CHICAGO (WLS) — Less than two weeks away from the Chicago mayoral election, the candidates have picked up the attacks on each other’s views.
Both candidates have full schedules Wednesday.
Brandon Johnson is taking part in a Women’s Roundtable and former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will announce his support for Paul Vallas.
This comes after another fiery televised debate Tuesday night, where the attacks seemed more personal.
Of course, one of the most contested topics was public safety.
Johnson sharply questioned Vallas’ plan to fill CPD vacancies while Vallas accused Johnson of wanting to defund the police.
“What we should be working towards are real violence prevention measures,” Johnson said. “That should be the goal and that is my goal and that is how my leadership will be conducted as the mayor of the city of Chicago is to make sure that we are doing everything in our power to reduce violence.”
“I know for a fact that there are hundreds of officers who will return if there is new leadership,” Vallas said. “Also, only 53% of our officers are actually assigned to the local districts so I will push the bulk of the officers down to the local districts and local command.”
Paul Vallas blamed the Chicago Teachers Union leadership and Johnson, by extension, as a CTU organizer, for closing CPS schools to in-person learning for too long during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Don’t lecture me on middle class values. I come from a Greek-American immigrant family, born and raised on the South Side, six veterans in my household, including myself,” Vallas said. “Test scores have plummeted in the Chicago Public Schools; 6% of Black children are meeting state standards in math and 11 % in reading. It’s abysmal.”
Johnson responded to Vallas’ claims.
“Because you are hanging out with the extreme Republican Party, who did not even believe that the pandemic was real, it’s unconscionable for you to blame a 100-year pandemic on Democrats,” he said.
Vallas also painted Johnson as a quote “subsidiary” of the Chicago Teachers Union while Johnson accused of being an extreme Republican.
Both candidates will end the day Wednesday with another televised debate, where sparks are expected to fly once again.
