Chicago just became the largest United States city to elect a black woman and openly gay person as mayor in a history-making vote.
Lori Lightfoot, a lawyer and the former president of the Chicago police board, defeated Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday to become the next mayor of the Windy City. She will succeed Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s two-term mayor and former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. [...]
Preckwinkle tried to cast Lightfoot as a political novice who lacked experience in electoral politics, but, as Bloomberg noted, many were attracted to her “clean slate” appeal. During the race, Lightfoot outpaced Preckwinkle with endorsements and gained the backing of the media, the business community, and candidates who did not make it to the runoff. Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union endorsed Preckwinkle. So did Chance the Rapper and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), among others.[...]
The city’s police department and the black community have a fraught relationship, and its handling of the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year-old, is part of what pushed Emanuel out. The case gained national attention after video footage released more than a year after the shooting showed the police lied when they claimed that McDonald had lunged at the officer who shot and killed him.
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