CHICAGO (AP) — Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor in northern Illinois with no experience running for political office, has come out on top in Chicago’s crowded mayoral race and advances to a runoff.
Lightfoot, who could become the first African-American woman to lead the nation’s third-largest city, was the top vote-getter in a field of 14 Tuesday. She advances to a runoff election on April 2 against the candidate with the second-highest vote.
Lightfoot was an appointee of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s to two separate policing boards before announcing plans to run against him. He later announced he wouldn’t run for re-election.
Lightfoot, the first openly gay female to run for Chicago mayor, has been critical of efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department in the wake of the 2014 fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald by a white police officer.
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