Will city make history and elect a black woman mayor?
3 are in the race so far, and others could still enter
Now that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will not seek re-election, political experts are eyeing the open race to see if the city will make history and elect an African-American woman to lead it.
Three of the 12 candidates so far — Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, former Police Board President Lori Lightfoot and policy consultant Amara Enyia — are AfricanAmerican women, and others could still enter the race. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is also considering a run, a source close to her told the Tribune.
Across the country, the #MeToo movement, women’s marches and the defeat of Hilary Clinton in the presidential election inspired women to run for office in record numbers, while also paving the way for more minority women to step up and seek not only legislative roles, but also executive ones, said Debbie Walsh, director of Rutgers University’s Center for American Women in Politics.
“It is quite significant to see women of color as chief executives of major cities,” Walsh said. “There’s such an assumption of male leadership at that level.”
Of the 100 largest cities in the U.S., 10 of them have women of color as mayors, seven of whom are black, according to the CAWP.
Just two years ago, only four black women led major cities. Since November, Charlotte, N.C., New Orleans and San Francisco each made history in electing their first AfricanAmerican woman as mayor.
Although few women of color have been elected to lead major cities, Walsh said, “we’re in a movement where this is the most we’ve ever seen at one time.”
“It would be particularly significant if this were to happen in Chicago,” Walsh added, referring to racial tensions in the city surrounding the murder trial of Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, accused of gunning down black teenager Laquan McDonald. The incident sparked outrage and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Chicago Police Department.
Emanuel’s unexpected announcement Tuesday not to seek a third term creates the opportunity of an open race without a clear frontrunner — something not seen in Chicago since the 1980s, said David Faris, associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University.
African-American woman candidates are poised to have a lot of voter support, he said. “Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and yet there are very few AfricanAmerican women officeholders. I don’t think this is an accident that there’s this wave of enthusiasm.”
But there’s a tough road ahead. Not only is there “a long history of systematic racism” in Chicago, Faris said, but also the political landscape calls for wellfunded, well-known candidates, making it hard to win otherwise.
“There’s a distant history of outsiders or less likely people winning this office, but it’s been a long time,” he said. “Chicago is like a tiny country. You need funding; you need to know the right people. It’s a long campaign.”
Kimberly Peeler-Allen, co-founder of Higher Heights, a national organization that recruits and backs black women candidates, said an open mayoral race in Chicago is an exciting chance for more leadership roles for the AfricanAmerican community.
Last year, Peeler-Allen’s organization dubbed the influx of African-American woman candidates “the year of the black woman mayor.” She said not only are more African-American candidates running, but also there’s a shift in “the mindset of the electorate, overall.”
Voters are thinking about “what it means to have a black woman directing the region, the city, the state,” she said.“If we have leaders that identify with the issues many black women struggle with, it can’t be a bad thing.”
Erin Vilardi, executive director of VoteRunLead, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that trains women to run for political office, said there’s been a shift toward African-American women becoming more involved in politics. First with high voter turnout, “and now they’re saying, I actually have to be the one in power,” Vilardi said.
“What you’re getting is community members who have their ear to the ground who are looking at government and going, I can step in and fix what needs to be done,” she said. “This has probably never been more important than it has been right now in Chicago.”