Is Chicago Next to Wake Up?

In the last few elections, there have been some encouraging signs that voters in major cities are beginning to turn the corner and wake up from the delusions of wokeness. San Francisco booted its criminal-coddling district attorney. New York Democrats nominated the relatively tougher-on-crime candidate for mayor, with the general election being a foregone conclusion. The results have not all been positive, though. Philadelphia voters unwisely reelected their criminal-coddling  DA, and a majority of Californians are so allergic to voting for a Republican that Gov. Newsom’s appointed attorney general sailed into a full term.

On a list of big-city mayors rank-ordered by effectiveness in fighting crime, Chicago’s Lori Lightfoot would be near the bottom. Is Chicagoland ready to give her the boot? Collin Levy explores that possibility in this column in Saturday’s WSJ.

The primary is February 28, with a likely runoff on April 4. “Three candidates—Ms. Lightfoot, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, and U.S. Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia—are currently in a dead heat for the lead, followed by Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, businessman Willie Wilson, Alderman Sophia King and community activist Ja’Mal Green.” Ms. Levy focuses on Mr. Vallas in this column.

Mr. Vallas pitches himself as the law-and-order candidate with the slogan that “public safety is a human right.” He has done pro-bono work on contract talks for the Fraternal Order of Police and has the endorsement of the Chicago Police Union. Voters may wager he has a better shot at getting the city back on track than Ms. Lightfoot, who cut the police budget in 2020. Politically, she owns the crime wave.

It will be interesting to see who makes it to the runoff.