How Lori Lightfoot became the first Chicago mayor to lose reelection in 40 years

Lightfoot rose to Chicago’s top political position in 2019, in a race in which she won all 50 of the city’s wards. At the time, she ran on a promise to end corruption and backroom dealing. The 60-year-old was Chicago’s first Black female mayor and the first openly gay mayor of the United States’ third-largest city.

Kamil Krzaczynski—Getty Images

So what happened? Two major forces are to blame: a battle with powerful unions and a rise in crime that voters and opponents blamed on the mayor.

Lightfoot has spent recent months locked in a battle with the Chicago Teachers Union. The animosity goes back four years, to when Lightfoot first took office; a teachers’ strike that year grew contentious. School closures and Lightfoot’s efforts to reopen schools during the pandemic didn’t help; the union pushed back against early 2021 reopening plans and accused Lightfoot of failing to negotiate. The union backed Lightfoot’s competitor, Brandon Johnson, a former teacher who surged late in the campaign and will now advance to the runoff.

Other candidates—including Paul Vallas, who earned the most votes yesterday with a tough-on-crime, pro-police message—capitalized on a concern among Chicagoans about crime levels. Lightfoot also fought with the city’s police union over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Lightfoot conceded the race last night. “I will be rooting and praying for our next mayor to deliver for the people of the city for years to come,” she said in her concession speech.

By a twist of fate, the last Chicago mayor to lose reelection was Jane Byrne in 1983. Byrne was the city’s first female mayor.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Kinsey Crowley. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

Persuasive argument. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in cases that will decide the fate of President Joe Biden’s student loan relief plan. Conservative justices see the two cases as an opportunity to rein in what they consider to be presidential overreach, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor brought attention back to the 50 million borrowers who will be affected by the outcome. CNN

Promoted. Julie Su beat out the competition to be nominated as Biden’s next labor secretary, a promotion from her current spot as deputy secretary. Su was the favorite among candidates, but others like Sara Nelson, president of a flight attendants union, received praise from the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Washington Post

Childcare for chips. Companies hoping to cash in on more than $150 million in subsidies provided by the $52 billion Chips Act will have to disclose their plans for employee childcare. The Biden administration had previously tried to ease the growing cost of childcare as part of the Build Back Better program, but funding for it was cut last year. Washington Post

Dimon’s dime. The legal battle continues between student financial aid startup founder Charlie Javice and JPMorgan, which acquired the startup Frank for $175 million in 2021. Javice said in a recent court filing that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon had a personal interest in the deal, telling her that his company should “get the deal done” two months before it was finalized. Fortune

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: P.volve is bolstering its marketing team with former Peloton marketing exec Karina Kogan as strategic adviser and fractional CMO, Antonietta Vicario as chief training officer, and Katie Rosholt as SVP of marketing. Trier Bryant is joining the board of Athena, the all-women SPAC network. InterPrice Technologies has added Dana Laidhold, Loren Straub, and Kim Trautmann to its board of directors. Pinterest marketing executive Andréa Mallard will join the board of content creator platform Kajabi. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Founder fever. The boundaries separating influencers and startup founders are disintegrating. Founders with big social followings like Monica Grohne, Emma Chamberlain, and Jing Gao have become intrinsic parts of their direct-to-consumer startup brands. While the personal touch on brand marketing helps attract customers, some worry that the trend could be bad for business longevity and founder burnout. Modern Retail

Grounded progress. Despite years of advocacy, the airline industry is struggling to bring women into leadership positions and board seats. Women hold just 13% of executive positions among more than 100 airline carriers; by comparison, women comprise 21% of board seats in the financial sector. Bloomberg

Slow down fashion. Inditex, the Spanish corporation that owns fast fashion retailer Zara and is led by Marta Ortega, produced 565,027 metric tons of garments in 2021. Although the company is investing in sustainable fashion startups, the EU is likely to slap down restrictions on mass production as part of an effort to make all clothes “long-lived and recyclable” by 2030. Japan Times

ON MY RADAR

TikTok’s rap girlies are the future of hip-hop Teen Vogue

Why I’m not writing about kids and screen time anymore Wall Street Journal

Clergy with trans kids fight back Washington Post

Hulu’s fascinating and incomplete 1619 Project The New Yorker

PARTING WORDS

“You change the world by being yourself.”

—Yoko Ono, who recently turned 90 years old