Conservatives are rejoicing that Chicago’s notorious soft on crime mayor spectacularly lost her reelection bid in Windy City on Tuesday night.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot scraped just 17 percent of the vote in the race for City Hall, forcing a run off between Paul Vallas, a former schools CEO and Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner on April 4.
This made Lightfoot the first elected Chicago mayor to lose a reelection bid since 1983, when Jane Byrne, the city’s first female mayor, lost her Democratic primary.
Lightfoot, the first black woman and first openly gay person to lead the city, won her first term in 2019 after promising to end decades of corruption and backroom dealing at City Hall.
But opponents blamed Lightfoot for an increase in crime that occurred in cities across the U.S. during the pandemic and criticized her as being a divisive, overly contentious leader.
Among those leading the chorus of celebration was controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who tweeted: ‘Lori Lightfoot. Crime doesn’t pay.’
Many joined Greene on Twitter, saying that with Lightfoot gone, they hope peace can finally be restored in the Windy City.
Former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones tweeted: ‘Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot, just got the FOOT! Other Democrat mayors with run-away crime in your cities, take note. Even liberals are tired of being unsafe.’
Jonathan Turley, a criminal defense attorney and FOX News contributor added: ‘There is hope for my home city yet. Lori Lightfoot is out.
‘The greatest potential improvement for the city since 1900 when the direction of the Chicago river was reversed.’
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich chimed in saying: ‘Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago coming in third in her bid for a second term is an encouraging sign that things can get bad enough for citizens to defeat the machines. Maybe Baltimore City is next.’
‘The bad news for Lori Lightfoot is she’s no longer Mayor of Chicago. The good news is she can go spend time someplace safer, like Ukraine,’ said Fox News personality Jimmy Failla.
While movie star and comedian Rob Schneider contributed: ‘I will remember Lori Lightfoot as a tyrant yelling and threatening her constituents on the street to go back indoors…’
‘She is proof that Voting for just anybody with a “D” next to it, has consequences… Glad even liberal Chicago said ENUF!’ the Deuce Bigelow star added.
On Facebook, one Chicago resident wrote: ‘Glad the garbage is out, Chicago needs a change, I just hope for a city where we can feel safe.’
Another wrote: ‘The good people of Chicago, and these other fine American cities deserve better. She’s to soft on crime, and drove businesses and residents out. She didn’t get along with police, teachers unions, and citizens, and businesses.’
While another struck a different chord highlighting systematic problems in Chicago.
‘A new mayor won’t stop the crime unless some real systemic change is implemented to the underserved neighborhoods. Stop and frisk and the national guard won’t fix it! There is a new breed of criminal out here now!’ a local resident wrote.
On the official Chicago Reddit page in a thread titled: ‘Was Lori Lightfoot a bad mayor?’ Many pointed to Lightfoot’s handling of the Covid-19 lockdown, such as closing certain parks but not closing others.
‘Some of her lockdown decisions absolutely defied explanation. Parks and beaches closed…but Montrose Dog Beach open,’ wrote one user.
Others questioned her handling of the anti-police protests caused by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2021, including believing a conspiracy theory that a bus loaded with ANTIFA protesters was en route from Indiana.
‘Was the ANTIFA bus conspiracy created by the looters so they could loot? Or was it that people knew all the police were somewhere else (they did not know about ANTIFA) so they looted?’ a user pondered.
