Lightfoot Fails to Scrape Into 2nd Round of Chicago’s Very Nasty Mayoral Race

Chicago’s mayoral race, a bitter campaign rife with controversy and blunders, from gnome insults to accusations of fake Democrats, ended Tuesday with no candidate winning a majority of the vote, placing Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson in a runoff to be settled in April.

Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot conceded defeat in the race on Tuesday night as it became increasingly clear that voters had rejected her bid for a second term in office. “I stand here with my head held high,” she said in her concession speech.

A runoff was expected, with pundits in the Windy City predicting that more than half of the nine candidates—all self-described Democrats in a nonpartisan race—had a chance of being among the top two to qualify for the runoff, but none could realistically carry more than 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.