Chicago Mayoral Runoff: Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson Make Final Push as Voters Head to Polls

Voters prepare to cast their ballots during the mayoral runoff election at Robert Healy Elementary School on April 4, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images

CHICAGO, Ill.—Paul Vallas, a moderate Democrat, and Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat, have been trying to get last-minute votes ahead of polls closing in the April 4 Chicago Mayoral runoff.

The winner will succeed Lori Lightfoot, who lost in the Feb. 28 primary following years of coming under fire on issues ranging from COVID to public safety.

Johnson, 47, is a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The board governs the county where Chicago is located.

Vallas, 69, was the CEO of Chicago Public Schools for almost six years and held numerous education leadership positions in Philadelphia, Louisiana, and Bridgeport, Louisiana.

Polls show Vallas with a slight lead.

One of the top issues surrounding the election, which has attracted nationwide attention, is public safety given the overall increase in crime in 2023 compared to last year.

While murders this year, compared to 2022, have gone down 15 percent, according to the Chicago Police Department, criminal sexual assaults have increased 6 percent, robberies have been up 15 percent, aggravated batteries have increased 6 percent, burglaries have been up 8 percent, thefts have increased 23 percent, and motor vehicle thefts have skyrocketed 133 percent. Overall, crime has been up 46 percent.

Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson leaves after campaigning at Manny's Cafeteria & Delicatessen during the mayoral runoff election at Robert Healy Elementary School on April 4, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images

Johnson: ‘I Expect to Lead the City of Chicago for Everyone’

Johnson’s coalition has mainly consisted of his fellow progressives, typically those in the 18 to 35 age group. However, in response to a question from The Epoch Times after he cast his early-morning ballot at a public housing building if he can get enough non-progressive voters in his corner, Johnson said that he would be a mayor for not just progressives.

“I expect to lead the city of Chicago for everyone,” he said just before entering his vehicle to leave the polling location.

This sentiment was echoed by one of his supporters.

Bill Lowry, who is one of Johnson’s fellow commissioners on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, remarked that Johnson seeks to work for all people and that he has a “commitment to communication”  and is “action-oriented after he first listens and collaborates.”

“I know he has certainly tried to appeal to all of Chicago. All 77 communities and all of the facets of those 77 communities,” he told The Epoch Times. “That’s all you can ask of a candidate. He has tried to do so. I think he’s done it.”

Vallas has run on a moderate platform including school choice and calling for more police officers. However, he told The Epoch Times, after he casted his late-morning ballot at an elementary school, that he’s tried appealing to everyone.

Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas prepares to cast his ballot during the mayoral runoff election at Robert Healy Elementary School on April 4, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images

Vallas: I’m ‘as Progressive as Anybody’

He touted that his “progressive agenda on investing on the south and west sides, on returning schools to the control of the community so that they can be centers of community activities ... my stand on protecting women’s reproductive rights and obviously supporting, early on before many did, the issues important to the LGBTQ community ... makes me as progressive as anybody.”

Vallas has run on a pro-police platform, while Johnson has come under fire, including from Vallas, for his past support of the “Defund the Police” movement, which he in 2020 called an “actual, real political goal.” Johnson has since sought to distance himself from that cause.

Johnson told Laura Washington, a political analyst for ABC’s Chicago affiliate, in March, that he “said it was a political goal. I never said it was mine.”

“As far as my vision for public safety, I’m not going to defund the police,” he said.

Lowry told The Epoch Times that Johnson would look to use public safety resources judiciously.

“For a fact, he wants to look at the resources that we have, that we can commit for public safety and he’s gonna commit those resources,” he said. “He’s not going to detract any of the funding. He just wants to make sure that we’re utilizing it to the best of our ability to solve the problem.”

Top Issues Include Crime, Taxes, Education

However, Roger, a north-side voter, lamented the state of affairs in the Windy City.

“The city is in terrible condition. I mean, crime is rampant,” he said. “It’s incredible. I mean, I live on the north side of the city, [which is] relatively safe compared to other parts of the city in terms of shootings and murders, but it does happen within blocks of my home. And we have real problems here with crime. Something has to change here and I don’t know what it is.

“From my opinion, I keep hearing about these politicians like Brandon Johnson saying ‘invest in the community,’ etc..” And I got a novel idea and that is bigger prisons ... let’s try that for a while. And I keep hearing this stuff about ‘invest in the community.’ Well, we’ve invested in the community since the ‘60s. I’ve lived in the city all my life.”

Roger said he “lean[s] toward Vallas,” whom he called “levelheaded.”

Roger also expressed concerns about Johnson’s closeness with the Chicago Teachers Union, which has endorsed him and of which he is a member.

“And therein lies another problem,” he said, decrying the state of public school education in Chicago.

Johnson was once an elementary and high school social studies teacher.

The high school graduation rate in Chicago is just 78.4 percent as students have struggled to demonstrate proficiency in mathematics and reading. At the elementary school level, the test score proficiency in math is 21 percent and 25 percent in reading. At the middle school level, the test score proficiency in math is 21 percent and 24 percent in reading. At the high school level, the test score proficiency in math is 23 percent and 21 percent in reading.

Roger also criticized the high property taxes in Chicago and warned there'll be more were Johnson to win. The average property tax in Chicago is around 6.7 percent. Johnson and Vallas have committed to not raising property taxes.

Another voter, Demetricka, who was voting on the west side of the city and was undecided when interviewed by The Epoch Times, also expressed alarm, saying that raising taxes, which Johnson has pledged while Vallas has vowed to work within existing budget limits, would “harm ... the city.”

Polls close at 7 p.m. CDT.