Lori Lightfoot defeated Toni Preckwinkle in a crushing victory Tuesday night, becoming Chicago’s first African-American woman and openly gay mayor on Tuesday.
With only 31 percent of registered voters showing up to the polls, Lori Lightfoot, a political newcomer, took roughly 73% of the overall vote, a historic rout that eclipsed even margins from the heyday of Chicago’s political machine.
Lightfoot won every ward in the city, but drew notable support from firefighter communities in the Northwest-Side in the 41st Ward, as well as the white-majority 19th Ward in the Southwest. The more progressive Northside came out strong for Lightfoot as well.
Preckwinkle won only a few precincts in and around Hyde Park, her base.
In the 48th Ward, Lightfoot received roughly 70% of the vote compared to Preckwinkle’s 30% with a little over 14 thousand registered voters participating. The 7th precinct voted most in support of Lightfoot, as she received a whopping 78% of the vote in that precinct. The least Lightfoot support came from the 41st precinct with only 60% in favor.
Alternatively, in the 49th Ward Lightfoot received roughly 64% of the voted compared to Preckwinkle’s 36% with a very low turnout of just less than 10,000 . In the ward, most in favor of Lightfoot was the 31st precinct, giving her 76% of the vote. However, the 29th precinct was, in fact, almost divided with Lightfoot only getting 55% compared to Preckwinkle’s 45%.
Despite Rogers Park’s comparatively lower support for Lightfoot, her performance within the 49th ward was actually identical to that of recently elected Maria Hadden for alderman in the Feb. 26 general election. Hadden won the vote with roughly 64% to incumbent Joe Moore’s 36%, just as Lightfoot did against Preckwinkle. This may very well suggest a divided stance on extreme progressivism within the ward, as well as a low but very consistent and impassioned voter population.
