Crime concerns dominate Chicago election

Plenty of tough talk in contest for mayor

For years, Republicans have sought to win over voters by depicting Democratic-led cities as lawless centers of violence that need tough-on-crime policies. In Chicago, some of the Democrats running for mayor are deploying the same strategy as they debate how to make the city safer.

One leading candidate, who touts his endorsement from the Chicago police union, said that “crime is out of control” and the city needs hundreds more officers patrolling its streets. Another hopeful said that if suspects flee a crime scene, officers should be able to “hunt them down like a rabbit.”

Even incumbent Lori Lightfoot, the first Black woman and first openly gay person to serve as Chicago mayor, has used language out of the GOP playbook, saying a top rival in her re-election bid wants to defund the police.

The shift in rhetoric reflects the degree to which concerns about crime have dominated Tuesday’s mayoral election in Chicago and threatened Lightfoot’s re-election bid. Far from being an outlier, the nation’s third-largest city is just the latest Democratic stronghold where public safety has become a top election issue.

In San Francisco, progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin was ousted in a recall election last year that was fueled by frustration over public safety. In Los Angeles, two Democrats running for mayor debated how to deal with rising crime rates and an out-of-control homelessness crisis. In New York City, voters elected Eric Adams as mayor, elevating a former city police captain who pledged to fix the department and invest more in crime prevention. And in Philadelphia, candidates running for mayor this year are debating how to curb gun violence.

The increased attention on public safety follows a spike in crime rates in many communities that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. High-profile instances of police misconduct drew more scrutiny of policing, and there has been disagreement even among Democrats about progressive public safety policies such as ending cash bail or providing safe injection sites for drug users.

Jaime Domínguez, a political science professor at Northwestern University, said it’s the first time in 20 years that he has seen public safety be “front and center” in a Chicago mayoral election.

The difference, he said, is that crime is no longer largely isolated to some predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. As more crime is occurring in other parts of the highly segregated city, including in the downtown and other areas frequented by tourists, public safety is also top of mind for white voters.

“Historically, it was primarily a pocketed matter. It was still pernicious and candidates spoke to it, but it didn’t really affect areas where you see crime occurring now,” Dominguez said. “That has been blown up. It’s just, it’s everywhere.”

Chicago has a higher per-capita homicide rate than New York or Los Angeles, but it’s lower than other Midwestern cities, such as St. Louis and Detroit. Still, the number of homicides in Chicago hit a 25-year high in 2021 with 797, according to the Chicago Police Department.

That number decreased last year but is still higher than when Lightfoot took office in 2019. Other crimes, such as carjackings and robberies, have increased in recent years.

Nine candidates are running in Tuesday’s officially nonpartisan mayoral election. With no candidate expected to get over 50 percent of the vote, an April 4 runoff between the top two vote-getters is likely.

Erin Hooley The Associated Press file Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is seeking re-election, accuses a top rival of wanting to defund the police. Crime has been a chief topic before Tuesday’s election.