Chicago picks first African American female mayor

Chicago elected its first African American female mayor on Tuesday. Late results showed Lori Lightfoot, 56, winning in all of the city’s 50 wards against another African American female candidate, Toni Preckwinkle, the Cook County Board President and a longtime City Council member. Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor who has never been elected to public office before, will also be the first openly homosexual person to hold the office.

Lightfoot launched her campaign amid public outrage over the police shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald. She pledged to address the high rates of gun violence and homicides in Chicago and “break this city’s endless cycle of corruption” that allows politicians to profit from their offices. Lightfoot will be sworn in on May 20.