Lori Lightfoot facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lori Lightfoot
Lightfoot in 2023
56th Mayor of Chicago
In office May 20, 2019 – May 15, 2023
Deputy	Tom Tunney
Preceded by	Rahm Emanuel
Succeeded by	Brandon Johnson
President of the Chicago Police Board
In office May 2015 – May 2018
Appointed by	Rahm Emanuel
Preceded by	Demetrius Carney
Succeeded by	Ghian Foreman
Personal details
Born	Lori Elaine Lightfoot (1962-08-04) August 4, 1962 (age 62) Massillon, Ohio, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Amy Eshleman ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	1
Education	University of Michigan (BA) University of Chicago (JD)
Signature

Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown and held various government positions in Chicago. She served as president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. In 2019, Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election for Chicago mayor. She ran again in 2023 but failed to qualify for the runoff, becoming the city's first incumbent mayor to not be reelected since Jane Byrne in 1983.

Lightfoot is the first openly lesbian black woman to serve as mayor of a major city in the United States, and the second openly lesbian woman (after Annise Parker) to serve as mayor of one of the ten most populous cities in the United States. She is also the first black woman, the second woman (after Byrne), and the third black person (after Harold Washington and Eugene Sawyer) to serve as mayor of Chicago.

Early life and education

Lightfoot was born in Massillon, Ohio, the youngest of four children. Her mother, Ann Lightfoot, was a nighttime healthcare aide and school board member, and her father, Elijah Lightfoot, a local factory worker and janitor. She grew up in a mostly white neighborhood on the west side of the city.

She is a graduate of Washington High School in Massillon, where she was a trumpet player in the school band, sang alto in choir, point guard on the basketball team, volleyball player, softball player, yearbook editor, and Pep Club member. She was elected high school class president three times. Her campaign slogan while running for high school class president was "Get on the right foot with Lightfoot". Her high school alumni association named her a "Distinguished Citizen" in 2013. While in high school, Lightfoot helped organize a boycott of her school's lunch program over the quality of its pizza. Her boycott was a success as the school provided more flavorful pizza. Her punishment for the boycott was detention.

Lightfoot received her Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Michigan in 1984, graduating with honors. Despite not knowing the subject, she initially hoped to become a systems engineer following the advice of her oldest brother. She pursued seven different types of employment to pay for her education, including working as a resident assistant and as a cook for the school's football team. She also held factory jobs at home during summers to help pay for her education.

Lightfoot held positions working for Congress members Ralph Regula and Barbara Mikulski before deciding to attend law school. She has said she chose to attend law school not because of her brother's legal troubles, but because she wanted a job that offered financial independence. She matriculated at the University of Chicago Law School, where she was awarded a full scholarship. Lightfoot quarterbacked an intramural flag football team while at Chicago Law School. Lightfoot also served as a clerk for Justice Charles Levin of the Michigan Supreme Court. She graduated from the University of Chicago with her Juris Doctor degree in 1989.

Career

Assistant U.S. Attorney (1996–2002)

After graduating law school, Lightfoot became a practicing attorney at the Mayer Brown law firm, serving a wide cross-section of clients. Lightfoot first entered the public sector as Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Chicago Police Department Office of Professional Standards (2002–04)

In 2002, Lightfoot was appointed chief administrator of the Chicago Police Department Office of Professional Standards, a now-defunct governmental police oversight group, by Police Superintendent Terry Hillard. She held the position for two years. In the position, she was in charge of investigating possible cases of police misconduct, including police shootings of civilians.

Other roles in Chicago city government (2004–05)

Lightfoot then moved on to work in the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications. She was later hired by Mayor Richard M. Daley as deputy chief of the Chicago Department of Procurement Services. There, she and her boss, Mary Dempsey, investigated Chicago corruption, drawing Mayor Daley's ire in the process. Lightfoot and Dempsey's investigations included probes of then-Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich's associate Tony Rezko and prominent Daley donor Elzie Higginbottom. Lightfoot worked at the Department of Procurement Services for a few months, subsequently returning to Mayer Brown. Lightfoot has suggested that she left the Department of Procurement Services because of dismay at corruption in City Hall.

