Striking Chicago teachers on Thursday chanted a blunt challenge to the maverick mayor of the third-largest U.S. city: “Lori Lightfoot, get on the right foot!”
This year’s election of Lightfoot, a gay black woman and daughter of a union steel worker, represented a shift -- and perhaps a national bellwether -- for a heavily Democratic constituency that chafed under her centrist predecessor Rahm Emanuel. But like Emanuel before her, Lightfoot is failing to win over a party mainstay, the Chicago Teachers Union. Its 25,000 members walked out Thursday, seeking higher pay, more nurses and housing for homeless students.
