Lori Lightfoot
In 2019 Chicago elected her as its first Black woman and first openly gay mayor – winning every one of the city’s 50 wards.
Lori Lightfoot grew up in a working-class family in Massillon, Ohio, the youngest of four children; her father worked in a factory and as a janitor. She studied political science at the University of Michigan, paying her way with several jobs, and studied law at the University of Chicago on a full scholarship.
She worked as a federal prosecutor in Chicago and as a partner at a large law firm and held several positions in city government. As head of the Chicago Police Board and chair of a task force on police accountability, she dealt with misconduct by the Chicago police after the killing of Laquan McDonald.
In 2019 she ran for mayor as an outsider and won the runoff against Toni Preckwinkle in all 50 of the city’s wards. She became the first Black woman and the first openly gay person to lead Chicago, one of the largest cities in the United States. Her wife Amy Eshleman became Chicago’s first lady.
As mayor she raised the minimum wage and invested in neglected neighbourhoods, but she faced heavy criticism over rising crime, her handling of the pandemic and conflicts with the teachers’ union. In 2023 she failed to reach the runoff – the first Chicago mayor in forty years to lose re-election. She has since taught at Harvard.