After hinting for months in interviews and at public events that she plans to seek a second term in office, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday officially announced her bid to run for mayor again in 2023.
Lightfoot was elected to office in 2019 and pledged that with the chance at another term as mayor, she will work to make the city “safer, fairer and more equitable for all.”
“I don’t look or sound like any other mayor we’ve ever had before, and I’ve had to fight to get a seat at the table. And, like so many in our city, I’ve had to fight to have my voice heard,” Lightfoot said in a video released Tuesday.
“That’s why I’ll never back down from fighting every day to turn your voice into action,” she continued.
The announcement was accompanied by a campaign video posted on Monday to YouTube.
Earlier Tuesday, sources told NBC 5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern that Lightfoot was expected to announce her 2023 re-election campaign at a private event for donors and close allies in Chicago’s River North neighborhood Tuesday, followed by a public event Wednesday.
Three years ago, Lightfoot made history when she became Chicago’s first Black, female and openly gay mayor. She also won in a landslide victory in all 50 wards against her opponent Cook County Commissioner Toni Preckwinkle.
During her time in office, Lightfoot has faced criticism from a number of groups, ranging from the Chicago Teachers Union in 2019 for her handling of the teachers’ strike that year, to the ACLU in 2022 regarding her Millennium Park curfew for unaccompanied minors.
Currently, six other candidates have announced their 2023 run for mayor: Illinois Rep. Kam Buckner, police officer Frederick Collins, Ald. Ray Lopez, Ald. Roderick Sawyer, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Chicago businessman and philanthropist Willie Wilson.
Another 10 candidates, including Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara and CTU President Jesse Sharkey are considering running as well, sources told Ahern.
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