CHICAGO — Chicago’s mayoral hopefuls took the gloves off during the first televised debate Thursday night, with candidates hitting each other with everything from accusations of plagiarism to lying about crime statistics.
The televised debate marked the first opportunity for all nine candidates to explain their positions to Chicago voters and draw contrasts with one another. Lightfoot, who is facing public concerns about crime, dissatisfaction with her leadership style and anger over some broken promises, often took the brunt of attacks as she sought to defend her record.
But candidates also focused their fire on U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson in an attempt to boost their own campaigns over the perceived front-runners. And on the issue of the thousands of migrants being bused to Chicago from Republican states, García took some of the sharpest attacks of the night after highlighting his efforts in Congress to secure work authorizations for the asylum-seekers.
