Mayor of Chicago

The mayor appoints the commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department and superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. He or she also appoints the heads of other departments,[1] the largest of which are the Water Management Department (formed by the consolidation of the former Water Department and Sewer Department under Richard M. Daley), and the Streets & Sanitation Department. He or she also appoints members to the boards of several special-purpose governmental bodies including the Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Library, Chicago Housing Authority, Chicago Transit Authority, and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. Under Richard M. Daley, the Illinois legislature granted the mayor power to appoint the governing board and chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools and subordinated the district to the mayor; the district had long been an independent unit of government.

The Chicago City Clerk and City Treasurer of Chicago are elected separately, as are the 50 aldermen who form the city council. The mayor is empowered, however, to fill vacancies in any of these 52 elected offices by appointment. In turn, the city council elects one of its own to fill a mayoral vacancy.

The mayor of Chicago is elected by popular vote every four years, on the last Tuesday in February. A run-off election, in the event that no candidate garners more than fifty percent of the vote, is held on the first Tuesday in April. The election is held on a non-partisan basis. Chicago is the largest city in the United States not to limit the term of service for its mayor.

In accordance with Illinois law,[2][3] the city council elects a vice mayor who serves as interim mayor in the event of a vacancy in the office of the mayor or the inability of the mayor to serve due to illness or injury, until the city council elects one of its members acting mayor or until the mayoral term expires.[3] As of May 2019, the current vice mayor is Tom Tunney.[4] However, if a vacancy occurs in the office of mayor with more than 28 months remaining in the mayoral term and at least 130 days before the next general municipal election, then a special election must be held to choose a new mayor to serve out the remainder of the term at that general municipal election; if a vacancy occurs with fewer than 28 months remaining in the mayoral term or fewer than 130 days before the next general municipal election, then the acting mayor serves as mayor until the mayoral term expires.

The order-of succession involving the vice mayor was made concrete following disputes that arose in the aftermath of the death in office of Richard J. Daley, and was subsequently implemented following the death in office of Harold Washington, which saw Vice Mayor David Orr become acting mayor.[5] Prior to this, the city had vague succession laws which indicated that the president pro tempore of the City Council would succeed as mayor. This was not followed after the death of Daley, and the city council appointed Michael Bilandic acting mayor instead of having pro tempore Wilson Frost become mayor,[6] due to City Corporation Counsel William R. Quinlan ruling that, since the city did not have a statute specifically outlining succession, the City Council would need to elect the interim mayor.[7]

Six instances have seen the City Council appoint either an acting mayor, acting mayor pro tempore, or interim mayor.

In the absence of the mayor during meetings of the city council, the president pro tempore of the city council, who is a member of and elected by the city council, acts as presiding officer. Unlike the mayor, the president pro tempore can vote on all legislative matters. If neither the mayor nor pro tempore can preside, the vice mayor presides.[8]

The first mayor was William Butler Ogden. 45 men and two women (Jane Byrne, 1979–1983, Lori Lightfoot, 2019–), have held the office. Two sets of father and son have been elected Mayor of Chicago: Carter Harrison, Sr. (1893) and Carter Harrison, Jr. (1897–1905, 1911–1915), as well as Richard J. Daley (1955–1976) and Richard M. Daley (1989–2011). Carter Harrison, Jr. was the first mayor to have been born in the city. As an interim mayor, David Duvall Orr had the shortest mayoral term. Richard M. Daley was elected six times becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, surpassing his father's record.[9] The first Irish Catholic mayor was John Patrick Hopkins (1893–1895), and Rahm Emanuel (2011–2019) is the only Jewish American to have served as mayor. Harold Washington (1983–1987) was the first African American mayor. Current Mayor Lightfoot (sworn in May 2019) is the city's first African American woman and first openly LGBTQ mayor.

