By SARA BURNETT and HERBERT G. McCANN
Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot’s resounding victory is a clear call for change at City Hall and a historic repudiation of the old-style, insider politics that have long defined the nation’s third-largest city.
Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor who’d never been elected to public office, defeated Cook County Board President and former Alderman Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday. She won with backing from voters across the city.
Lightfoot also made history, becoming the first black woman and the first openly gay person to be Chicago mayor.
She told a cheering crowd people are seeing “a city reborn.”
Lightfoot pledged to break the cycle of corruption in city government, reduce violence and help low-income and working-class residents in the city’s neighborhoods.
But she faces major challenges, including Chicago’s deep financial problems.
