Daywatch: Will the US ever see a female president?
Good morning, Chicago. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
Good morning, Chicago.
Voters had the chance this election to break the highest glass ceiling in American politics by electing Kamala Harris the nation’s first female president. Instead, they returned Donald Trump to the White House, a comeback that relied on significant — even somewhat improved – support among women.
Some female voters this week are mourning the missed opportunity to send a woman to the Oval Office and wondered when, if ever, it might happen.
“I am just aghast,” said Precious Brady-Davis, a Black transgender woman who just won a two-year term on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago management board — but her joy in that was tempered. “I am disappointed in my fellow Americans that, once again, we did not elect a qualified woman to the presidency.”
And here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
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In concession speech, Kamala Harris says US must accept election results while urging supporters to keep fighting
Kamala Harris said yesterday that “we must accept the results of this election” as she encouraged supporters to continue fighting for their vision of the country after her loss to Donald Trump.
Biden plans to address the election results today. The White House said he spoke with Harris and Trump on yesterday, and he invited the president-elect to meet with him soon.
From Kamala Harris to Lewis Cass: Who Illinois voters have chosen for president since 1824
For just the 11th time in 200 years, a majority of Illinois voters selected in a general election the candidate who ultimately would not become president.
Here’s a look back at the state’s popular and electoral votes going back to 1824, which was the first opposed race voted on in Illinois.
Control of the US House hangs in the balance with enormous implications for Trump’s agenda
The U.S. House majority hangs in the balance, teetering between Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified GOP governance in Washington or a flip to Democrats as a last line of resistance to a Trump second-term White House agenda.
A few individual seats, or even a single one, will determine the outcome. Final tallies will take a while, likely pushing the decision into next week — or beyond.
Illinois advisory questions on ‘millionaire’s tax,’ IVF coverage pass easily
Illinois voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved three advisory questions put on the ballot by Democrats, including one asking whether the highest earners should be taxed to fund property tax relief, according to unofficial results from The Associated Press.
With CTU ally Mayor Brandon Johnson in charge, voters reject several union-backed school board candidates
As early returns in Tuesday’s first school board election signaled an underwhelming performance by the Chicago Teachers Union, its President Stacy Davis Gates addressed a roomful of supporters with a fiery message.
“I don’t care how powerful they try to make us in disunity,” Davis Gates said. “The little engine that could expanded democracy at a time when fascism is on the rise.”
The scrappy David-and-Goliath messaging belied some of the criticism the CTU has gotten for becoming too powerful since its chosen mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson won the 2023 runoff, seating an ally of the firebrand union in the Chicago mayor’s seat for the first time in modern history. But a year-and-a-half later, voters in the city’s first-ever round of school board elections appeared to be rejecting most of the CTU’s slate of candidates, signaling that the union’s rising political influence is facing roadblocks.
Aldermen rip Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2025 property tax hike proposal as budget hearings kick off
Desperate to avoid hitting Chicago home and business owners with a $300 million property tax increase, aldermen pelted the mayor’s finance team yesterday with questions about alternatives to plug the 2025 budget hole.
Their pitches on the opening day of budget hearings ran the gamut from furlough days for city workers to cutting middle managers or halting programs funded with federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
Column: Chicago White Sox rebuilds are virtual reruns for Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and fans alike
White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will turn 89 next February as GM Chris Getz begins Year Two of the current rebuild, and he’s as reluctant to address the media as he was back in ’17, writes Paul Sullivan. So at the MLB general managers meetings in San Antonio, Getz was asked about Reinsdorf’s patience level coming off a 121-loss season in Year One of the latest rebuild.
“It’s frustrating for anyone watching White Sox games last year for obvious reasons,” Getz told reporters. “You look at the (41-121) record. That said, Jerry certainly understands the long-term vision of our plan here, and he’s been very supportive.”
Chicago Bears’ DJ Moore — still searching for answers with Caleb Williams — says he tweaked ankle before walking off field midplay
For the second week in a row, the Bears had a game clip go viral for all the wrong reasons.
Column: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will wrap soon — 5 ways it will change concert tours forever
The end of Eras is upon us, writes Christopher Borrelli.
And though you’ve likely had a lifetime fill of Taylor Swift since Eras began in 2023, we need to consider why the Eras Tour will be remembered as a cultural milestone for decades to come.
Column: Hollywood is so lost it can’t even satirize itself. It’s time to rewatch HBO’s ‘The Comeback’ instead
The glamor but also the nasty underbelly of Hollywood have always loomed large in the imagination. You’d think the great destabilization that’s hit the TV and film industry would have led to all kinds of showbiz satires excavating the anxieties and disruptions brought on by streaming and, more recently, artificial intelligence. And yet the latest entry in this genre, HBO’s “The Franchise” — about the absurdity of superhero moviemaking — has nothing to say about any of it. Worse, it’s not even funny.
Perhaps it’s fitting that in such an uninspired era of commercial entertainment, not even a satire of this moment can muster up an original idea. That got Tribune TV and film critic Nina Metz thinking about better, more thoughtful attempts in the past, which prompted her to revisit “The Comeback.”
As dreary weather sets in, head to Minnesota to experience its Nordic sauna culture
Around this time of year in the Midwest, a visit to a steamy sauna can be a perfect way to counter gray skies and chilly temps. But instead of heading to the gym or a spa, you may want to consider a visit to Minnesota.
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