Mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas clash at latest forum: 'Race is an issue'
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Alice Yin, Gregory Pratt, Chicago Tribune March 10, 2023, 1:22 PM·5 min read In this article:
Mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas had a roiling dispute over the subject of race Thursday, with Johnson tossing out a series of accusations against Vallas, who dismissed them as "rhetoric."
The contentious exchanges happened during a 90-minute forum hosted by the My Community Plan Foundation at the DuSable Black History Museum. For the first hour, the session was largely cordial — until the two contenders, who just last week made the April 4 runoff election, were asked if they support a third airport in the Chicago area. Both said yes.
Then Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, raised the issue of Vallas' support from "dangerous" Citadel employees, referring to the hedge fund headed by Republican billionaire Ken Griffin, who recently told Bloomberg News he supports Vallas for mayor.
"Look, Citadel is gone, but they're back in this race," Johnson said of the firm moving its headquarters to Miami. "Ken Griffin is going to spend (money) against a Black man because I believe in Black people. This is the same person who said that Rahm Emanuel should have closed 125 schools."
That was a reference to comments Griffin made at the Economic Club of Chicago in 2013, that the former mayor should be closing more than 100 schools rather than the more than 50 proposed at the time. Griffin has not made donations in the mayoral election.
Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO, shrugged off the attack.
"Let me try to answer the question without scaring you," Vallas said. "First of all, I support the third airport."
Johnson went on the offensive again in response to a question about uplifting minority- and women-owned businesses, setting off a testy exchange.
"I'm the only person on this stage who has ever been elected, the only person on the stage who's ever won," Johnson said. "And as a result of that, I had the ability to actually pass multibillion-dollar budgets."
Johnson then nodded to a fall 2020 activist-backed "Budget for Black Lives" proposal to cut $157 million from the sheriff's office and invest in social services.
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"I'm the only person on this stage who built an entire budget around Black people," Johnson said. "As a result of that, (Cook County) President (Toni) Preckwinkle used it as a guideline for her equity plan: eliminating medical debt, violence prevention, working with those who are formerly incarcerated, making sure that we're investing in economic development."
The sheriff's office never saw that $157 million reduction in its 2021 budget. Instead, the office took a modest 4% cut amid the COVID-19 fiscal deficit, a cut that has since been more than restored. The county has, however, steadily ramped up its funding for community investments and programs in recent years thanks to federal stimulus dollars.
Although Vallas lost a 2019 bid for mayor and two runs for statewide office, he has served as the city's budget director and managed school districts in Philadelphia, New Orleans and Bridgeport, Connecticut, as well as Chicago.
Johnson also lambasted Vallas for the makeup of his campaign donors, a significant number of whom are conservative businesspeople and hedge fund employees, arguing "the fact of the matter is if we're talking about the global economy and making sure we have full participation, you can't have people financing your campaign who do not believe in the existence of Black and brown people."
"Clearly the rhetoric is flowing," Vallas responded. "The bottom line is I've focused on focusing on the issues, and he focuses on everything else besides the issues."
A woman from the audience shouted: "Race is an issue!"
"First of all, voting for a budget is not managing a budget," Vallas continued, referring to the Cook County budget process in which the board president prepares the spending plan, which then goes to a county board vote. "Rhetoric is no substitution for management. I've managed multibillion dollars in four different cities. I rebuilt an entire school system in New Orleans, where every child was in either a new school or a 100% renovated school. So the bottom line is, I've been dealing with these crises for years."
In response, Johnson dismissed Vallas' mixed record across the four cities where he's worked.
"This dude can't count," Johnson said. "Everywhere he has gone, he has mismanaged budgets. The fact of the matter is, voting on a budget is managing a budget. I find it unconscionable for you to say that, because I vote on the budget, that a Black man can't come and manage one."
Vallas did not respond to the remark.
Chicago is deeply segregated with fractious racial politics. Vallas largely won conservative white wards on the Northwest and Southwest sides, while Johnson won progressive white voters. Lakefront voters downtown and up to Lakeview largely went with Vallas, but Johnson was the leading vote-getter north of there. Both candidates have some Black support, though Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who failed to advance to the runoff, won nearly all the city's Black wards.
Since emerging as the runoff candidates, Vallas and Johnson have been working to expand their support, with a particular focus on Black voters. Vallas has launched a commercial featuring popular former Secretary of State Jesse White and touted support from businessman Willie Wilson, while Johnson has rolled out endorsements from Preckwinkle and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis.
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The election will swing on the hispanic vote, which is large in Chicago. I expect Vallas to win, based on the "crime" issue, and also the progressive, Brandon Johnson , shoots from the lip a little too often and can come off as reckless.
The white vote breakdown is interesting, there are wards on the northwest and southwest side where 90% or more of the people will vote for the white candidate every time against a black candidate, but there also the so called lakefront liberals centered around Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville which will vote heavily for Johnson.
The last time a mayors race was one on one between a white candidate and a black candidate Rahm Emmanuel won. I expect something similar this time.
What will the black vote breakdown be?
What do you bet that Biden avoids an endorsement as it's a choice between a white, little r repub and a Black socialist.
Is the loss of Black population also a factor?
What crime issue?
I guess the loss of black population, which was rather small, could effect a close election. White people are a little more than a third of the population of Chicago , with hispanics being a little less than a third, blacks something like 28% , and the rest some other ethnicity (Asian, etc.) .
There are many tens of thousands of "conservative" white voters in Chicago, many of whom voted for Trump.
I think that Englewood has lost about 44% from its peak and West Englewood close to half. In 1980 there were around 1.2 million Blacks living in Chicago, by 2020 census it was 788,000 or a loss of 410,000.
Maybe crime has become an issue because it's not longer confined to the Black and Brown communities on the South and West Sides where the city has long tolerated the disportionment. In the last several years some white areas are feeling the effects although on still a much smaller scale.
Johnson might actually be worse than lightfoot.
Race shouldn't be an issue, but it pops every time a few Blacks feel aggrieved. It seems to happen most in big cities, where liberals usually are in charge.
Perhaps a White, or Hispanic, or Asian mayor might be in Chicago's best interests.