By charter, Chicago has a "weak-mayor" system, in which most of the power is vested in the city council. In practice, however, the mayor of Chicago has long been one of the most powerful municipal chief executives in the nation. Unlike mayors in most other weak-mayor systems, he or she has the power to draw up the budget. For most of the 20th century, before the decline of patronage and the mayor's office becoming officially nonpartisan in 1999, the mayor was the de facto leader of the city's Democratic Party, and had great influence over the ward organizations.[10]

The mayoral term in Chicago was one year from 1837 through 1863, when it was changed to two years. In 1907, it was changed again, this time to four years. Until 1861, municipal elections were held in March. In that year, legislation moved them to April. In 1869, however, election day was changed to November, and terms expiring in April of that year were changed. In 1875, election day was moved back to April by the city's vote to operate under the Cities and Villages Act of 1872.

William B. Ogden was the first mayor of Chicago.

Joseph Medill, 26th mayor of Chicago, was the first foreign-born mayor.

William Hale Thompson was the last Republican mayor of Chicago.

Jane Byrne, 50th mayor of Chicago, was the first woman mayor.

Harold Washington, 51st mayor of Chicago, was the first African American mayor.

Richard M. Daley, 54th mayor of Chicago, was the longest-serving mayor (22 years).

Lori Lightfoot, 56th and current Mayor of Chicago, is the first African American woman, and first openly LGBTQ mayor of Chicago.

Town Presidents

Between 1833 and 1837, Chicago was incorporated as a town. Two individuals served as Town President during that period.

No.	Town President			Term in office	Party	Notes
1			Thomas Jefferson Vance Owen	August 12, 1833 – 1834
2			John H. Kinzie	1834 – March 4, 1837	Whig

Mayors

Chicago has been incorporated as a city since 1837. Here is a list of mayors since that time.

