Lori Lightfoot

Lori Lightfoot is an American politician.

Lori Elaine Lightfoot, professionally known as Lori Lightfoot is an American politician. She is the 56th and current Mayor of Chicago. She took office on 20 May 2019. Previously, she has held various government positions in the city of Chicago. She has served as President of the Chicago Police Board from 2015 and 2018. She has also worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown. She advanced to a runoff election against Toni Preckwinkle for the 2019 Chicago mayoral election on 2 April 2019. Upon defeating Toni Preckwinkle, Lightfoot became the first black female and openly gay to be elected as the Mayor of the city.

Lori Lightfoot Took Office as the First Black Female and Openly Gay Mayor of Chicago

Source: @usatoday.com

Lori Lightfoot, 56, took office as the 56th Mayor of Chicago. Her inauguration was held on 20 May 2019 at the Wintrust Arena. Her 90-year old mother, Ann Lightfoot traveled from Massillon, Ohio to attend Lori’s inauguration ceremony, where Ann sat in the front row for her daughter’s inauguration speech.

Lori Lightfoot became the first black female and openly gay Mayor of Chicago when she defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a runoff election held in April 2019. Lori acquired 74% of the total vote against Preckwinkle. Lori was favorited to win the election as she was the top vote-getter in the first-round election.

Chicago’s First Black Woman Mayor and Openly Gay Mayor

She and Rahm Emanuel publicly came into conflict when Emanuel attempted to reach a police reform deal with Trump Administration Justice Department officials that would avoid a consent decree and an oversight from a federal judge. Lightfoot called Emanuel’s approach “fundamentally flawed”. By then, rumor had already flown that she was planning to run for mayor of Chicago. She resigned from the Police Board in May before announcing her candidacy on 10 May 2018.

What is Lori Lightfoot famous for?

  •  First black female and first openly gay Mayor of Chicago.
  • The second female to be elected mayor of Chicago.
  • President of the Chicago Police Board from 2015-2018.

Where did Lori Lightfoot grow up?

Lori Lightfoot was born on 4 August 1962. Her birth name is Lori Elaine Lightfoot. Her birthplace is in Massillon, Ohio, in the United States. She holds American nationality. Her father was a factory worker and janitor, whereas her mother was a healthcare aide and school board member. She has 3 siblings. She is the youngest of four children.

She attended Washington High School, where she was a class president. She was a trumpet player in the school band, yearbook editor, and Pep Club member. She was also a point guard on the high school’s basketball team. After graduating from Washington High School, she attended the University of Michigan. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1984. She worked seven jobs to afford her education.

She worked for Congress members Ralph Regula and Barbara Mikulski before matriculating at University of Chicago Law School. She studied at the University of Chicago Law School on a full scholarship. She first gained notoriety as a law student at UChicago when she led a successful movement to ban a law firm from campus after the firm sent a recruiter who made racist and sexist remarks towards a student. She graduated from law school in 1989.

Career of Lori Lightfoot

Source: @LightfootForChi

She became a practicing attorney at Mayer Brown after graduating law school.

She first entered the public sector as Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District Illinois.

She assisted with an FBI investigation into Chicago corruption, Operation Silver Shovel while working as a federal prosecutor. She helped to convict alderman Virgil Jones.

She was exonerated after a Justice Department review after she was issued a warning for misconduct by Judge Richard Posner based on a 1999 case where she allegedly misled a judge about the status of an order to extradite a suspect.

She worked as chief administrator of the Chicago Police Department Office of Professional Standards for two years from 2002.

She worked with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications and later worked as deputy chief of the Chicago Department of Procurement Services.

She has also served on the boards of the Illinois chapter of NARAL and the ACLU.

She was a finalist for the position of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois in 2013.

Source: @tpr.org

In 2015, she returned to the public sector as she was appointed the 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.

She was re-appointed to a second term as president of the Police Board in 2017.

She resigned from the Police Board in May 2018 just before announcing her 2019 mayoral campaign.

She announced her candidacy for Mayor of Chicago in the 2019 elections on 10 May 2018. She would become the first gay mayor and first black female mayor of Chicago if she wins the campaign.

Her 2019 mayoral campaign was endorsed by the Chicago Sun-Times.

She and Toni Preckwinkle advanced to the runoff election after the first round of the mayoral election on 26 February 2019. She was the overall top vote-getter in the first round of the election.

The runoff election between Lightfoot and Preckwinkle was held on 2 April 2019.

Lori Lightfoot defeated Preckwinkle to become the first black female mayor of the city.  She also became the first openly gay mayor of the largest city in US history.

She took office as the Mayor of Chicago on 20 May 2019.

Who is Lori Lightfoot married to?

Lori Lightfoot is a married woman. Her sexual orientation is gay. She is married to Amy Eshleman. Amy Eshleman is a former Chicago Public Library employee. The couple has one adopted daughter named Vivian. She lives with her family in Chicago. No other personal information about her is available.

She has held Chicago Bears season tickets for 20 years and is also a Chicago White Sox season ticket holder.

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