Private practice

As an attorney at Mayer Brown, Lightfoot represented Republicans in two cases contesting supposed Democratic gerrymandering. At Mayer Brown, she also defended Chicago police officer Paul Powers against charges of physical assault. In 2019, after facing criticism over defending Powers, Lightfoot cited video evidence in favor of her former client's innocence.

Lightfoot was briefly hired by the city of Chicago to defend the city against charges brought by the family of a mentally ill woman, Christina Eilman, who was brought into custody by Chicago police after suffering a mental breakdown at Midway Airport. ..... Eilman's family reached a $22.5 million settlement with the city.

..... She has served as external counsel for Bank of America. In 2013, Lightfoot was a finalist for the position of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, but the job went to Zachary T. Fardon.

Chicago Police Board and Task Force (2015–18)

Lightfoot speaking at the release of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force's report in 2016

Lightfoot returned to the public sector in 2015, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed her to replace 19-year incumbent Demetrius Carney as president of the Chicago Police Board. The board's main responsibility is to make recommendations for or against disciplinary action on certain disputed cases of police misconduct. Under Lightfoot's leadership, the board became more punitive, firing officers in 72% of its cases.

In 2017, Emanuel re-appointed Lightfoot to a second term as president of the Police Board. The decision came after Lightfoot and Emanuel had publicly come into conflict, particularly over Emanuel's attempts to reach a police reform deal with Trump Administration Justice Department officials that would avoid a consent decree and oversight from a federal judge. Lightfoot called Emanuel's approach "fundamentally flawed." At the time, there was already speculation that Lightfoot was planning a run for mayor of Chicago in 2019, though she denied the rumors. Lightfoot resigned from the Police Board in May 2018, just before announcing her mayoral campaign.

2019 mayoral campaign

One of Lightfoot's mayoral campaign signs, featuring her slogan "Bring in the Light"

On May 10, 2018, Lightfoot announced her candidacy for Mayor of Chicago in the 2019 elections, her first-ever run for public office. She is the first LGBTQ mayor and first black female mayor of Chicago.

Lightfoot finished first in the February election, in what was considered to be an upset. She placed above a crowded field of fourteen candidates. Because no candidate reached the necessary 50% of the vote needed to win the election outright, she and Preckwinkle advanced to a runoff election.

Lightfoot won the runoff election on April 2, 2019, becoming mayor-elect of Chicago. She won more than 73% of the overall vote in the runoff, winning in all 50 wards of the city. Lightfoot won all but 20 of the city's 2,069 voting precincts. Voter turnout was 32.89%, almost a record low.

Mayor of Chicago

Lightfoot's administration faced criticism due to rising crime rates in Chicago and accusations of covering up police misconduct. During her term, she clashed with members of the Chicago City Council, the Chicago Teachers Union, and Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker's administration. The New York Times remarked that she had an "uncanny ability to make political enemies." However, Lightfoot received praise for her efforts to build affordable housing, repair dilapidated areas of the city, and raise the minimum wage.

Mayor-elect Lightfoot meeting with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi on May 7, 2019

Mayor-elect Lightfoot meeting with Ivanka Trump, Daughter of then-President of the United States Donald Trump, on May 7, 2019

Transition

As mayor-elect, Lightfoot expressed a desire for the Laquan McDonald trial to be reexamined, urging the U.S. Attorney's Office to reopen their grand jury investigation to examine if any civil rights were violated.

On April 6, 2019, Lightfoot told the Chicago Sun-Times that her staff would, during her first post-election weekend, spend time examining the city's 600-page agreement with Sterling Bay regarding the Lincoln Yards development. During her campaign, Lightfoot had been critical of the process that was being taken to reach the agreement. The following Monday, at her request, Mayor Rahm Emanuel postponed city council votes on the approval of $1.6 billion in tax increment financing subsidies for both the Lincoln Yards and The 78 mega-developments. After the developers of the two projects agreed to increase commitments to hiring minority-owned and women-owned contractors, Lightfoot announced her support for the projects, which were approved one day subsequent to her declaration of support.

Inauguration

Lightfoot joined by her family and Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox at her inauguration

On May 20, 2019, Lightfoot officially took office as Mayor of Chicago, after being sworn in at 11:15 am by Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, at the Wintrust Arena, accompanied by her wife and daughter.

