As politicians fight to retain their positions in office, their constituents fight against the longest political tenures in the history of the country.
U.S. Term Limits is an advocacy group for term limits in government, and they are not alone. More and more groups, such as the political action committee Wolf-PAC, are calling for a 28th amendment to the Constitution to install term limits. Even a poll taken by the American Association of Retired Persons revealed voters value candidates with real world experience over established politicians.
Without term limits, entrenched politicians are likely to continue holding their positions for as long as they want, as incumbents for positions such as Congress see about a 95% re-election rate, according to U.S. Term Limits.
Richard M. Daley was the mayor of Chicago for 22 years before his successor, Rahm Emanuel, replaced him. Before that, Richard J. Daley was mayor for more than 20 years. Richard M. Daley's time as mayor was criticized for favoritism in giving out city contracts and for budgets that ran up large deficits.
Emanuel was elected in 2011 and became the first Jewish person to serve as mayor. Despite there being no term limits in Chicago, Emanuel did not run for a third term, opening the position to 14 different candidates, due in part to the higher chance of winning without running against an incumbent mayor.
With so many people calling for change, it is no wonder political outsiders like newly elected Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are gaining traction in an arena dominated by career politicians. New faces with different life experiences have the potential to more accurately represent constituents, and term limits keep the revolving door of political office turning.
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