#Consecutive terms[11]	#Mayor (prior non-consecutive terms in parens)	Image	Mayor	Term start	Term end	Terms	Years		Party
1	1		William B. Ogden	1837	1838	1	1		Democratic
2	2		Buckner S. Morris	1838	1839	1	1		Whig
3	3		Benjamin W. Raymond	1839	1840	1	1		Whig
4	4		Alexander Loyd	1840	1841	1	1		Democratic
5	5		Francis C. Sherman	1841	1842	1	1		Democratic
6	(3)		Benjamin W. Raymond	1842	1843	1	1		Whig
7	6		Augustus Garrett	1843	1844	1	1		Democratic
8	7		Alson Sherman	1844	1845	1	1		None
9	(6)		Augustus Garrett	1845	1846	1	1		Democratic
10	8		John P. Chapin	1846	1847	1	1		Whig
11	9		James Curtiss	1847	1848	1	1		Democratic
12	10		James H. Woodworth	1848	1850	2	2		None
13	(9)		James Curtiss	1850	1851	1	1		Democratic
14	11		Walter S. Gurnee	1851	1853	2	2		Democratic
15	12		Charles McNeill Gray	1853	1854	1	1		Democratic
16	13		Isaac L. Milliken	1854	1855	1	1		Democratic
17	14		Levi Boone	1855	1856	1	1		American
18	15		Thomas Dyer	1856	1857	1	1		Democratic
19	16		John Wentworth	1857	1858	1	1		Republican
20	17		John C. Haines	1858	1860	2	2		Democratic
21	(16)		John Wentworth	1860	1861	1	1		Republican
22	18		Julian S. Rumsey	1861	1862	1	1		Republican
23	(5)		Francis C. Sherman	1862	1865	2	2		Democratic
24	19		John B. Rice	1865	1869	2	4		Republican
25	20		Roswell B. Mason	1869	1871	1	2		Citizens
26	21		Joseph Medill	1871	1873	1	2		Republican (Dry)
			Lester L. Bond (acting)	1873	1873	​1⁄4	​1⁄2		Republican
27	22		Harvey Doolittle Colvin	1873	1875	1	2		Republican (Wet)
28	23		Monroe Heath	1876	1879	2	4		Republican
29	24		Carter Harrison Sr.	1879	1887	4	8		Democratic
30	25		John A. Roche	1887	1889	1	2		Republican
31	26		DeWitt C. Cregier	1889	1891	1	2		Democratic
32	27		Hempstead Washburne	1891	1893	1	2		Republican
33	(24)		Carter Harrison Sr. †	1893	1893	​1⁄4	​1⁄2		Democratic
34	28		George Bell Swift (interim mayor)	1893	1893	​1⁄12	​1⁄6		Republican
35	29		John P. Hopkins	1893	1895	​2⁄3	3		Democratic
36	(28)		George Bell Swift	1895	1897	1	2		Republican
37	30		Carter Harrison Jr.	1897	1905	4	8		Democratic
38	31		Edward F. Dunne	1905	1907	1	2		Democratic
39	32		Fred A. Busse	1907	1911	1	4		Republican
40	(30)		Carter Harrison Jr.	1911	1915	1	4		Democratic
41	33		William H. Thompson	1915	1923	2	8		Republican
42	34		William E. Dever	1923	1927	1	4		Democratic
43	(33)		William H. Thompson	1927	1931	1	4		Republican
44	35		Anton Cermak †	1931	1933	​1⁄2	2		Democratic
45	36		Frank J. Corr (acting mayor)	1933	1933				Democratic
46	37		Edward J. Kelly	1933	1947	3 ​1⁄2	14		Democratic
47	38		Martin H. Kennelly	1947	1955	2	8		Democratic
48	39		Richard J. Daley †	1955	1976	5 ​3⁄8	21		Democratic
49	40		Michael A. Bilandic	1976	1979	​5⁄8	2 ​1⁄3		Democratic
50	41		Jane Byrne	1979	1983	1	4		Democratic
51	42		Harold Washington †	1983	1987	1 ​1⁄8	4 ​7⁄12		Democratic
52	43		David Orr (acting mayor)[12]	1987	1987				Democratic
53	44		Eugene Sawyer	1987	1989	​17⁄48	1 ​1⁄2		Democratic
54	45		Richard M. Daley	1989	2011	5 ​1⁄2	22		Democratic1
55	46		Rahm Emanuel	2011	2019	2	8		Democratic1
56	47		Lori Lightfoot	2019					Democratic1

^† Deceased/murdered in office.
¹ Since 1999, mayoral elections have officially been nonpartisan. A 1995 Illinois law stipulated that "candidates for mayor . . . no longer would run under party labels in Chicago." However, Richard M. Daley, Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot are known to be Democrats.[13]

As of 2018, four mayors of Chicago are still living, the oldest of whom is Richard M. Daley.[14] The most recent former mayor to die was Jane Byrne (1979–1983), on November 14, 2014. The most recently serving mayor to have died, however, was Eugene Sawyer (1987–1989), on January 19, 2008.[15]

Vice mayor of Chicago
Seal of the City of Chicago
Incumbent Tom Tunney since May 20, 2019
Inaugural holder	Casimir Laskowski
Formation	1976
Salary	none[16]

In accordance with Illinois law, the city council elects a vice mayor who serves as interim mayor in the event of a vacancy in the office of the mayor or the inability of the mayor to serve due to illness or injury, until the city council elects one of its members acting mayor or until the mayoral term expires. The current vice mayor is Tom Tunney.[4]

The position was created by state law after the power struggle that took place following Richard J. Daley's death in office.[6][16][17]

The position is considered to be largely ceremonial.[18][19][20]

If neither the mayor nor president pro tempore can preside over a City Council meeting, then the vice mayor presides.[8]

• Law and government of Chicago
• Timeline of Chicago history

• "A Chronology of Chicago's Mayors". Chicago Public Library. Retrieved May 26, 2010.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mayors of Chicago.

• Mayor's official webpage