🗳 Here’s my advice for the mayor’s race...

It’s your vote; it’s all you got. [READER]( The Daily Reader My first mayoral election in Chicago was in 1983—at least, the first in which I got to vote. I lived here in ’79, but I was registered to vote somewhere else. So I didn’t get to vote for Jane Byrne when she defeated Michael Bilandic in what we now think of as the blizzard election. But I would have. I was so excited when Byrne won, and so disappointed in how she ruled. I was also super excited when Harold Washington won in ’83. Voted for Harold and danced at his election-night party. I was thinking, “Man, mayoral elections in Chicago are a blast! It’s a celebration every time.” Yeah, right. I was happy when Washington won reelection in ’87. But he died later that year. And it’s been all downhill ever since, as mayoral elections go. Sad to say. In this regard, I’m a little like Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the latest Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes won the Super Bowl in his second year as a starter. Then two full seasons passed before he won another. Had he realized how hard it is to win a Super Bowl, he told reporters, he’d have appreciated it more the first time around. (By the way, that pretty much sums up everything that Patrick Mahomes and I have in common.) I’m bringing this up cause we have another mayoral election on the horizon. I’m pretty sure I know who I’m going to vote for. But I’m not going to tell you cause that might count as an endorsement. And we’re not allowed to do that. Though it really wouldn’t be an endorsement—more like a statement of fact. Still, you can’t be too careful about these things. A lot of people I know are freaking out. They don’t know who to vote for. They’re motivated more by who they don’t want to be mayor as opposed to who they do want to be mayor. So they’re trying to make a strategic decision. They’re trying to decide who has the best chance of beating Paul Vallas in a runoff, should it come to that. And it looks like it will come to that. So, they’re studying the polls, trying to make the best “strategic” choice. They remind me of all the strategy-minded Boomers who told me they would have voted for Bernie, but they didn’t think he could beat Trump. So they voted for Biden. They said Bernie’s best time to beat Trump was in 2016. Interestingly, they didn’t vote for him then either. Let’s face it, Boomers, you just didn’t want to vote for Bernie. Here’s my advice for the mayor’s race: vote for whoever you want for whatever reason you want. It’s only one vote out of several hundred thousands, like seeds of sands on a beach. So we all know it doesn’t really matter. And yet . . . It’s your vote. It’s all you got. So be true to yourself and let the chips fall where they may. Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( [What Ben's Reading] [Erasure]( by Percival Everett. I’m systematically reading each of Everett’s 20-something novels. Everett’s brilliant—funny, wise, smart. His range of topics and knowledge seems limitless. Published in 2001, [Erasure]( is a sad and funny satire about racial prejudice and the publishing industry. It may be his best book I’ve read. [Aaron Cohen]( interviews Jimmy Burns, the great Chicago bluesman, who recently turned 80. [Ben Joravsky]( the Vallas surge: is he Chicago’s Jerry Quarry? [Best of the Ben J. Show]( State Rep. [Lakesia Collins]( her state of the state [Cassie Creswell]( look out, vouchers are coming Tribune reporter [Gregory Pratt]( what’s what in the upcoming election [The Vallas surge]( Are voters in Chicago seeking the “great white hope”? by [Ben Joravsky]( | [Read h]( → [The City Council’s “newbie caucus” prep for their first aldermanic race]( In recent interviews with the Reader, none of Mayor Lightfoot’s appointees endorsed her reelection campaign. by [Aaron Gettinger]( | [Read h]( → [A dance of contrasts]( The Joffrey’s Anna Karenina moves between darkness and light. by [JT Newman]( | [Read]( → [The next Great Migration]( In his new book, Jake Bittle makes it clear that climate change is already uprooting Americans. by [Kerry Cardoza]( | [Read here]( Calling all music lovers... [TAP IN HERE]( [Issue of Feb. 9 – Feb. 22, 2023 Vol. 52, No. 9]( [View/Download Issue [PDF]]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2023 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616