Divvying up Chicago, Blue Wall time bomb

Plus: Assessing Perot's impact on the 1992 election, an aging Congress, Twitter's recommendation algorithm, and the politics of pro sports

No. 261 | April 7th, 2023

🗳️ Elections

Nathaniel Rakich: The 4 Political Neighborhoods Of Chicago (FiveThirtyEight)

"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 confl…