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Here are five things you probably did not know about Chicago's first black mayor and first openly gay mayor, Lori Lightfoot
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Chicago will swear in its first black woman and its first openly gay mayor on Monday, concluding Lori Lightfoot's astonishing one year-long rise from anonymity to the third city leader. from the country.

Lightfoot beat Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle in the second round of the presidential election, winning 73% of the vote and winning 50 seats. She also won a majority of the white vote, the black vote and the Latino vote.

"We are going to transform our city," Lightfoot said last week. "No one, no leader, even if it's a woman, can change the city alone, we have to do it together."

The former federal and foreign prosecutor at the political party made little noise last May in announcing her long-term challenge to Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the Democratic mayoral appointment.

When Emanuel refused to run for a third term, several more well-known Democrats than Lightfoot got into the political fray. But that is Lightfoot who won the most votes in the group of 14 in the February elections, though she failed to reach the 50% threshold required to avoid a second round .

Chicago Mayor Elijah Lori Lightfoot (G) kisses his wife Amy Eshleman after speaking at his election night in Chicago on April 2, 2019. At a historic first, a homosexual African American woman was elected Mayor of the third largest city of America. (Photo: AFP contributor # AFP, AFP / Getty Images)

The runoff campaign became bitter. Proponents of Preckwinkle attempted to associate Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor and chairman of the city's police council, with shootings involving the police and a criminal justice system seen as biased against Afro-descendents. Americans.

The US representative Bobby Rush, who is black, had warned that the "blood of the next black young man" killed by the police would be in the hands of Lightfoot supporters if she won.

"We can and will build trust between our people and our brave police so that communities and the police can trust each other without fear," Lightfoot supporters said in his victory speech.

Lightfoot also inherits from a public school system struggling with declining enrollment and poor academic performance. Chicago Teachers Union president Jesse Sharkey warned Friday that schools have reached a "breaking point", citing the lack of nurses, counselors and social workers.

Lightfoot promised a "reallocation" of resources and expanded partnerships with community groups to increase the number of educational support positions.

Lightfoot is married to Amy Eshleman, a former assistant commissioner of the city's public library system. They live in the north-west of the city with their daughter.

Lightfoot was the first of three openly LGBTQ candidates across the country to win mayoral races in a matter of weeks. Former Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor made history last month by becoming the first LGBTQ major elected in a southeastern US city, and Satya Rhodes-Conway was also elected on last month under the name of Madison, Wisconsin.

Before their victories, only two lesbian candidates, Jenny Durkan of Seattle and Annise Parker of Houston, were mayors of one of the 100 most populous cities in America.

"A lot of girls and boys are watching," Lightfoot said in his victory speech. "They watch us and see the beginning of something, a little different, they see a city reborn, a city where it does not matter what color you are in … It does not matter who you love, as long as you like. "

Contribute: Aamer Madhani

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