04 April 2019 - Chicago elects its first openly gay black mayor
Chicago makes history by electing black woman as mayor
The Associated Press (CBC, 02/04/2019)
Political newcomer Lori Lightfoot has been elected mayor of Chicago, becoming the first black female — and openly gay — leader of the city.
Lightfoot easily defeated Toni Preckwinkle, a former school teacher who served in the City Council for 19 years before becoming Cook County Board president in 2011.
The 56-year-old Lightfoot is a former federal prosecutor who campaigned on ridding Chicago's government of corruption. She also said she wanted to help low-income and working-class people she believes have been "left behind and ignored" by Chicago's political ruling class.
Lightfoot’s win stirs hope for change in a divided Chicago
Sara Burnett And Corey Williams, The Associated Press (The Star, 03/04/2019)
Lori Lightfoot’s victory in the Chicago mayor’s race signalled hope among voters that the nation’s third-largest city may someday move beyond long-entrenched divides, racial and otherwise, that have left large parts of the metropolis feeling ignored by people in power.
Lightfoot became the city’s first black female and first openly gay mayor when she defeated another black woman, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, in Tuesday’s election. She joins Chicago’s top prosecutor and police chief as black leaders in a city that continues to struggle with race relations.
But the significance of her win also transcended race or gender. Lightfoot was the outsider, a little-known former federal prosecutor who grew up in Ohio and had never been elected to public office, much less climbed through the ranks of Chicago’s Democratic machine.
GOP commentator says Lightfoot's victory as Chicago mayor means 'absolutely nothing'
Tess Bonn (The Hill, 04/04/2019)
Conservative commentator Paris Dennard told Hill.TV Wednesday that Lori Lightfoot's (D) election as Chicago’s first black woman mayor means “absolutely nothing" for the city.
“Absolutely nothing — kudos, congratulations to Lightfoot,” Dennard, who is on President Trump’s 2020 reelection advisory board, said during a panel discussion.
Lightfoot will also be the city's first openly gay mayor.
“Chicago is run by Democrats and have been run by liberals for many, many years and they are suffering because of that,” Dennard said, pointing to the city’s struggles with crime and violence. “I think the Chicago residents would benefit from having the ideas and debate and conservative principles … when you look at education and crime across the board."
Lori Lightfoot Promised Change as Chicago Mayor. Now Comes the Hard Part.
Mitch Smith, Julie Bosman and Monica Davey (The New York Times, 03/04/2019)
Lori Lightfoot, a political novice, swept into Chicago’s City Hall in staggering style, winning 73 percent of the vote and sending a deafening message to the political veteran she had defeated. She pronounced the results a “broad mandate for change.” She promised to break the city’s endless cycle of corruption. She pledged to remake Chicago.
“Thriving, prosperous, better, stronger, fairer — for everyone,” Ms. Lightfoot said, beaming from a microphone in the hours after the votes were cast.
But this is Chicago, a city that is vast, complex, set in its ways and full of problems that are now Ms. Lightfoot’s to solve.