her 3-year tenure on the board. Moreover, she's also been known for chastising the families of Ronald Johnson, Rekia Boyd, and Bettie Jones at a board hearing, threatening them to leave.
This is also not to mention that Lightfoot has been buddying up with conservative Aldermen Nicholas Sposato and Anthony Napolitano, the former of which has come under fire for hurling racist name-calling towards Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa. Lightfoot's inability to denounce these two men is very concerning given her claims to be a progressive.
So at the end of the day, the choice between these two candidates seems clear. Toni Preckwinkle is perhaps our best bet if we want to put Chicago on a more progressive track.
Both of these candidates are problematic in their own right, but from the looks of it, Lightfoot's history seems much rockier than Preckwinkle's. And with the next mayor having to choose to continue or clean up Rahm Emanuel's mess, it seems that Lori will continue it.
Preckwinkle is endorsed.
