A former prosecutor and private practice attorney, incumbent Lori Lightfoot ran an outsider’s campaign in 2019 focused on rooting out corruption in City Hall. Her 2023 campaign has centered around “finishing what she started,” as she has repeated in public statements.
Proponents have credited the mayor with guiding the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, making advanced payments to the city’s pension funds and announcing significant investments on the South and West Sides. But opponents have criticized the mayor’s combative relationships with other public officials and slammed her for the post-pandemic rise in violent crime and CTA service failures.
More recently, the mayor’s campaign has faced widespread criticism, as well as an ethics investigation, over emails asking CPS teachers to solicit student campaign volunteers in exchange for class credit. The mayor has apologized for the emails, calling them a mistake.
