Lori Lightfoot Bio, Wiki, Age, Height, Partner, Family, Policies, Health Problems and Net Worth

Lori Lightfoot Biography

Lori Lightfoot is an American Attorney and Politician who was born and brought up in Massillon, Ohio. Currently, she works as the 56th Mayor of Chicago since 2019 and is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, she worked in private legal practice as a Partner at Mayer Brown, as President of the Chicago Police Board, and as the Chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force.

Lori is widely known for being the first openly lesbian African-American woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States, the second woman, and the third African-American to be mayor of Chicago. She appeared on a TV mini-series called ‘The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth’.

Lori Lightfoot Age

Lightfoot is 59 years old as of 2021, she was born on 4 August 1962 in Massillon, Ohio, United States of America. She celebrates her birthday on 4 August every year and her birth sign is Leo.

Lori Lightfoot Height

Lori stands at a height of 5 feet 1 inch or 1.54 m.

Lori Lightfoot Weight

Lightfoot Weighs 119 lbs or 54 kg.

Lori Lightfoot Education

Lori attended and graduated from Washington High School in Massillon, where she was class president. In 2013, her high school alumni association named her a “Distinguished Citizen”. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, working seven jobs to afford her education.

She then enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School, where she was awarded a full scholarship. She first gained fame as a law student at Chicago when she, as president of the student body, led a successful movement to ban a law firm from campus after the firm sent a recruiter who made racist and sexist remarks towards a student. She also served as a clerk for the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1989, she graduated from law school.

Lori Lightfoot Family

Lightfoot was born to Ann(mother) and Elijah Lightfoot in Massillon(father). Her mother worked as a nighttime healthcare aide and school board member, while her father as a local factory worker and janitor.

She spent her childhood with her three siblings. Our efforts to find out more about her family came to no avail as no such information is publicly available. Thus, the identity of her siblings is still unclear. We will update this section once this information is available.

Lori Lightfoot Spouse

Lori is married to Amy Eshleman, a former Chicago Public Library employee. The couple married on 31 May 2014, a private ceremony that was attended by family, relatives, and close friends.

Lori Lightfoot Partner Amy Eshleman

Lightfoot is the first openly gay African-American woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States as announced in 2019. Chicago sworn in its first black female and first openly gay mayor, concluding Lori Lightfoot’s astonishing, yearlong rise from near anonymity to the leader of the nation’s third-largest city.

Lightfoot defeated Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in a landslide runoff election on April 2, claiming 73% of the vote and winning all 50 wards. She also won a majority of the white vote, the black vote, and the Latino vote. “We are going to transform our city,” Lightfoot said last week. “No one person, no one leader—even if it’s a woman—can change the city alone. We must do it together.”

The former federal prosecutor and political outsider drew little notice last May when she announced her longshot challenge to Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the Democratic mayoral nomination. When Emanuel declined to seek a third term, several Democrats with far more name recognition than Lightfoot leaped into the political fray.

But it was Lightfoot who claimed the most votes in the field of 14 in the February election, although she failed to gain the 50% threshold required to avoid a runoff. The runoff campaign grew bitter. Preckwinkle supporters tried to link Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, and city Police Board president, to police-involved shootings and a criminal justice system viewed as biased against African Americans.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, who is black, had warned that the “blood of the next young black man” killed by police would be on the hands of Lightfoot supporters if she won. “We can and we will build trust between our people and our brave police officers so that the communities and police trust each other–not fear each other,” Lightfoot assured supporters in her victory speech.

Lightfoot also inherits a public school system struggling with dwindling enrollment and poor academic results. Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey warned Friday that schools have reached a “breaking point,” citing a shortage of nurses, counselors, and social workers among other issues.

Lightfoot has promised a “reallocation” of resources and expansion of partnerships with community groups to increase the number of educational support positions. Lightfoot is married to Amy Eshleman, a former assistant commissioner of the city’s public library system. They live on the near northwest side of the city with their daughter.

Lightfoot was the first of three openly LGBTQ candidates across the nation to win mayoral races within a few weeks. Tampa’s former police chief Jane Castor made history last month, becoming the first LGBTQ major elected in a southeastern U.S. city, and Satya Rhodes-Conway also was elected last month as Madison, Wisconsin.

Before their victories, only two out lesbian candidates, Seattle’s Jenny Durkan and Houston’s Annise Parker have served as mayor of one of America’s 100 most populous cities. “A lot of little girls and boys are watching,” Lightfoot said in her victory speech. “They are watching us and they are seeing the beginning of something, well, a little bit different. They are seeing a city reborn. A city where it doesn’t matter what color you are . . . where it doesn’t matter who you love, just as long as you love.”

Lori Lightfoot Daughter

Lightfoot is married to her long term-partner Amy Eshleman and the couple is blessed with one adopted child, a daughter named Vivian.

Lori Lightfoot Net Worth

Lori has an estimated net worth of $3 million dollars as of 2022. This includes her assets, money and income. Her primary source of income is her career as an Attorney and Politician. Through her various sources of income, she has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.

Lori Lightfoot Chicago Police Board

In 2015, Lightfoot returned to the public sector, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed her to replace 19-year incumbent Demitrius Carney as President of the Chicago Police Board. The main responsibility of the board is to make recommendations for or against disciplinary action on certain disputed cases of police misconduct. Under the leadership of Lightfoot, the board became more punitive, firing officers in 72% of its cases.

In the wake of the controversy over the murder of Laquan McDonald, Lightfoot was appointed by Emanuel as Chair of a special Police Accountability Task Force. The Task Force, led by Lightfoot, filed a report critical of the Chicago Police Department’s practices in 2016. In May 2018, Lightfoot resigned from the Police Board, just before announcing her mayoral run
Emanuel.

Lori Lightfoot Policies

In order for Chicago to remain a world-class city, we need to create a new path. A path in which fairness and inclusion are our guiding principles. As our mayor, I will respect the experiences of all Chicagoans and ensure our city government works to uplift the quality of life for everyone.

We can, and we must, do better. We must do better to address the taxes and fees that burden middle- and low-income families. We must do better to halt the declining conditions of our neighborhood schools.

We must do better to change an education policy that does not view parents, teachers, principals, staff, or other stakeholders as valued partners. We must do better by insisting on a comprehensive plan to invest in families and neighborhoods and to end the violence that plagues too many communities. We can do this, together. This is my commitment and promise to you. Please join me.

Lori Lightfoot Campaign Manager

Lightfoot’s team has hired Manuel Perez, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, as campaign manager. It’s a strategic hire as Perez is seen as the progressive force behind Garcia, who hasn’t made an endorsement in the race.

Hiring Manuel suggests Lightfoot is targeting the Hispanic vote. Manuel also ran Garcia’s 2015 campaign against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and more recently ran Tanya Patino’s campaign for the 14th Ward seat won by disgraced Ald. Ed Burke.

Lori Lightfoot Health Problems

Lightfoot was born in Massillon, Ohio, the youngest of four children. Her mother, Ann Lightfoot, was a nighttime healthcare aide and school board member, and her father, Elijah Lightfoot, a local factory worker and janitor. She grew up in a mostly white neighborhood on the west side of the city.

On 20 March 2020, Lightfoot extended Chicago Public School closures beyond what had already been mandated by the State of Illinois. Chicago Department of Health Commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, had signed a public health order under which those with the COVID-19 illness or exhibiting symptoms, with few exceptions, could not leave their place of residence, go to work, or any group settings.

The order allowed sick residents to seek essential services, such as necessary clinical care/evaluation, and life-sustaining needs, such as medicine and food. Lightfoot declared that anyone who violated this order may be issued a citation.

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