The calendar quickly is approaching the second anniversary of the February 2019 municipal election that set Lori Lightfoot’s trajectory toward the mayor’s office. Just over a month later, she won the job with nearly 75% of the vote.

What a difference a couple of years — and a COVID-19 crisis — makes. Today, if 75% of Chicagoans agree on anything about Lightfoot, it’s that the adjustment to the job has been tougher than hoped and the results short of what is needed.

The standoff with the Chicago Teachers Union over safely reopening the city’s schools is just the latest flashpoint in this critical reappraisal of the mayor. The resignation of her communications chief, loss of her City Council floor leader and dismissal of her corporation counsel — among others — have fed the notion that Lightfoot is an abrasive boss and, possibly, an ineffective leader.

Over the last few days, I’ve checked with some of Lightfoot’s earliest supporters, and though they’re disappointed, most still have hope. They believe Lightfoot has a shot at rebooting in time for a reelection run. And they are eyeing that age-old calculation of Chicago mayors: Is there anyone who could beat her?

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David Greising is the president and chief executive of the Better Government Association, joining the BGA in 2018. For nearly a century, the BGA has fought for honest and effective government through investigative journalism and policy advocacy.

Greising’s career started at the City News Bureau of Chicago, with stops at the Chicago Sun-Times, Business Week magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Reuters. He was a co-founder of the Chicago News Cooperative and worked briefly as a consultant to World Business Chicago. Today, Greising writes on government issues in regular columns for the Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Under Greising’s leadership, the BGA has played a key role in uncovering public corruption amidst the wide-ranging federal probe, starting with an in-depth report about Ald. Ed Burke’s conflicts of interest before the federal charges against Burke. The BGA also has exposed waste and fraud at O’Hare and the proliferation of corruption and poverty into Dolton, Lyons and other Chicago suburbs. The BGA’s policy team has led calls for ethics reform in Chicago’s City Council and in state government.