Lightfoot Beats Preckwinkle to Become Chicago’s First Black Female Mayor: AP

For the first time in history, Chicago has elected an African American woman to be the city’s next mayor.

Lori Lightfoot beat Toni Preckwinkle to win the runoff Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press. Lightfoot won 74% of the vote, compared to 26% for Preckwinkle, with 77% of precincts reporting as of 8:30 p.m., election results showed.

Lightfoot’s victory is historic in another way, as she will also be the city’s first openly-LGBTQ mayor once she is sworn in in May.

Lightfoot and Preckwinkle both advanced to the runoff over 12 other candidates in the most crowded field of mayoral hopefuls in Chicago history, a field that grew after outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced in September that he would not run for a third term.

Lightfoot is the former president of the Chicago Police Board. Emanuel appointed her to head the board in 2015, and to chair the Police Accountability Task Force in 2016, in the wake of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. A former federal prosecutor from 1996 to 2002, Lightfoot has also held various roles in city government, including as chief of staff for Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications in 2005.

She most recently was a partner at Mayer Brown LLP and entered the race in May, before Emanuel dropped out — criticizing the candidates, including Preckwinkle, who launched their bids after his announcement. A late surge, seemingly fueled by an endorsement from the Chicago Sun-Times and other candidates’ perceived ties to the so-called “machine,” was enough to put Lightfoot at the top of the Feb. 26 election.

She earned 17.5% of the vote, compared to Preckwinkle’s 16%. If no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote, according to Chicago election law, the top two vote-getters advance to a second runoff election.

After the first round of voting, several key figures threw their support behind Lightfoot, including five of the mayoral candidates who did not advance: Willie Wilson, Paul Vallas, Gery Chico, Jerry Joyce and Susana Mendoza.

Lightfoot gained steam at just the right moment to lift the former prosecutor over Preckwinkle, the current Cook County Board President and chair of the Cook County Democratic Party.

Long seen as one of the most viable challengers to Emanuel, Preckwinkle has been board president since 2010, and prior to that was elected to five terms as alderman of the 4th Ward on the city’s South Side. In April 2018, she became chair of the Cook County Democratic Party. Throughout the mayoral race, she enjoyed significant support from organized labor, particularly Service Employees International Union Local 1 and the Chicago Teachers Union.

The race was contentious from the start, with both candidates on the attack as each touted her progressive credentials. Lightfoot painted Preckwinkle as a politician entrenched in the so-called “machine,” while Preckwinkle highlighted Lightfoot’s background as a “wealthy corporate lawyer” who’s worked for Wall Street.

Now, Lightfoot – who has never before held elected office – will shift focus from first-time campaigner to the work of governing. 

Among the issues she will face nearly as soon as she is sworn in in May is the upcoming summer, when violence, particularly shootings, tends to spike across the city. Lightfoot has said she plans to meet with Supt. Eddie Johnson to discuss the department’s plans for the summer but she would hold off on making a decision on whether to replace him until after the summer is over. 

She will also head to the bargaining table when the Chicago teachers’ contract is up roughly a month after she takes office – with some wondering if perhaps a strike is on the horizon.