The race for Chicago's mayor.

It's going to get messy. The Progressives are divided and underestimating Paul Vallas.

My art is on Instagram @klonskyart.

They are still counting the votes for the House races and it is very possible that the Republicans won’t get a majority.

If the Democrats win both chambers of Congress there will be no excuses.

Let me join the growing number of Democrats who think Joe Biden should not run again in 2024.

Who do the Democrats have on their bench who can turn out the vote against Trump or DeSantis?

It is looking thin to me, but there’s time.

Kudos to Michael Moore who was the loudest in challenging the conventional wisdom that this would be a Red Wave.

There wasn’t the Blue Tsunami he predicted but that’s on the Democrats, not Michael Moore.

In nearly every state, women voters outnumbered the men. And young voters delivered another record turnout — second highest in nearly three decades. 

Women and youth made Democrats the real winners.

In Chicago voter turnout was highest in mostly northside wards. Not entirely. But here’s the top ten wards in voter turnout.

The top ten wards include the two what we call the cop wards, where the highest number of police are reported to live.

None of the wards are those with self-described socialist alders.

Shia Kapos who writes Politico’s Illinois Playbook accurately describes the current situation of a seriously divided Left-lane.

There’s already a cannibalization within the progressive movement. Garcia, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is backed by state Rep. Theresa Mah. Johnson is endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, Congresswoman-elect Delia Ramirez and state Rep. Lakesia Collins. King heads the City Council’s progressive caucus. And Buckner championed criminal justice reform in Springfield.

Lightfoot’s progressive report card: The mayor has supported a $15 minimum wage, a fair work week, a guaranteed-income pilot program and investments in affordable housing. And she's backed by progressive state Rep. Kelly Cassidy and Ald. Scott Waguespack.

I supported Lightfoot last time when she was still polling at only 3% and I support her now.

When I have suggested that the pro-cop Paul Vallas represents a Trump-like candidate and a strong probability to make the run-off, some friends scoffed.

Yet when you look at the fratricide on the Left and the big turnout in the cop wards, I wouldn’t be so sure.

And Kapos makes the point:

The real challenge for her opponents: How to reckon with the awkwardness of claiming the progressive mantle while taking on the first black, gay woman mayor of Chicago.