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The 4 Political Neighborhoods Of Chicago
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/chicago-politics-neighborhoods-election/
America’s cities are some of its most solidly Democratic areas — but that doesn’t mean they are solidly liberal. Over the past two years, the mayoral elections in our two biggest cities have boiled down to surprisingly tight contests between a moderate Democrat and a more liberal alternative.
Tuesday’s runoff election for mayor of Chicago, the nation’s third-most populous city, is no different. Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas rode his pro-police, tough-on-crime messaging to first place in the first round of voting on Feb. 28 but has faced accusations of being a Republican based on comments he made in 2009. And Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson finished second on a platform of taxing the rich to pay for more public services but has had to walk back his past support for decreasing police funding. (Dogged by COVID-19, rising crime rates, personality conflicts and broken promises, incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t even make it out of the first round, finishing third with 17 percent of the vote.)
But with Vallas (33 percent) and Johnson (22 percent) combining for barely half of the vote in February, a lot of voters are up for grabs in the runoff — and most Chicagoans don’t fit into neat “moderate” or “progressive” buckets. Chicago politics has more layers than a deep-dish pizza, and you need a more nuanced taxonomy to understand them — so we made one.
Like we did with New York City and Los Angeles, we’ve divided Chicago into political neighborhoods based on the results of four recent elections: the first round of the 2019 mayor’s race, the 2020 Democratic primary for president, the 2020 Democratic primary for Cook County state’s attorney and the 2020 general election for president.1 While four races — and four neighborhoods — can’t capture every political idiosyncrasy in the Windy City, they do a pretty good job identifying the blocs that will likely decide Tuesday’s election. So reload your virtual Ventra card and join us for a tour of Chicago’s political geography.
The Spiritual South Side
snip
America’s cities are some of its most solidly Democratic areas — but that doesn’t mean they are solidly liberal. Over the past two years, the mayoral elections in our two biggest cities have boiled down to surprisingly tight contests between a moderate Democrat and a more liberal alternative.
Tuesday’s runoff election for mayor of Chicago, the nation’s third-most populous city, is no different. Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas rode his pro-police, tough-on-crime messaging to first place in the first round of voting on Feb. 28 but has faced accusations of being a Republican based on comments he made in 2009. And Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson finished second on a platform of taxing the rich to pay for more public services but has had to walk back his past support for decreasing police funding. (Dogged by COVID-19, rising crime rates, personality conflicts and broken promises, incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t even make it out of the first round, finishing third with 17 percent of the vote.)
But with Vallas (33 percent) and Johnson (22 percent) combining for barely half of the vote in February, a lot of voters are up for grabs in the runoff — and most Chicagoans don’t fit into neat “moderate” or “progressive” buckets. Chicago politics has more layers than a deep-dish pizza, and you need a more nuanced taxonomy to understand them — so we made one.
Like we did with New York City and Los Angeles, we’ve divided Chicago into political neighborhoods based on the results of four recent elections: the first round of the 2019 mayor’s race, the 2020 Democratic primary for president, the 2020 Democratic primary for Cook County state’s attorney and the 2020 general election for president.1 While four races — and four neighborhoods — can’t capture every political idiosyncrasy in the Windy City, they do a pretty good job identifying the blocs that will likely decide Tuesday’s election. So reload your virtual Ventra card and join us for a tour of Chicago’s political geography.
The Spiritual South Side
snip
related
the actual results
