lori lightfoot will be chicago’s first openly gay black mayor

It’s official. Las night, former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot won Chicago’s runoff mayoral election, making her the first openly gay person and the first Black woman to be chief executive of the Windy City’s . 

Lightfoot beat out Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle  after they both won enough votes to advance to a run-off election to replace outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

But it was Lightfoot who won in the end, snagging 73.7 percent of voters to Preckwinkle’s 26.3 percent according to NBC News.

While some might assume candidates who push bold social change positions might scare off more moderate voters, both women advanced in the runoff with a progressive agenda, proving once again that voters are ready for meaningful change.

An “out and proud Black lesbian,” Lightfoot is a former assistant US Attorney. She has positioned herself as a champion for police reform. After the murder  of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times while walking away from white police officers, Lightfoot was appointed to head the city’s police accountability task force. While the police force did hold more officers accountable under her leadership, some advocates say she didn’t do enough. Lightfoot, who has never held elective office, ran on being a political outsider and vowed to tackle corruption in Chicago.

Lightfoot used her victory speech to underscore the historic nature of her win.

“Today, you did more than make history,” she told cheering supporters. “You created a movement for change.”