Cities – 1/23/23

Chicago:  Mayor Lightfoot’s Downward Re-Election Trends Continue:  Two new polls continue to show Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) in an underdog position for re-election in likely the nation’s most important 2023 mayoral election. 

The surveys, from M3 Strategies (12/11-13; 440 Chicago likely voters; SMS text to web) and a more recent study from Lester & Associates for the Sophie King campaign (1/9-14; 600 Chicago likely voters; live interview), find Mayor Lightfoot trailing in the February 28th non-partisan primary election.  There is also a fair chance that she will fail to even qualify for the April 4th runoff, a secondary election which appears inevitable since no one is close to obtaining majority support.

Both polls find US Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-Chicago) claiming first place.  The M3 poll showed Lightfoot dropping to third position behind former Chicago budget director Paul Vallas, while Lester & Associates sees the incumbent Mayor holding the second slot.  The M3 poll found Ms. Lightfoot saddled with a terrible 25:74% favorable to unfavorable ratio.  This latter statistic might be most indicative in suggesting that she will fail to win re-election.
​