Bloomberg/Elizabeth Campbell: Chicago Makes History by Electing First Black, Female Mayor

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Politics

Chicago Makes History by Electing First Black, Female Mayor

By Elizabeth Campbell

and Kim Chipman

3 April 2019, 00:54 UTC

Updated on 3 April 2019, 01:12 UTC


    Former prosecutor Lightfoot also city’s first openly gay mayor

    Rahm Emanuel’s successor takes over as fiscal woes set to grow


Lori Lightfoot

Lori Lightfoot


Photographer: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP

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Chicago made history Tuesday, electing former prosecutor Lori Lightfoot its first black, female mayor as the city struggles with gun violence on its streets and looming fiscal woes.


Lightfoot, who also will be the first openly gay leader of the nation’s third-most-populous city, was soundly defeating Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle 74 to 26 percent with almost three quarters of the ballots counted, according to returns from the city’s election board. Lightfoot, who held double-digit leads in recent polls, will replace Rahm Emanuel, who chose not to run for a third term.


Tuesday’s historic outcome was assured after the two black women beat 12 rivals in the Feb. 26 first round, Chicago’s most crowded mayoral ballot ever. They included Bill Daley, the son and brother of two past Chicago mayors and, like Emanuel, a chief of staff to former President Barack Obama.


Lightfoot, 56, who Emanuel named to a police-reform task force, campaigned as an independent reformer while Preckwinkle, 72, touted her years of experience in elective office, calling the mayoral post not an entry-level job. At a time when Democratic politics is leaning left, Preckwinkle’s establishment resume didn’t sell.


“Here you have change over experience,” said Don Haider, a former Chicago finance director who ran in 1987 against the city’s last elected black mayor, Harold Washington. Given the initially crowded field and Lightfoot’s “first time running for public office, to have such a surge and a momentum, that is just unprecedented.”


Chicago’s election, while nonpartisan, was fought between Democrats in a place that the party has dominated for decades. Preckwinkle remains the head of the Cook County Democratic organization.


In defeating Preckwinkle, Lightfoot inherits control of a city beset by $28 billion in pension debt, a shrinking population, and a murder rate far surpassing that of New York and Los Angeles. While Emanuel reassured investors in the city’s junk-rated bonds by boosting taxes, his successor will contend with the pension shortfall and projected budget deficits that put the city’s fiscal stability at risk.


“Leadership is going to need a strong stomach to handle the tough road ahead,’’ said Richard Ciccarone, Chicago-based head of Merritt Research Services and a three-decade veteran of the municipal-bond market. The new mayor will need “courage to pull the trigger on generating new taxes and revenue in order to finance the pay-down of liabilities yet to come.’’


Lightfoot drew attention for her leadership of the board that oversees the city’s scandal-tarred police department. She also led an Emanuel-appointed task force that issued a scathing review of the department in the wake of the shooting of an unarmed teenager, Laquan McDonald, by a Chicago policeman.


She was prepared to challenge Emanuel before he dropped his bid for a third term, announcing her candidacy in May 2018. Lightfoot presented herself as the candidate who would challenge Chicago’s notorious reputation for corruption. In the middle of the campaign’s first round, two longtime aldermen were pulled into a scandal involving alleged attempted extortion.


Preckwinkle, a former Chicago alderman who has led the county government since 2010, was backed by some of the largest labor groups, including the Chicago teachers union.


Neither candidate offered many specifics on how she would handle the city’s financial problems, but Lightfoot won the endorsement of the local chamber of commerce as well as the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.


Under Emanuel, the city ended its so-called scoop and toss, the process of borrowing to pay off maturing debt, and also unwound its debt portfolio of interest-rate swaps. All three major rating companies now have a stable outlook on the city’s debt. Moody’s rates the bonds one step below investment grade, while S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings consider Chicago at least one level above junk.


Financial hurdles remain. The city’s retirement funds are only 27 percent funded. Emanuel put the pensions on a path to solvency by boosting the city’s contribution and raising property taxes and other fees. After he leaves office, though, the city’s required annual pension payment doubles to more than $2 billion.


The next mayor, who will be inaugurated in May, won’t have time to waste once she takes office, said Dora Lee, director of research at Belle Haven Investments, which manages $8.9 billion of municipals including Chicago bonds. The city budget is typically presented in October.


“Chicago’s financial situation does not afford any candidate a lot of runway,’’ Lee said. “It’s going to be a very short honeymoon.’’


— With assistance by Danielle Moran, and John McCormick

(Updates with latest results in second paragraph.)


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