- With less than one week to go until election day, Paul Vallas—the former CEO of Chicago’s public schools who once supported Lightfoot in her previous run for mayor—has been running on an alternative track, pushing support for the city’s law enforcement as a key policy plank in his bid for the mayor’s seat.
- In addition to calling for the immediate dismissal of “absentee” Superintendent David Brown and his leadership team, Vallas has pledged to “rebuild” the city’s police force amid persistent reports of burnout in the city’s ranks, which have declined by nearly one-fifth since Lightfoot—a former prosecutor and onetime president of the Chicago Police Board—took office.
- Already long-facing a “crisis of credibility” for her office’s inability to quell the city’s crime rate post-COVID, Chicago has replaced just one-half of its departed police officers since Lightfoot took office in 2019, according to a CBS News analysis, while crime rates (while improving) remain well-above pre-pandemic levels, according to WTTW.
