Andrew K. Prinz Lecture: Gregory Royal Pratt On How Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis

Chicago Tribune reporter Gregory Royal Pratt gave the Andrew K. Prinz Lecture for Political Awareness in the Frick Center Founders Lounge on Monday, Sept. 30, about his book, ‘The City Is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis.’

In his lecture, Pratt went into more detail about the political tenure of Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and his experiences with her.

Before Lightfoot ran in the 2019 mayoral race, she was a prosecutor at a major law firm. After the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, she was asked by Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to look for a new chief of police, and she and a task force found a candidate that they believed would be a great fit.

After seeing this candidate, Emanual did not agree and threw out their suggestion, choosing a different chief. This made Lightfoot very frustrated, and this was the main event that led her to run for mayor.

Once Lightfoot started running, there were a lot of controversies that affected the other candidates running for mayor.

One of the controversies was the indictment of Ald. Ed Burke, whom a few of the candidates were connected to. This allowed for an easy win for Lightfoot until she was in office when she started having a few controversies of her own.

One such incident was when Ald. Derick Curtis became involved in two separate accidental shootings in October 2022 and January 2023 and did not receive a text or call from Mayor Lightfoot. After Curtis went to the press about this, Lightfoot reportedly called and texted him with many threats and taunts.

Asked at what moment he thought voters changed their mind about Lightfoot, Pratt said, “Crime became one of the biggest criticisms of her administration, one of the biggest concerns for voters. It’s less of a moment, but a theme and a trend of like, she didn’t make any changes to address public safety, and the voters were fed up with it.”

Pratt noted that “[Lightfoot] ended up running a commercial where a couple of guys are playing PlayStation and they’re talking about crime, and one of them says, ‘Boy, crime sure is bad.’”

The rise in crime rates during Lightfoot’s term was a big concern for voters, as crime rates had not been that high since the mid ‘90s.

Pratt also said, “As a journalist, you want to talk to everyone. I would have loved to have had more extensive conversations with her. The last time we talked for an extensive 30-minute or longer interview was in fall of 2021, and it was about crime and public safety.”

Would that have been different?

“Not on the results,” said Pratt. “I think there would have been more nuances from her side. It would have been a little more colorful in that way. As a reporter, you want to talk to everyone, but people aren’t necessarily as objective about themselves as they could be.”

Lightfoot lost her reelection bid for a second term back in February, and Brandon Johnson replaced her after being elected in April.