Lori Lightfoot

Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first Black woman and first LGBTQ person to serve as mayor of Chicago. Lightfoot was the second woman (after Jane Byrne) and the third Black person overall to hold the office. She was also the second openly lesbian woman to serve as mayor of one of the 10 most populous cities in the United States.

Graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Lightfoot first worked as an attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and, later, as a partner at the law firm Mayer Brown. She also held positions in Chicago government prior to serving as mayor. Appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Lightfoot was the president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. In these roles, she was tasked with helping oversee misconduct cases in the Chicago Police Department.

Lightfoot ran successfully for mayor of Chicago in 2019. Advancing to the runoff, she defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a landslide, winning in all 50 of the city's wards. As mayor, Lightfoot increased Chicago's minimum wage, worked to build affordable housing, and sought to revitalize blighted areas of the city. However, her tenure was also marked by controversy and low public approval. She notably faced criticism over Chicago's rising crime rates and her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lightfoot ran for reelection in 2023, but failed to qualify for the runoff. She became the first Chicago mayor to lose reelection in 40 years.

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, was a local factory worker and janitor. She grew up in a primarily white neighborhood on the west side of the city.

Lightfoot is a graduate of Washington High School in Massillon, where she was a trumpet player in the school band; sang alto in the choir; played basketball, volleyball, and softball; edited the yearbook; and was a member of the Pep Club. She was elected high school class president three times. When she ran for high school class president, Lightfoot's campaign slogan was "Get on the right foot with Lightfoot". In recounting the start of her interest in political organizing, she has often mentioned a high school boycott she organized protesting the quality of school lunches.

Lightfoot received her Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Michigan in 1984, graduating with honors. 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. While Lightfoot was an undergraduate, her older brother, Brian Lightfoot, was arrested in connection with a bank robbery and the shooting of a security guard.

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. As president of the University of Chicago Law School's student body, 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. 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 J.D. degree in 1989.

After 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. During her mayoral campaign, Lightfoot cited several reasons for entering public service, including a desire to represent the African-American community, a sense of injustice based on the murder of a family member by a Ku Klux Klan member in the 1920s, and struggles with the law encountered by her older brother, who was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute.