CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot publicly acknowledged she might not run for re-election in 2023, saying it’s “not a gimme” that she’ll seek a second-term.
Lightfoot initially made the comment in a New York Times interview where she first played coy, saying she would making a decision with her wife “at an appropriate time. But it’s not now.”
Pressed further, however, Lightfoot later said the past year has been tough and acknowledged “it’s not a gimme” that she’ll seek re-election.
Lightfoot then reiterated that she may not seek re-election at an unrelated news conference where she noted that the past year has been tough.
“When you come into office you have a vision of where you want to go, and I certainly had that myself. I still do. But the world and fate has a funny way of leading you in a different direction,” Lightfoot said. “Sixteen months into a global pandemic, a massive economic dislocation, surging violence, it’s not a gimme.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot attends a press conference after a meeting with United States Attorney General Merrick Garland, US Sen. Dick Durbin, Chicago Police Sup. David Brown and others concerning gun violence on July 22, 2021, at the 11th District station in Chicago.
But she said she’s been raising money aggressively over the past year and believes in “being prepared,” but it’s a conversation she has to have “at the appropriate time with my wife.”
Politicians don’t typically acknowledge that they are waffling on a potential re-election bid because it makes it harder for them to raise money and emboldens their opponents. City Council members, who are already pushing Lightfoot aggressively on a host of issues, are less likely to listen to a lame duck.
Despite her comments, Lightfoot continues to work as though she’s seeking re-election. She raised more than a quarter of a million dollars in the last fundraiser quarter and had more than $1.7 million in the bank as of the last reporting period.
Lightfoot has also previously indicated that she expects to seek re-election. After the 2019 teachers strike, for instance, she told the Tribune she expects the Chicago Teachers Union to run a candidate against her.
During a Tribune interview in May 2020 amid the early months of the pandemic, Lightfoot also told the Tribune she plans to seek re-election.
“I have a lot of ambitions for transforming the landscape of government and its responsiveness to the needs of individuals,” Lightfoot said. “While I’m not looking that far ahead, it’s hard for me to think that the work will be done in now three years’ time. So do I expect to present myself again up to the voters of the city? I do.”
Still, Lightfoot faces a potentially challenging re-election campaign. She ran as a progressive but has often been criticized for reversing her stance on key issues, like an elected school board for Chicago Public Schools.
Violent crime is up throughout Chicago from where it was in 2019 and if it continues at its current rates, she could face problems with voters who feel unsafe.
But Lightfoot is a tough campaigner who improbably rose from little-known candidate to mayor in a crowded field flush with bold-face names, so she can’t be counted out.
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