Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot made history as Chicago’s first ever Black female and openly lesbian mayor on Tuesday night.
By rejecting establishment mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle, Chicago residents sent a clear signal that they are fed up with decades of corruption.
In 2018, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel stunned the city by announcing he would not seek a third term in office. His decision opened the door for the first ever female mayor.
Wearing a red men’s tailored suit, Lightfoot addressed her supporters late Tuesday night with 95 percent of the votes counted.
She said she wants to turn Chicago around so that “your ZIP code doesn’t determine your destiny.” She also pledged to revitalize all of Chicago’s neighborhoods, and most importantly, “We can and we will break this city’s cycle of corruption.’
She added: “We will not let politicians profit from their positions. We can and we will remake Chicago.”
Lightfoot, 56, is “married” to Amy Eshleman (wearing black), and they have one daughter (center).
Chicago has a sordid history as the most corrupt city in the United States. Residents were tired of Preckwinkle’s disastrous decisions such as reversing a sales tax rollback, pushing a soda tax that no one wanted, and doing nothing to reverse the economic decline of the city’s South Side.
Preckwinkle may have been caught in the fallout from Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s appalling decision to drop all charges against actor Jussie Smollett who was accused of staging a hate crime to benefit himself financially.
Foxx angered city residents when she revealed she lied about recusing herself from Smollett’s case. Foxx secretly discussed the case with Tina Tchen, who is Michelle Obama’s former White House chief of staff.
Tchen campaigned heavily for Preckwinkle in the mayor’s race, which probably led to Preckwinkle’s easy defeat.
Another factor in Preckwinkle’s loss was her failure to get rid of patronage when she took over as Cook County Board President. Residents were dismayed when she continued the practice of hiring the children of politicians, and other well-connected cronies.
Photos by Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images
