Chicago mayoral candidates Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas started their runoff election on Wednesday with a debate, with Johnson lobbing personal attacks and Vallas opting for a show of experience as his defense.
Johnson and Vallas advanced to the runoff after defeating Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, ousting an incumbent for the first time since 1989. The runoff, to be held on April 4, will determine if Chicago takes a more progressive stance on matters under Johnson or follows a more centrist, conservative agenda under Vallas for the next four years.
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The two runoff candidates sit on opposite ends of the two biggest topics in the mayoral race: crime and education. Both continue to receive endorsements from several large organizations and unions, with Johnson gaining support from the Service Employees International Union Local 1 and Vallas picking up an endorsement from former 2023 mayoral candidate Willie Wilson.
On Wednesday, the two runoff candidates held their first debate, with Johnson launching personal attacks against Vallas's prior experience working within the city's school system and financial budgets. He tried to connect Chicago Public Schools teachers' pension funding levels to Vallas's tenure as the former CEO.
While Vallas was responsible for a budget surplus upon his departure, he oversaw changes to move annual payments away from teachers' pension funds by diverting property tax revenue to cover other school expenses, per the Chicago Tribune.
“We’re in this predicament because of the bad accounting measures of Mr. Vallas,” Johnson said, referring to the city’s financial problems that grew swiftly due to the pandemic.
Johnson also blasted Vallas for his comments on being "more of a Republican than a Democrat" and on abortion rights, citing statements Vallas made in a 2009 interview.
“Paul Vallas is on record saying that he fundamentally opposes women’s reproductive rights. He said he fundamentally opposes abortion. But it shouldn’t be a surprise,” Johnson said, due to Vallas's associations with “right-wing extremists who have attacked women.”
“I’m going to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Johnson added.
Johnson deflected questions about his previous statements to "defund the police," a hot-button topic that several of his opponents attempted to use against him throughout the campaign.
Throughout his campaign, Vallas was scrutinized for his position among Democrats and endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police, which invited Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to speak to them. On Wednesday, he said he is a "lifelong Democrat" and cited his work with former Democratic state senators and prior failed Democratic campaigns for mayor.
During the debate, Vallas focused on trying to stay above the fray and maintain his front-runner position, as he gained the largest percentage of the vote on election day. He launched only one personal attack against Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union for shutting down schools during the pandemic, one of many factors causing Chicago's rank in education to dip.
Vallas defended donations from Republican-led firms or businesses, stating that they all stem from the desire to want a safer city.
“At the end of the day, they know the city’s in crisis, and they need someone who can manage the city and can pull together a leadership team that can run every department, every agency — whether it’s public safety, whether it’s schools, for that matter, whether it’s the budget so that the city is addressing all the critical needs of its citizens,” Vallas said. “And let me point out that many of these funders have backed Democratic mayors in the past.”
The closest the two candidates came to sparring regarded questions relating to race. Johnson accused Vallas of wanting to eliminate black history from Chicago Public Schools' curriculum, something Vallas adamantly denied.
"Brandon obviously wants to make race the issue," Vallas said when asked how much race plays into his strategy to gain support. "I’m running for mayor of all of Chicago."
Johnson quickly retorted, "Paul Vallas has made it about race. The young people in the city of Chicago deserve black history. He’s the one that said that that should not happen.”
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Vallas responded with a quick comment that Johnson's statements were "just nonsense again" and went on to focus on his past policy initiatives for implementing black history into the public school system, such as adding African studies into world history and working with councils that wanted classrooms teaching "Afrocentric curriculum."
"My record is for everyone to see,” Vallas said.