Lori Lightfoot, '89: Advances to Runoff in Chicago Mayoral Race
Chicago will elect first black female mayor; Lightfoot and Preckwinkle advance to runoff
Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are headed to an April 2 runoff to decide who will become the nation’s third-largest city’s next mayor, topping a crowded field of 14 candidates.
The winner will become Chicago's first black woman mayor, and will make Chicago the largest U.S. city to be led by one. If Lightfoot prevails, she will also be the city's first out LGBT mayor.
Lightfoot had 17.5 percent of the vote and Preckwinkle had 16 percent with 96 percent of precincts counted. Neither achieved the outright majority needed to forestall a runoff.
Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, who had 14.8 percent of the vote, conceded late Tuesday and congratulated Lightfoot and Preckwinkle.
Lightfoot, 56, grew up in Ohio and came to Chicago to attend law school at the University of Chicago.
"This is what change looks like," she said. "It's true that not every day, a little black girl in a low-income family from a segregated steel town makes the runoff to be the mayor of the third-largest city in the country."
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