Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot

Lori Lightfoot has won her bid to become mayor of Chicago, making her the “first black mayor of the nation’s third-largest city,” according to Fox News, and the “highest-ranking LGBTQ mayor in U.S. history,” according to the Victory Fund.

Lightfoot, 56, is an attorney who worked as a federal prosecutor before entering private practice. Today she defeated Toni Preckwinkle, a former schoolteacher who served on the Chicago City Council for 19 years before becoming president of the Cook County Board in 2011. She also leads the Cook County Democratic Party, and she, too, is black.
By “highest-ranking LGBTQ mayor,” I think the Victory Fund means Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. to elect an openly-LGBTQ mayor. That title of “highest-ranking” was, until tonight, held by Annise Parker, former mayor of Houston and now president and CEO of the Victory Fund.

Fox News notes that Lightfoot’s victory makes Chicago “the largest U.S. city to elect a black woman as mayor,” and that Lightfoot is one of eight black women “currently serving as mayors in major U.S. cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans.”

Fox also — for some unknown reason — felt it necessary to point out that the black lesbian’s win in the mayoral election came “just days after Chicago state prosecutors stunned the nation by opting to drop charges against [openly-gay black] actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of faking a hate-crime attack that implicated supporters of President Trump. Prosecutors have said they did not intend to vindicate Smollett, but the actor publicly claimed exoneration — leading comedians to mock him, and police unions and the mayor’s office to cry foul.”

(Side note: Seriously, I have no idea why Fox threw in the Jussie Smollett reference. And yes, I added in the info that Smollet is black and openly gay, because maybe Fox thought it necessary to mention Smollett because they assume all black gay people know each other? Or maybe I am missing some other connection. If so, please let me know.)

The Victory Fund, in an email announcing the win, said, “In an over-crowded primary of 14 candidates, Lori came from behind to claim first place. And her runoff wasn’t easy: unknown opponents used homophobic attacks to smear Lori and her wife.”