Daywatch: The battle for City Hall is on

Good morning, Chicago.

A dramatic election night played out Tuesday as incumbent Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot conceded defeat and two of her challengers advanced to a runoff election.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas will face off in five weeks on April 4. Here’s a refresher on a runoff election and why Chicago has one.

Tribune reporters and photographers fanned out across the city to cover the election. See all our election results for a look at how races for mayor, alderman, treasurer, clerk and representatives on police district councils played out.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.

Subscribe to more newsletters | COVID-19 tracker | Compare home values by ZIP code | Puzzles & Games | Daily horoscope | Ask Amy | Today’s eNewspaper edition

The battle for City Hall is on: Paul Vallas will face Brandon Johnson to become Chicago’s next mayor

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas will face-off in April against Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson to become Chicago’s next mayor as voters rejected incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s efforts for a second term after four tumultuous years marked by a pandemic, spikes in crime citywide and widespread divisiveness.

The results followed a frequently bitter nine-way race to lead the nation’s third-largest city and all but guarantees an ideological battle over the next five weeks before the April 4 runoff between two politicians with starkly divergent visions on how to lead the city.

• Mayor Lori Lightfoot concedes defeat, setting stage for Chicago’s mayoral race to be between Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas

• Kam Buckner: The next mayor of Chicago has a reform mandate

What is a runoff election and why does Chicago have one?

We’re not done. Chicagoans have one more Election Day to get through to determine who will be mayor as well as several races for City Council.

In five weeks, on April 4, voters will decide if former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas or Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson will be Chicago’s next mayor, as well as who will win the alderman’s seat in several council races.

In 4 years, Lori Lightfoot went from breakout political star to divisive mayor of a Chicago beset by pandemic and crime

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s failure to advance to a runoff election represents an astonishing fall from power four years after she was ushered into City Hall with a promise of reform.

Instead, she struggled through a storm of skyrocketing crime, the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of personality conflicts that left her labeled as a divisive leader who was unable to build political coalitions.

• The rest of the field: Some failed mayoral candidates will return to their current positions, while others contemplate what’s next

In City Council races, most incumbent aldermen are holding on to win their seats or advance to runoffs

In a Chicago aldermanic election marked by a dozen aldermen calling it quits, incumbent City Council members who did run had an overwhelmingly good night.

Only one incumbent was losing Tuesday, according to unofficial results. And that was 12th Ward Ald. Anabel Abarca, who had just been appointed to the seat by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in December.

• 1st Ward race: Incumbent La Spata nears outright victory but might face Royko in runoff; Proco ‘Joe’ Moreno falls short in comeback effort

• 14th Ward race: Seat held by Ald. Ed Burke since 1969 won by Jeylu Gutierrez

• In 45th Ward, embattled Ald. Jim Gardiner is top vote-getter, likely headed to runoff with Megan Mathias

Madigan attorneys allege feds misled court in wiretap filings, tried to criminalize legal lobbying

Lawyers for former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan argued in a series of court filings late Tuesday that the racketeering charges against him fail to allege any connection between benefits the powerful speaker allegedly received from utility giants Commonwealth Edison and AT&T Illinois and any action he took — or didn’t — on particular legislation.

Madigan’s legal team also accused federal prosecutors of misleading the chief judge in applications to tap the phones of former Ald. Daniel Solis and later members of Madigan’s inner circle, saying they deliberately misconstrued an innocent 2014 meeting with Chinatown developers at the speaker’s law office as a possible shakedown, then later buried crucial “exculpatory” information in a footnote.

Column: The Patrick Kane era ends on a bittersweet note with the Chicago Blackhawks almost back where they started

“The slow-motion departure of Patrick Kane was just another example of the disintegration of the once-proud franchise known as the Chicago Blackhawks,” writes Paul Sullivan.

“As if it wasn’t enough to trade away a franchise player for draft picks and two journeyman players, the long and torturous road to getting the deal done with the New York Rangers was akin to death by a thousand high sticks to anyone who watched Kane grow up in a Blackhawks sweater.”

• Chicago Blackhawks come out flat after Patrick Kane trade and lose 4-1 to the Arizona Coyotes