Lori Lightfoot, The First Female Black And Openly Gay Mayor Of Chicago

Lori Lightfoot Is The First Black Female To Be Elected Chicago Mayor

Who is Lori Lightfoot First Black Female Elected Chicago Mayor?

Lori Lightfoot is now the first black female mayor of Chicago, whereas the city became the largest in US history to have a black woman and openly gay person as mayor. The 56-years old Lightfoot defeated the 72-years old Toni Preckwinkle in the runoff election held on 2 April 2019. With both candidates being African-American, Chicago was all set to elect their first female black mayor, Lori Lightfoot came ahead. Lightfoot is also the first openly gay leader of the city and the largest city in US history to have an openly LGBTQ mayor. 

After the win, Lightfoot told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday that her victory gave people hope for a new beginning. She told, "I feel very humbled and honored. I'm gonna do everything I can to earn it."

Lightfoot will succeed current incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The mother of 11 years old daughter will take the Mayor's office starting from 20 May 2019. Rahm Emanuel two-term mayor is reported to be planning on modeling the transition between his and Lightfoot's administrations. He was also the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. 

Source: @LightfootForChi

Lori Lightfoot, a lawyer and the former president of the Chicago police board, and Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Board President were the top two vote-getters among dozen mayoral candidates in a primary election held in February. Lori Lightfoot was on the top and was speculated to win the mayoral campaign. 

Lightfoot faced criticism from criminal justice activists over her record in police accountability and as a prosecutor during the runoff. Chicago-based musician and activist, Chance the Rapper, and U.S. Representative Bobby Rush also made similar criticisms of Lightfoot. On the other hand, the Cook County Board President, Preckwinkle also drove controversy when her name was dragged into a major corruption scandal involving Chicago alderman Ed Burke during her mayoral campaign. The alderman, Burke allegedly forced fast-food executive Shoukat Dhanani to make an illegal $10,000 donation to Preckwinkle's campaign. Upon the controversy and criticism, Preckwinkle ultimately returned over $100,000 that had been raised by Burke. Lori Lightfoot went on to run a television advertisement criticizing Chico, Daley, Mendoza, and Preckwinkle as the "Burke Four" for their connections to the disgraced alderman. 

Despite the criticism, Lightfoot came ahead with the historic win and she will have to tackle lots of challenges ahead of her after taking the new administration as a mayor.

Toni Preckwinkle Biography