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Apr. 2nd, 2019 11:34 am
The greater of two goods?
This is one of the toughest choices I've ever had to make in a Chicago election. Normally it's easy: you have a Machine candidate vs a progressive no-hoper in the primary and a Republican no-hoper in the general. This year, we have the unprecedented matchup of two progressives in the general. So of course the entire campaign has been about which progressive is really the stealth candidate for the Machine.
And because--apart from no-hopers--there are no true outsiders in Chicago politics, both candidates are tainted. It's kind of hard to paint a candidate as anti-Machine when she wouldn't have a political career without appointments from Daley and Rahm; it's even harder to make that argument when you've taken substantial sums from Machine poster boy Burke.
In the end, it came down to following the money and listening to activists. A lot of people who's whole lives are spent as and/or with marginalised people are advocating for Preckwinkle and her proven track record. Meanwhile, Lightfoot was endorsed by the candidate we have to thank for keeping Daley out of the final round by drawing away enough authoritarians. The developer and charter school money that would have flowed toward him is going to her now.
Despite this (or rather because of it), the race is Lightfoot's to lose. I'm taking comfort in several things. One is that friends whose opinions I respect very much have spoken with Lori and even worked on her campaign and they have confidence in her. Another is that--contrary to what nearly everyone believes--we actually have a governing system with a weak executive and a strong legislature. It's just never seemed that way because the executive office almost always goes to the man with most political clout in town.
Not this time. And the legislature, despite its overall conservativism, is nevertheless primed to be the most progressive we've ever seen. So there's hope they'll be able to curb her reactionary impulses. Plus we know that the activist groups will be holding her feet to fire on every progressive promise.
And because--apart from no-hopers--there are no true outsiders in Chicago politics, both candidates are tainted. It's kind of hard to paint a candidate as anti-Machine when she wouldn't have a political career without appointments from Daley and Rahm; it's even harder to make that argument when you've taken substantial sums from Machine poster boy Burke.
In the end, it came down to following the money and listening to activists. A lot of people who's whole lives are spent as and/or with marginalised people are advocating for Preckwinkle and her proven track record. Meanwhile, Lightfoot was endorsed by the candidate we have to thank for keeping Daley out of the final round by drawing away enough authoritarians. The developer and charter school money that would have flowed toward him is going to her now.
Despite this (or rather because of it), the race is Lightfoot's to lose. I'm taking comfort in several things. One is that friends whose opinions I respect very much have spoken with Lori and even worked on her campaign and they have confidence in her. Another is that--contrary to what nearly everyone believes--we actually have a governing system with a weak executive and a strong legislature. It's just never seemed that way because the executive office almost always goes to the man with most political clout in town.
Not this time. And the legislature, despite its overall conservativism, is nevertheless primed to be the most progressive we've ever seen. So there's hope they'll be able to curb her reactionary impulses. Plus we know that the activist groups will be holding her feet to fire on every progressive promise.
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