Lori Lightfoot fails to advance to runoff vote for second term as Chicago’s mayor

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson qualify for election on 4 April to replace city's first Black female and gay mayor

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters denied the incumbent, Lori Lightfoot, a second term, a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the third-largest US city.

Vallas, a former schools chief executive backed by the police union, and Johnson, a Cook county commissioner endorsed by the teachers union, advanced to the 4 April runoff after none of nine candidates was able to secure more than 50% of the vote.