Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot claimed that her reelection defeat was due to “right-wing” forces and racial prejudice.

Lightfoot will leave office in the next few days. She won the mayoral race by a wide margin four years ago, but did not make it to the run-off this year. Brandon Johnson, a left-wing former Cook County commissioner who defeated Paul Vallas a more moderate former Chief Executive of Chicago Public Schools, will succeed her.

Lightfoot told MSNBC in an interview on Monday that the national political turmoil that divided Chicago, a city she acknowledged to be “deeply blue” and “Democratic,” caused her loss.

She said, “We fell short but I will leave my office with a high head.” What we taught our city, and the country, is how to operationalize equality, whether it was historic investments in affordable homes, the environment or our youth. We also taught them about public safety, which wasn’t solely dependent on law enforcement.

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The lawlessness increased dramatically during Lightfoot’s four-year term: in 2019, when Lightfoot took office, there were 490 murders in Windy City. In 2020, the number of murders rose to 772, and in 2021 it reached 800, a rise of over 58%, as nationwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations occurred after the death of George Floyd. Lightfoot has her own personal police unit of 71 officers to protect her. She proposed cutting $80 million in the Chicago Police Department’s budget for 2020.

Al Sharpton, a MSNBC contributor, asked Lightfoot if she believed her race played a part in her defeat despite the fact that her successor was also black. Lightfoot, who repeatedly cited both her race and self-identification of a lesbian in describing her loss, claimed that former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign relied on attacking “cities” and mayors like her, referring to Keisha Lancebottoms of Atlanta and Muriel BOWSER of Washington, D.C.

She continued, “There is no doubt, Reverend Al that some people in Chicago, and across the nation, don’t want me as a mayor to succeed.” “When someone with the largest megaphone and stage attacks you the way Trump did, it unleashes forces that are difficult to control.” The dog whistles blown by right-wing groups in order to topple a mayor of a large city are still echoing today. They were fed by anger and uncertainty, then funded by these forces.

Lightfoot admitted that her successor was even more leftist than she is, but said that Republicans conspired against her. She said, “Unfortunately those who jumped on the bandwagon to support a Republican posing as a Democrat have now gotten a democratic socialist mayor. Be careful what you want.”

A study by the Tax Foundation found that Chicago has the second highest tax burden in the country for the combined state and local tax rates. According to a report by the Illinois Policy Institute, Lightfoot introduced a policy of increasing property taxes but reversed it before her reelection bid. During her tenure, major businesses like food processor Tyson, aircraft manufacturer Boeing, constrictor manufacturer Caterpillar and hedge fund Citadel left the city, even though Lightfoot claimed on her campaign site that she had created an “environment that supports and sustains entrepreneur and workers who call Chicago home.”