In Chicago runoff election for mayor, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson differ on crime

CHICAGO – Two candidates with different approaches to public safety are battling to be the new mayor of Chicago, where concerns about crime are top-of-mind for voters in the nation's third-largest city.

Here's what to know about the upcoming runoff election, and how the candidates contrast in their approach to combatting crime.

Who won the Chicago mayoral election?

None of the nine candidates won a majority in the officially nonpartisan election Tuesday. That means the top two vote-getters advance to an April 4 runoff.

Paul Vallas, 69, the former head of Chicago Public Schools, secured 34% of the vote, followed by Brandon Johnson, 46, who serves on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, with 20%.

While Vallas has positioned himself as a more conservative, pro-law enforcement candidate, Johnson has cast himself as a progressive who wants to strengthen police accountability.

Lori Lightfoot loses reelection

Lori Lightfoot, 60, the city's first Black woman and first openly gay person to serve as mayor, placed third with 17% of the vote, becoming the city's first one-term mayor in 40 years.

She initially campaigned as a progressive outsider who would root out corruption at City Hall, and she won in a landslide in 2019. But her tenure has been plagued by criticism for her handling of crime, the COVID-19 pandemic, an 11-day teachers' strike and racial justice protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

Following her loss, the head of the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday announced their resignations.

What Paul Vallas wants to do about crime

Vallas previously ran unsuccessfully for mayor and for governor and lieutenant governor in Illinois. Last year, he worked with Chicago's police union to negotiate the Chicago Police Department's contract, and he scored endorsements from the union and the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board.

He's pledged to "return CPD to its core mission" and wants to make sure criminals are held accountable so residents can feel safe in their neighborhoods and "suburbanites and tourists will no longer fear traveling downtown," according to his campaign website.

Vallas has said he will hire nearly 2,000 more sworn officers, including retired detectives and hundreds of officers to patrol public transit. He wants to create a city-led witness protection program and build a forensic crime lab within the department.

He's said he plans to institute a community policing model – where officers develop "strong relationships" with residents in the areas they patrol – and convene a meeting with city, county and state agencies to develop solutions to crime.

He has also proposed re-establishing a prosecution unit within the city's law department and passing a public nuisance ordinance to hold accountable people who engage in "looting, damage to property or violence" in crimes that he says the Cook County State's Attorney's Office won't prosecute.

What Brandon Johnson wants to do about crime

Johnson, a former teacher and union organizer, is endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union and other progressive groups. He's pledged to address the root causes of violence, with a focus on education, jobs, housing and mental health.

Johnson has said the Chicago Police Department must solve more homicides and wants to promote 200 detectives to that end. He's pledged to launch a violence intervention program for the city’s transit authority and establish a Missing Persons Initiative, a CPD Anti-Gun Trafficker Department and a Mayor’s Office of Community Safety.

He also wants to strengthen police accountability, end no-knock warrants, fund reparations for survivors of police torture, erase the city’s gang database, terminate officers affiliated with far-right groups and work closely with the city's new civilian police oversight body.

He has said he will reopen 14 city-run mental health clinics that were closed under previous mayors, largely to bridge budget gaps. He also wants to have health professionals – not police – respond to crisis calls. He's advocated for doubling youth summer employment, investing in support for survivors of domestic violence and expanding mental health, addiction care and housing services.

What to know about crime in Chicago

The runoff comes as the U.S. is reeling from a surge in violent crime at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. While data suggests homicides and gun assaults declined last year, motor vehicle thefts and carjackings continued to rise, and the U.S. murder rate since 2020 has remained at elevated levels not seen since the 90s.

In Chicago, homicides surged in 2016 to a rate not seen in decades, police data shows. Homicides were falling steadily when the pandemic hit and upended that brief progress.

Now murders are down about 18% from the same time last year – but up 59% from four years ago, police data shows. Over that four-year period, there's also been a rise in motor vehicle thefts (270%), shootings (43%), thefts (31%) and robberies (27%).

Shootings disproportionately affect low-income residents and people of color living in a handful of neighborhoods on the city's South and West sides, where there's a lack of access to social services.

Dig deeper on Chicago

• Resignations in Chicago: Police chief, U.S. attorney resign after election

• Chicago mayoral race: Voters end Lori Lightfoot's reelection bid

• A corrupt Chicago cop destroyed hundreds of lives. Now victims want justice.

• Is crime really on the rise? Data from big cities suggests most violent crime fell last year. But it's not the full picture.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago mayoral election: Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson differ on crime