CHICAGO — Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas is running for mayor, he announced Wednesday.
The longtime Chicagoan has been well-known in government circles since the 1990s, when Mayor Richard M. Daley selected him as budget director and then schools chief. Vallas later ran schools in Philadelphia and New Orleans. In 2019, he ran for mayor but finished a distant ninth and has since emerged as a frequent critic of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s public safety policies.
“I’m running because the city is in crisis. The crisis is worsening,” Vallas told the Tribune in an interview. “I believe I have the skills and the experience as well as the courage to provide the leadership the city desperately needs.”
