Vallas is no "centrist Democrat." He's a right-wing Republican. So why is the Democratic establishment supporting him?
Chicago’s election of a mayor is going on at this moment.
Voting has been going on for weeks and will conclude on Tuesday.
Local and national media have painted this election as one between Paul Vallas, the centrist Democrat, and Brandon Johnson, the Progressive Democrat.
But that’s wrong.
Vallas is no centrist Democrat, although that would be bad enough.
Vallas is a right-wing Republican.
No open Republican can win an election for Chicago Mayor in this solidly Democratic city.
In presidential elections, the Democrat has consistently won over 80% of the vote here.
So, to win a city-wide election in Chicago a candidate must appear Blue.
Vallas’ ads all proclaim the he is a “life-long Democrat.”
Of course this isn’t true. Vallas has been caught on video tape saying just the opposite, that if he ran for office he would run as a Republican. But Chicago’s municipal elections are formally non-partisan with no party affiliation.
But this ‘life-long Democrat” BS is actually the tell. No real Chicago Democrat has to say that unless it was in doubt.
By pretending to be a Democrat Vallas was able to expand his voter base beyond the tiny Republican strongholds on the north west and southwest sides and to get about a third of the vote. To win he would need to expand that even more into the Latinx and African American vote.
He can’t do that as an open Republican.
The question that occurs to me is why so many of those in the Democratic Party establishment are providing Vallas cover for this charade?
Former Secretary of State Jesse White, Senator Dick Durbin, former Secretary of Education and Chicago CPS CEO Arne Duncan and County Clerk and ward committee woman Iris Martinez are among them.
White has been one of the largest Democratic state-wide vote getters. Durbin is a senior Democratic leader in the United State Senate and close to President Biden.
Brandon Johnson is clearly the progressive Democrat in this race. Last week thousands turned out at a rally featuring independent Senator Bernie Sanders supporting Johnson.
It appears that this is the same old story of establishment Democrats going after those in the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party with even greater energy and enthusiasm than they go after the Republicans.
If these Democratic leaders and Vallas succeed with this charade, they will hand the Republicans a foothold in this Democratic city.
It will be a leg up for 2024.
I can only wonder exactly what Durbin is thinking when he says Vallas will be a bridge builder. Because that guy is a bridge straight to the alt-right as far as I can tell. He's a bridge to school board takeovers, Proud Boy threats, and hatred of teachers and schools as exemplified by his longtime Awake IL buddies in the western suburbs. Of course, centrist Dems like Vallas because he's still carrying the torch for their beloved education reform--which has been a spectacular failure. But this way they can keep believing that Race to the Top, etc. wasn't a disaster for American public education. To say nothing of the monied folks behind that and similar schemes.