2 reasons Vallas lost

Now come the usual analyses explaining how and why one candidate won the mayor’s office while the other lost. So far, no one has pinpointed two important reasons the more experienced and better prepared Paul Vallas lost to newcomer Brandon Johnson, who had fewer pertinent credentials but had important union backing. Sometimes, emotion trumps logic. Sometimes, factors in plain sight are ignored.

The voters who follow political currents were familiar with Vallas’ impressive track record and managerial abilities as a top-notch problem-solver for numerous municipalities. But how many voters internalized those accomplishments enough to elect him on Election Day? While Vallas is rightly a darling of the establishment, he was mostly a stranger to the vast majority of voters in Black and Hispanic wards. And although Vallas had three years while Lori Lightfoot was mayor to make his name and achievements known to minorities at the grassroots level, he did not. That cost him. Keep in mind how siloed and Balkanized Chicago is.

Positioning himself as the law-and-order candidate in a time when crime leads voter concerns, Vallas also positioned himself as the darling of the Fraternal Order of Police. This may not have mattered to many, and it jumpstarted his campaign. But few Latinos or African Americans see the FOP as other than a racist police organization that is resistant to court-ordered reforms. While the FOP endorsement boosted Vallas among many white voters, among minorities in general, it was a pill too poisonous to swallow, even while they want criminals to be arrested.

Minority voters know the police are necessary to keep the peace and arrest wrongdoers, but they still have misgivings about how some cops go about it. When did we last see a newspaper report about a white inmate released because his conviction was found to be false? But we regularly read of innocent Black inmates released because they were wrongly convicted due to police wrongdoing or false testimony. This psychological backdrop influences Chicago voting and is risky for candidates to ignore.

Will Johnson be savvy enough in victory to benefit from Vallas’ abilities as part of his inner circle? And would Vallas be gracious enough to accept such an offer?

Such a development would do much to de-Balkanize and advance our city.