Lori Lightfoot, a political newcomer, was elected the first black female mayor of Chicago on Tuesday, defeating opponent Toni Preckwinkle by a landslide in a runoff to take over a city struggling with crime and weak finances.
A former federal prosecutor, Lightfoot won 74 percent of the vote with nearly all precincts counted compared with 26 percent for Preckwinkle, a long-time local politician, to become Chicago’s 56th mayor.
Lightfoot, 56, who will also become the first openly gay mayor of the third-largest US city, appealed to voters who are tired of politics as usual. She has never held political office, while Preckwinkle, 72, was a city councilwoman for almost 20 years before becoming Cook County board president in 2010.
“You did more than make history. You created a movement for change,” Lightfoot told hundreds of supporters at her election night party, promising to end corruption and make the city’s streets safe again. “We can and will remake Chicago.”
The runoff between two African-American women was a rarity in the United States, where only 6 percent of mayors in the 200 largest US cities are women of color, according to the Reflective Democracy Campaign.
Lightfoot and Preckwinkle, both Democrats, earned spots on the ballot in the runoff after they garnered the most votes among 14 candidates in a February election. Lightfoot will replace Rahm Emanuel, who did not seek a third term.
“She brings fresh air and is someone I can trust,” Shisha Amabel, a 72-year-old retired social worker who joined supporters at Lightfoot’s celebration at a Michigan Avenue hotel.
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker alluded to former US President Barack Obama, once an Illinois senator, in offering his congratulations.
“In a city that serves as the hometown for many Black American politicians who have made history, there is another political first,” Booker said on Twitter.