Lori Lightfoot

Growth experience

On August 4, 1962, Lori Lightford was born in Massillon, Ohio, the youngest of four children in the family. Her mother is a medical worker, and her father is a factory worker. The family conditions are at best ordinary. She grew up in a white colony and attended high school in Washington High School in Massillon.

According to what we often say, Lori Lightford is a typical “child of someone else’s family” with comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physicality, art and labor. She is the trumpeter of the school band, the point guard of the basketball team, the editor of the student yearbook, and a member of the cheerleader. In high school, she was elected monitor three times. In 2013, high school alumni named her an “outstanding citizen”.

In high school, Lightfoot paid a lot of attention to public affairs, and his positive, enthusiastic, and leadership side showed up early. She once participated in organizing a boycott to protest the quality of school lunch pizza.

After graduating from high school, Lori Lightford was admitted to the University of Michigan to pursue a bachelor’s degree in political science. During college, in order to reduce the burden on the family, she worked in 7 different types of jobs, including assistants, cooks, and workers, to pay for her education. Before Lightford decided to enter law school, she served under Congressmen Ralph Regula and Barbara Mickelski.

After graduating from university, Lightfoot decided to enter law school, hoping to get a stable job after graduation and realize economic independence as soon as possible. Lightfoot, who has rich work experience, self-reliance, and excellent academic performance, was not only admitted to the University of Chicago Law School, but also received a full scholarship.

The University of Chicago Law School is one of the top law schools in the United States. It has a strong style of study and rich resources, and Lightfoot spent a fulfilling time. Her pursuit of justice and indomitable spirit also continued to play a role at Chicago University. She was elected as the chairperson of the law school student body and led her classmates to successfully organize the recruitment of a law school that publishes racist and sexist remarks. In 1989, Lightfoot graduated with a doctorate in law.

career

After graduating from law school, Lightfoot joined the Mayer Brown law firm and became a practicing lawyer. As a lawyer, she has successfully defended many large corporate clients, Republican politicians, and clients accused of racial discrimination against African Americans. Although these people have different political opinions from her, she reflects the professionalism of a lawyer in her work.

After accumulating a certain amount of work experience, Lightfoot decided to leave the law firm and join the U.S. inspection system to become an assistant federal prosecutor. While serving as a federal prosecutor, Lightfoot helped prosecute those accused of federal crimes, including drug crimes. She assisted the FBI ( the FBI ) investigation of corruption in Chicago “Silver Shovel action.” She also played an important role in the conviction of Chicago City Councilman Virgil Jones.

In 2002, Lightford was appointed by Chicago Police Commissioner Terry Hillard as the chief administrative officer of the Chicago Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards, a government police oversight team that has now been disbanded. Lightfoot held this position for two years and was responsible for investigating cases of police misconduct, including police shootings of civilians. However, some of her work has also been questioned by the Chicago Tribune, who believes that such investigations often lack thoroughness.

In 2015, Ram Emanuel, then mayor of Chicago, appointed Lightfoot to replace Demetrius Carney, who was in office for 19 years, as the chairman of the Chicago Police Commission. The main responsibility of the committee is to make recommendations for or against disciplinary actions in certain controversial cases of police misconduct. Under Lightfoot’s leadership, the committee’s decisions were more punitive, dismissing officials in 72% of cases.

In order to participate in the election for mayor of Chicago, Lightford resigned from the police committee in May 2018.

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Political career

On May 10, 2018, Lori Lightfoot announced her participation in the 2019 mayor of Chicago election. This was her first election for public office. If elected, she will become the first mayor from a sexual minority in American history and the first black female mayor of Chicago.

As of the fall of 2018, Lightfoot’s campaign funding was the highest among all candidates. Lightford received support from all quarters, including support from LGBTQ groups and local politicians. In February 2019, Lightfoot won the support of the Chicago Sun Times editorial board. She has risen sharply in opinion polls in the latter part of the election, and in the polls released a few weeks before the election, her polls have remained at or close to double digits.

On April 2, 2019, Lori Lightford won the second round of elections and was elected as the new mayor of Chicago. In the final election, she won more than 73% of the votes and all the votes in the city’s 50 districts. However, the turnout rate at that time was 32.89%, almost a record low.

LGBTQ and African descent status have won Lightfoot a lot of votes on the one hand, but also brought her a lot of controversy. Some people even commented that her election was a product of “political correctness.”

On May 20, 2019, Lori Lightfoot officially became the mayor of Chicago. After taking office, Lightfoot’s work mainly revolved around a series of topics such as affordable housing, casinos, parliament, education, finance, and public security.

On October 14, 2019, Lightfoot announced the establishment of an Affordable Housing Task Force, composed of 20 members, responsible for researching solutions to the housing affordability of residents in order to adjust the City of Chicago’s affordable housing regulations.

On June 3, 2019, Lightfoot announced that she was elected to the board of directors of Chicago Public Schools. In October 2019, a large-scale strike broke out in Chicago. The strike was led by the teachers’ union and the service staff union. Lightfoot actively communicated with relevant personnel to deal with the strike and restore order in public schools.

The security situation in some communities in Chicago is worrisome, and violent security checks such as shootings are frequent. Soon after taking office, Lightfoot launched the “Our City, Our Safety” program on Memorial Day, and sent additional police patrols in busy places and high-risk areas, effectively curbing the number of violent crimes. .

In 2020, the new crown virus broke out in the United States. As the third largest city in the United States, Chicago is facing a very severe form of anti-epidemic. Lightfoot and his colleagues acted decisively and took important measures such as school closures, park closures, implementation of home orders, and placement of emergency personnel. Currently, Chicago is gradually returning to work.