Upon taking office, Lightfoot became the first openly LGBT Chicago mayor, the first black female Chicago mayor, as well as the second female Chicago mayor (after Jane Byrne) and third Chicago black mayor (after Harold Washington and Eugene Sawyer).

Affordable housing

On October 14, 2019, Lightfoot announced the creation of an affordable housing task force set to consist of 20 members and study solutions to housing affordability over a 4- to 6-month period. The following month, it was announced that the task force would also come up with a proposal to rewrite the city's affordable housing ordinance. These efforts directly implicated systemic racism as the primary issue in housing affordability, recommending an entirely new framework for housing ordinances prioritizing racial equity. However, initial affordable housing goals were set back by budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these recommendations were eventually integrated into the distribution of federal relief funds for housing assistance grants, as well as allocations for low-income tax credits.

On March 6, 2020, Lightfoot named Tracey Scott as CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority. On March 30, the CHA Board of Commissioners approved Tracey Scott's appointment.

Casino

After legislation expanding gambling in Illinois was passed by the state legislature at the start of June 2019, Lightfoot announced that the city would commence a study of where a Chicago casino would be located. Lightfoot's predecessors had long sought to obtain a casino for the city. While the state did not approve a city-owned casino (reportedly preferred by Lightfoot, as it had been by her predecessors); state legislation allowed for a privately owned casino from which the city would receive one-third of tax revenue generated. Lightfoot continued to push, however, for the state to authorize a casino jointly owned by the city and state and with a lesser effective tax rate than the passed legislation specified.

On May 5, 2022, Lightfoot announced that she had selected a bid from the Bally's Corporation to construct a casino resort on the west bank of the Chicago River.

Christopher Columbus statue

In July 2020, Lightfoot directed that a statue of Christopher Columbus be removed from Grant Park. After the murder of George Floyd, protesters had attempted to knock over the statue and had engaged in a violent confrontation with police.

In March 2022, attorney George Smyrniotis sued Lightfoot for defamation. The lawsuit claimed that Italian-Americans were unhappy with the removal of the Columbus statue, and that a tentative deal had been struck to assuage their concerns by allowing the statue to be displayed in an annual Columbus Day parade. According to Smyrniotis, Lightfoot—angry over the proposal regarding the display of the statue—suggested during a Zoom call that she would revoke the parade permit if the statue were to be displayed. Smyrniotis added that Lightfoot had questioned his competence, berated him and others with obscenities, and asserted that she had "'the biggest d*** in Chicago'". For her part, Lightfoot contended that the lawsuit's "'deeply offensive and ridiculous claims'" were "'wholly lacking in merit'".

City Council

Lightfoot with First Lady Jill Biden in 2022

Lightfoot's first executive order as mayor limited "aldermanic prerogative", a practice under which Chicago aldermen were granted an effective veto over matters in their wards.

On May 28, 2019, Lightfoot unveiled proposals to revise the Chicago City Council operating rules. Among other things, she proposed live streaming video of committee meetings, changes to strengthen the rule on conflicts of interest, and the transfer of control over TIF subsidies to the council's Committee on Economic and Capital Development.

On May 31, 2019, after indictments were brought against Alderman Edward M. Burke, Lightfoot called for his resignation.

On June 5, 2019, Lightfoot outlined further ethics reform proposals for the city council.

COVID-19 pandemic

Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick's Day 2021

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Lightfoot took a number of actions aimed at quelling the severity of the outbreak in Chicago. On March 11, 2020, Lightfoot joined Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker to postpone of the city's formal Saint Patrick's Day festivities (including parades and the dyeing of the Chicago River). On March 15, Lightfoot decided that, due to concerns surrounding Saint Patrick's Day festivities, all businesses selling liquor must have less than half of their regular maximum capacity, and must additionally not exceed a capacity of 100 people.

On March 12, 2020, Lightfoot again joined Pritzker to issue, among other things, a ban on events attended by more than 1,000 people from being held over the next 30 days.

On March 15, Lightfoot criticized the long lines at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as a result of federal government travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic as "utterly unacceptable". Under the federal government's travel restrictions, authorized passengers could only take flights from 26 permitted European nations to a total of thirteen permitted United States airports, of which O'Hare was one.

