As the sun sets on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration and the dawn begins to break on the Brandon Johnson era of Chicago politics, many of us are reflecting on the last four years and analyzing what’s happened. There are differing opinions on most things that have occurred since May 2019, but one thing that is pretty consistent is the shared belief that Lightfoot leaves us with a complicated legacy.
Lightfoot is, in a word, transformational. Chicago has never seen a mayor like her. From the day that William Ogden, the city’s first mayor, took his oath of office, Chicago has seen a succession of mayors with similar traits, backgrounds and experiences. That this city in 2019 would elect a Black, lesbian woman to lead us remains a reason for celebration. Furthermore, for a person from a small town in Ohio who came here in the late 1980s, around the same time as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Barack Obama, to be overwhelmingly elected to lead Chicago three decades later is in and of itself incredible. Her story and path to City Hall’s fifth floor is truly commendable and should be a source of inspiration.
The last four years have been trying for most Chicagoans, partly due to an exacerbation of our problems by the COVID-19 pandemic. The mayor was tasked to lead in one of the most difficult periods in recent memory. Many of her struggles lay in the truth of onetime New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s famous words, “Campaign in poetry; govern in prose.” Candidate Lightfoot and Mayor Lightfoot found themselves on the opposite ends of many fights. The inability to turn campaign promises into governing success plagued her administration and overshadowed her wins.
Lightfoot’s legacy reminds practitioners and observers of politics alike that there is no such thing as a political mandate. Politics are the art of the possible, but they are the art of the possible in the immediate. Yesterday can never pay for tomorrow, and your defenders may very well become your detractors and defectors, which Lightfoot as mayor learned early.
Her complicated legacy tells us more about Chicago than it does about her. Newton’s third law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction also often applies to politics: Bill Clinton gets you George W. Bush who gets you Barack Obama who gets you Donald Trump who gets you Joe Biden. Lightfoot was ushered into office on a platform of possibility, the possibility that Chicago should and could do better.
A year ago, I launched my campaign for mayor on my 37th birthday. On Friday, I turn 38 with 365 more days of experience that have helped shape how I analyze the last four years. As I traveled the city, talking to families and people all over Chicago, I understood that we all have a shared desire to see Chicago become a better, safer city and an environment where our children have access to quality education and opportunities for success.
Candidate Lightfoot had ambitious goals to achieve these objectives that so many Chicagoans share for our great city, but Mayor Lightfoot’s administration was unable to meet many of those expectations.
Instead, under her administration, we saw crime increase as funding for police skyrocketed; carjackings became more prevalent throughout our city; there was a persistent underinvestment in violence prevention programs; bridges, literal and metaphorical, were raised when they should have been built; and conflicts with the Chicago Teachers Union led to unpredictable strikes that harmed students and families.
For better or worse, Mayor Lightfoot changed Chicago. She ushered in a new era of City Council independence, and she will always represent Chicagoans’ contempt for corrupt machine politics. Her focus on investment in the South and West sides will be cemented in time, and her efforts will be built upon by the next administration. She was proactive in taking action for the sake of public health, even when those decisions were unpopular. There’s plenty to thank her for and plenty we can learn from her shortcomings.
I texted Lightfoot after the Feb. 28 election to thank her and her family for their selfless service to our city, and it wasn’t tongue in cheek, compulsory or performative; I meant it.
As we move on, we do so as a resilient Chicago with a lot to be thankful for.
State Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat, represents the 26th District.
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