ABC's Jonathan Karl sits down with Eric Adams, Karen Bass, and Sylvester Turner, the mayors of New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, on "This Week." When you include Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the four largest cities in the U.S. have black mayors for the first time.
Watch their interview below:
During Chicago's Pride parade, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said what many in the United States would like to say to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (BKA Uncle Clarence) right now. Watch her NSFW comments below:
LORI LIGHTFOOT: "F*ck Clarence Thomas"pic.twitter.com/Pq5yTMxaIZ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 27, 2022
The National Association of Black Journalist released the following statement on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's decision to only grant interviews to journalists of color for her two-year anniversary as Mayor of Chicago:
The recent comments issued by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to explain her decision to only do one-on-one interviews with Black and Brown reporters on the two-year anniversary of her inauguration is a bold move. It appears to serve to underscore her desire to draw attention to the racial disparities in local newsrooms and political coverage. The mayor notes that she is disturbed about the overwhelming white Chicago press corps covering city hall. While her social media posts and subsequent letter have been eyebrow-raising to some, it shines a needed spotlight on the call for a greater commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion across the media industry.
Although we cannot support the tactic, we applaud the mayor’s sensitivity to the lack of diversity among the people who cover city government. Historically, America’s elite political units have been led by predominantly white reporters and managers. Too often Black journalists are not given the opportunity to join political teams.
While the mayor has every right to decide how her press efforts will be handled on her anniversary, we must state again, for the record, that NABJ’s history of advocacy does not support excluding any bona fide journalists from one-on-one interviews with newsmakers, even if it is for one day and in support of activism. We have members from all races and backgrounds and diversity, equity and inclusion must be universal. However, the mayor is right in pointing to the fact that Black and Brown journalists have been quietly excluded from a number of access points over the years. We know first hand it is painful and unhealthy for our communities.
NABJ is also gravely concerned to see that a city with such a diverse population has no fair representation of communities of color in its local press corps.
This local issue is reflective of what is happening around the country and we continue to work to change the status quo. We have been successful in a number of areas to dramatically improve access and promotions for Black journalists, especially during the awakening and racial reckoning stemming from George Floyd’s death.
The mayor’s deputy communications director stated on Twitter, “Chicago’s Mayor picked one day out of 365 to exclusively provide one-on-one interviews with journalists of color ahead of her two-year anniversary. That shouldn’t be controversial. The lack of diversity in the media is.”
We call on all media outlets to further improve Black and Brown representation within their newsrooms now. There should be no further delay in making swift and effective changes.
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign released a new ad on Saturday featuring over a dozen Black mayors of major cities urging Black Americans to vote for Biden and Kamala Harris.
The campaign features the following local officials: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, Flagstaff, Arizona Mayor Coral Evans, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin, Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Steven Benjamin, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Richmond, Virginia Mayor Levar Stoney, Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter..
Watch the ad below:
In an interview on CNN, Mayor Lightfoot told Jake Tapper she has made it clear to federal authorities that if they cross the line, she will use every tool at her disposal to stop them.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) announced Friday she is endorsing Joe Biden for president ahead of Illinois’s March 17 primary.
Lightfoot released the following statement via Twitter:
“Today, I’m proud to endorse Joe Biden for President. Joe is the best candidate to unite our country and move us past a presidency that has sought to divide us based on what we look like, what we believe, or who we love. He’s ready to lead and he’ll do it with passion and empathy,”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) took to Twiiter to slam Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) after the lawmaker revived an old conservative talking point that gun violence in Chicago proved that “gun control doesn’t work.”
Read her response to his comment below:
60% of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside IL—mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact commonsense gun legislation. Keep our name out of your mouth. https://t.co/yVM4JHL3xy pic.twitter.com/pr613A3dpf
— Lori Lightfoot (@LightfootForChi) September 3, 2019
Lori Lightfoot won a resounding victory Tuesday night to become both the first African-American woman and openly gay person elected mayor of Chicago, dealing a stinging defeat to a political establishment that has reigned over City Hall for decades.
After waging a campaign focused on upending the vaunted Chicago political machine, Lightfoot dismantled one of its major cogs by dispatching Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, whose candidacy had been hobbled in part by an anti-incumbent mood among voters and an ongoing federal corruption investigation at City Hall.
“Today, you did more than make history,” Lightfoot told hundreds of supporters at the Hilton Chicago on Tuesday night. “You created a movement for change.”
With roughly 97 percent of the city’s precincts reporting, Lightfoot had swept all 50 of Chicago’s wards, winning 74 percent of the unofficial vote to 26 percent for Preckwinkle, a 28-year officeholder who prior to her eight years as the county’s chief executive served 19 years as a Hyde Park alderman.
Lightfoot will be sworn in as Chicago’s 56th mayor on May 20 while Preckwinkle will return to her third term running the county after a humiliating defeat that included losing her own 4th Ward by 20 points.
Lightfoot will become the third African-American to serve as mayor. Harold Washington was elected in 1983 as the city’s first black mayor and won re-election in 1987 before dying in office later that year. Eugene Sawyer, the city’s second black mayor, was appointed to serve out Washington’s term until a 1989 special election.
Two African-American women will face each other in a runoff for Chicago mayor after defeating a member of a family that has dominated the city’s politics for most of the past six decades and 11 other candidates in Tuesday’s election.
Political outsider Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle were the top two vote-getters, but neither received more than the 50% needed to avoid an April 2 runoff. The winner will succeed Mayor Rahm Emanuel and become the first African-American woman to lead the nation’s third-largest city. Emanuel did not seek re-election.
“What do you think of us now?” Lightfoot said Tuesday night to a crowd of her supporters. “This is what change looks like.”
Lightfoot, the first openly gay woman 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.
Preckwinkle, who previously served 19 years on the City Council and was a Chicago Public Schools teacher, also made a campaign issue out of the Laquan McDonald shooting.