Under Lightfoot, Chicago launched a campaign urging residents to follow Illinois' stay-at-home order.

On March 20, 2020, Lightfoot extended Chicago Public School closures beyond what had already been mandated by the State of Illinois. Chicago Department of Health Commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, had signed a public health order under which those with the COVID-19 illness or exhibiting symptoms, with few exceptions, could not leave their place of residence, go to work or any group settings. The order allowed sick residents to seek essential services, such as necessary clinical care/evaluation, and life sustaining needs, such as medicine and food. Lightfoot declared that anyone who violated this order may be issued a citation.

On March 27, Lightfoot placed a ban on contact sport and closed the city's parks, beaches, and trails due to instances over the previous days of people violating the state's stay-at-home order and gathering in public places.

On March 31, 2020, Lightfoot announced that she had secured 300 hotel rooms in the city's downtown to house first responders, which they could use so that they would not need to go to their homes and risk spreading COVID-19 to their families.

Members of the Illinois Air National Guard work to convert McCormick Place into a makeshift hospital

Lightfoot inspects the temporary hospital facility being erected at McCormick Place in April 2020

Lightfoot's administration worked with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to establish a makeshift hospital at McCormick Place.

In early April, Lightfoot partnered with Chicago's professional sports teams to launch the "We Are Not Playing" campaign.

Also in early April, Lightfoot drew criticism for getting her hair cut in violation of the state's stay-at-home order. She argued that she was justified in doing so, saying, "I'm the public face of this city. I'm on national media and I'm out in the public eye."

On April 7, Lightfoot signed an executive order which further ensured that undocumented immigrants would not be excluded from receiving city benefits, opportunities, and services. Similar protections already largely existed under the Welcoming City Ordinance, which had been passed during her predecessor's term.

On April 8, Lightfoot introduced a curfew on liquor sales to take effect the next day. This was to cut down on congregating outside of liquor stores.

Also on April 8, Lightfoot was criticised for suspending Freedom of Information Act request deadlines, saying "I want to ask the average Chicagoan: Would you like them to do their job or would you like them to be pulled off to do FOIA requests?", and invoking the Old Testament by saying "I'm mindful of the fact that we're in the Pesach season, the angel of death that we all talk about is the Passover story". Due to this, Lightfoot was subsequently awarded the tongue-in-cheek "Pharaoh Prize for Deadline Extensions" by digital-rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Lightfoot has participated in enforcing the state's stay-at-home order, personally partaking in patrolling the city and confronting violators.

Lightfoot-centric internet memes arose during the coronavirus outbreak, first gaining popularity in late-March amid Lightfoot's no-nonsense approach to enforcing the state's stay-at-home order.

On November 12, 2020, Lightfoot issued new restrictions, including a stay-at-home advisory. Lightfoot was scrutinized for this decision as she had been seen in prior days at a large gathering celebrating Joe Biden's election victory.

Education

On June 3, 2019, Lightfoot announced her selections for the Chicago Board of Education (the school board of Chicago Public Schools), appointing former City Clerk of Chicago Miguel del Valle as its president. She also announced that incumbent CEO of Chicago Public Schools Janice K. Jackson would retain her position, having previously only committed to retaining her for an interim period.

In October 2019, Lightfoot dealt with a public schools strike led by the Chicago Teachers Union and Service Employees International Union.

While Lightfoot has advocated for an elected Chicago school board, as mayor-elect she opposed state legislation that would create a 21-member board, calling it "unwieldy". Nevertheless, in July 2021, governor J. B. Pritzker signed such legislation into law, over Lightfoot's objections.

On June 14, 2021, Lightfoot named José Torres to serve as interim CEO of the Chicago Public Schools after Janice K. Jackson steps down. On September 15, 2021, Mayor Lightfoot announced that Pedro Martinez would be succeeding Torres as the new permanent CEO. On September 22, the Chicago Board of Education unanimously voted to approve his appointment as CEO, scheduling him to take office on September 29.

Fiscal issues

On November 23, 2019, a plan by Lightfoot to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 was approved by the Chicago City Council. This increase did not include restaurant servers and tipped workers.

