Thread by @MatthewFoldi

NEW from me @TheSpectator:

Come with me on a trip to the @PaulVallas election night party for some glimpses of what could have been in Chicago

Instead, @CTULocal1 now runs the show 😬

thespectator.com/topic/dismay-d…

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From top to bottom, the @CTULocal1 — one of the shadiest unions in America — now runs the Windy City

@Brandon4Chicago will succeed scandal-plagued Mayor @LoriLightfoot and hand his former colleagues in CTU the keys to the city. Johnson made hundreds of thousands of dollars as a… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

When all is said and done, @Brandon4Chicago will have defeated his fellow Democrat @PaulVallas in the runoff by about 4%.

In contrast with Johnson’s platitude-heavy offering, Vallas ran a campaign laser-focused on crime, pledging to boost the city’s police force numbers at a… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Interestingly, @PaulVallas, was an afterthought in the 2019 race; this time he surged to a first-place finish in the all-candidate election in February, but came up just short last night. (Full disclosure: I endorsed Vallas during his 2019 campaign while I was representing… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

I was at @PaulVallas’s election night party and asked some of his supporters about @LoriLightfoot’s controversial tenure as mayor and what they think it says that Chicago just elected a Defund the Police activist as mayor at a time when crime was the issue topped most voters’… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Following February’s primary, @PaulVallas consolidated support from Illinois’s Democratic Party establishment: #ILSEN @DickDurbin and former secretary of state Jesse White. Meanwhile @Brandon4Chicago secured support from America’s far left in #VTSEN @BernieSanders and #MASEN… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Despite @PaulVallas’s bona fide credentials as an establishment Democrat, @Brandon4Chicago's allies managed to gaslight Chicagoans into convincing them that Vallas, who has run as a Democrat for governor and lieutenant governor of Illinois, is a Trump-style MAGA Republican.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Sources in the Vallas campaign told me that was all it really took for Johnson and his teachers union allies to scare Chicagoans into rejecting Vallas, who was also backed heavily by the city’s @FOP7Chicago

thespectator.com/topic/dismay-d…

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Locally, the election tore Democrats apart about police, crime, and public safety. @PaulVallas’s allies in the Chicago Police threatened mass resignations and “blood on the streets” if @Brandon4Chicago were to win (we’ll see if this happens), whereas Johnson defended the city’s… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Despite Vallas’s defeat, his allies said that Chicago’s resurgent left isn’t something that should concern Joe Biden, who’s been leaving members of his own party to the wolves on issues like crime time after time.

thespectator.com/topic/dismay-d…

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For example, @JoeTrippi, @PaulVallas’s campaign manager, told me that there’s nothing in these tea leaves that should concern Biden. “Obviously there’s a spirited debate, and a split, in this city at least, about what direction to go in.”

thespectator.com/topic/dismay-d…

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“I’m not sure you can take what happened here and extrapolate it to Los Angeles or other big cities,” @JoeTrippi said. “Chicago and Illinois are going to vote for Biden. Half of Chicago was [willing to embrace Johnson], but that doesn’t tell you anything about anywhere else.”… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Now let's get to my favorite part of the article: some profiles of @PaulVallas voters I spoke with on election night, who shared their hopes/frustrations/hot takes, and more with me.

thespectator.com/topic/dismay-d…

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Thomas Woods, Near North Side

Woods, a Korean War veteran, told me Lightfoot’s legacy is defined by how “she couldn’t manage” the city, and that the next mayor will have to “have a good chief of staff who knows how to manage, and have staff in each department that knows what… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Andrew Nelson, South Side

Nelson introduced himself to me as Donald Trump’s next vice president, but conceded that he has “yet to get in contact with Mr. Trump” and that Trump “doesn’t know me from Adam, if he were to bump into me on the street.” Nelson said Lightfoot’s biggest… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Kenu Umar Bey, South Side

Umar Bey, the Supreme Grand Sheik of The Moorish Science Temple of America in Chicago, voted for Vallas four years ago and this go around. He lamented that Lightfoot “did not do anything for the South Side of Chicago,” and he hopes that the next mayor… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Shawes placed a premium on Vallas’s “clear vision” to tackle the city’s crime problem and told me that the next mayor will have to prioritize taking on the areas of the city where crime is centralized. “Wherever the crime is centralized, we will have to get those communities… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Dave Koehler, Old Town

Koehler told me that crime is “the single biggest issue.” Between “the riots, the destruction of Michigan Avenue,” crime is front and center. Unprompted, he brought up the George Soros-funded prosecutor of Cook County, Kim Foxx. “Everyone that I know does… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Gigi Gilbert, Lincoln Park

For Gilbert, crime was by far and away the most important issue. It was “1,000%, beyond 100%” her top issue. She is “terrified all the time to even walk down the street in the morning, to even walk my dog.” One morning, at 7am her neighbor “got arm… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Stephen Komie, Lincoln Park

Komie told me with no hesitation that Lightfoot was “the worst mayor in the history of the city. She was never any good as a U.S. Attorney” either. As with many others, crime is his top issue. He lamented that “the Chicago Police Department has no… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Jerad Kluting, East Lakeview

I caught up with Kluting right after Vallas conceded, and his immediate reaction was that “Brandon Johnson has not yet been declared the official winner; I am still very optimistic and hopeful for Paul Vallas.” 

“I think Brandon Johnson’s campaign… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Colleen Flanagan, Lakeview

Crime is a “huge” issue for Flanagan, who told me that “until we get safety back in the city, we’re on a plummet downhill.” Lightfoot was “pretty incompetent, foul-mouthed, and really gave Chicago, nationally, a bad name.” Flanagan hopes that the next… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Janice Rassin, Wicker Park

Rassin was frustrated that poll after poll showed Vallas winning on the issues like crime and education, but that it wasn’t enough. “For some reason, there’s this magnet that makes people say ‘I’ve gotta be trendy, I’ve gotta be progressive,’ but does… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…