In the fall of 2019, Lightfoot proposed a graduated transfer tax for commercial real estate sales. Under this proposal, the city would capture more money from large real estate transfers while also providing a tax break for most transfers valued under $500,000.

On November 26, 2019, the Chicago City Council approved Lightfoot's budget for the 2020 fiscal year.

Two-year anniversary as mayor

On May 19, 2021, Lightfoot stated she would only choose reporters of color for interviews on the occasion of her two-year anniversary in office. This sparked considerable backlash, with many calling for her resignation, including Tulsi Gabbard. Judicial Watch sued Lightfoot on behalf of The Daily Caller, alleging that Lightfoot violated journalist Thomas Catenacci's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Universal basic income pilot

Advertising for Lightfoot's 2019 mayoral campaign

In February 2022, it was announced by Lightfoot that Chicago residents would be able to apply to participate in the city's $500-per-month basic income pilot program in April of that year. The pilot program was offered to Chicago residents who suffered economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, giving them the chance to enter into a lottery to get $500 monthly payments for the course of one year. The pilot program was for 5,000 participants and had the requirements of: the applicant must live in Chicago, be at least 18 years old, have experienced economic hardship related to COVID-19, and have a household income at or below 250% of the federal poverty level. It was stated to be the largest universal basic income pilot program in the U.S. to date.

2023 mayoral campaign

In the 2023 Chicago mayoral election, a wide field of nine challengers qualified for the ballot. Polling of the race was largely inconsistent, but indicated that Lightfoot was in danger of losing re-election and that the candidates with the best chance of making a runoff were Lightfoot, U.S. Representative Chuy García, Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, and businessman Willie Wilson.

Lightfoot faced controversy when she emailed public school teachers offering school credit for students who interned on her campaign and when she told South Side residents to either vote for her or not vote at all. Lightfoot ran ads tying García to Sam Bankman-Fried and Michael Madigan and accusing Johnson of wanting to reduce police budgets.

On February 28, 2023, Lightfoot finished in third place out of nine candidates. Therefore, she failed to qualify for the run-off election of the top two candidates. She garnered 16.81% of the vote, while Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson received 32.90% and 21.63%, respectively. Johnson prevailed in the April 4, 2023 runoff. Lightfoot was the only of the seven eliminated candidates not to endorse either Johnson or Vallas ahead of the runoff.

Approval rating

Below is a table of polls on Lightfoot's approval rating among Chicagoans, descending from most to least recent:

Post-mayoral career

After losing her bid for re-election as mayor of Chicago, Lightfoot began teaching a course (titled "Health Policy and Leadership") as a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

National politics

On March 6, 2020, shortly before the 2020 Illinois Democratic presidential primary, Lightfoot endorsed Joe Biden's candidacy for president.

Lightfoot appeared in a video shown on the opening night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention which also features Biden, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, activist Jamira Burley, activist Gwen Carr, and NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

Lightfoot was a 2020 Democratic United States Electoral College elector from Illinois, casting her votes for Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice-president.

Personal life

Lightfoot resides in the Logan Square neighborhood, on Chicago's Northwest Side. On May 31, 2014, she married Amy Eshleman, a former Chicago Public Library employee, who is now a full-time mother to the couple's adopted daughter.

Lightfoot has held Chicago Bears season tickets for 20 years, and is also a Chicago White Sox season ticket-holder. She is also a season ticket holder for the WNBA's Chicago Sky.

Lightfoot made an appearance on a TV mini-series called The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth.

Lightfoot is a Founding Trustee at Christ the King Jesuit High School in Chicago. She is also a member of St. James AME Zion Church.

During some of her years as a partner at Mayer Brown, Lightfoot earned approximately $1 million annually.

Awards and honors

Lightfoot leading the 2019 Chicago Pride Parade

In June 2019, Lightfoot was selected as one of several grand marshals of the Chicago Pride Parade.

In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty named her among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".

In October 2020, Lightfoot was chosen by the National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) to receive the NMQF Honorable John Lewis Lifetime Achievement Award.

Electoral history

See also

In Spanish: Lori Lightfoot para niños

• List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States
• List of the first LGBT holders of political offices in the United States