“Chicago is the largest city in the country without mayoral term limits. This has led to entrenched leaders, a lack of new ideas and creative thinking and a city government that works for the few, not the many.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I have a wealth of experience, not only as a senior executive in different departments in the city, but I’ve also, in my private practice life, helped small businesses, middle-market businesses really try to navigate the sometimes difficult world of city government.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“When I came out, it wasn’t a big formal conversation like in the movies. I just started living as my true and authentic self and opened up my life to my parents – sharing who I was, and bringing a girlfriend when I came home for a visit. To my great surprise, my parents accepted me for who I was and have supported me since.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“If people don’t feel safe, they’re not going to have hope.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Fundamentally, if people don’t feel like their lives are valued and they don’t value their lives, they’re not going to value their neighbors’ lives.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“And I would like to have a good, productive relationship with members of the City Council, but I’m not going to allow them to undermine what the people’s choice was and what the people want, which is change.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“You know, I can’t afford to take anything for granted.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Retired public service workers make up the backbone of the middle class in so many of our communities.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“For more than two decades Chicagoans have routinely traveled to neighboring cities like Rosemont, Elgin, Joliet, Gary and Hammond to gamble. If people in Chicago want to gamble, then they should be able to gamble in Chicago at a city-owned, land-based casino.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I am not opposed to video gambling as long as it is properly regulated and regulators are diligent about keeping bad actors from having any involvement with the industry.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I support a progressive state income tax.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“If aldermen are doing their job right, they should be the ones who are closest to the vibe and the beat in their neighborhood and have a very important role to play on a number of different issues, but not a unilateral, unchecked right. That’s gone as soon as I take office.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Obviously, we have to do a far better job on keeping our community safe, and that’s where I’m going to put a significant amount of input.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“But there are parents out there who feel like they have been shut out from the process of how their children are educated, and that’s never a good thing.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We are a city that is a sanctuary city. We have immigrants from all over the world who call Chicago their home. They’ll continue to do that, and we’re going to continue to make sure that this is truly a welcoming community for those immigrants and we want them to come to the city of Chicago.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I think that the people who come from communities like me as an African-American woman, as a member of the LGBT community, we haven’t sat in the corners of power.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Breaking the back of the Chicago machine, it’s quite monumental.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Building channels for people to believe that the city sees them and hears them and is willing to invest, is going to be critically important, and we have to start that right away.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Fundamentally, we need to make sure that our neighborhoods are safe – all of our neighborhoods.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“The only thing you have in your life is your integrity.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We’ve got to do everything we can to speak to and protect our immigrant communities.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I want to make sure that I am the leader that respects the fact that kids all over the city and hopefully all over the country really understand that they can do anything that they want to do, that they set their minds to do, as long as they’ve got good, strong support from adults and love to support them.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We have been embarked on what I would call a proactive strategy that looks at our gun violence as a public health crisis, which is what it is. That means we look at the root causes of the violence.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Police can’t be successful if they’re not viewed as legitimate by the community, and a community will not be safe if the police are not engaged in a respectful, constitutional partnership with the community.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We cannot create the perception that if you’re rich or famous or both that you got one set of justice – and for everybody else it’s something much harsher. That won’t do and we need to make sure that we have a criminal justice system that has integrity.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I believe that everybody is entitled to a presumption of innocence.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I know every trick in the book, in terms of schemes and fraud.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I live in a world in which I have a very, very diverse group of friends.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“To make blatant racial appeals or just blatant appeals only targeted to the LGBTQ+ community, I didn’t think that that was a winning formula, and it’s also inconsistent with who I am.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“The whole circus surrounding Ed Burke, I knew immediately from my days as a federal prosecutor, was very, very serious.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“You know, when you get the White House operator and they say, ‘Just a moment for the president of the United States,’ that’s a pretty heady moment.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We have a lot of taxpayers in this city who deserve to get every nickel of their tax dollars that they’re entitled to from Washington, and I intend to make that happen.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“So, yes, I became the vessel into which people poured their hopes that we can have a different kind of city. I recognize that, but in politics, sometimes it’s good to be lucky.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I’m not a person who puts things out in writing and policy prescriptions and is not intending to follow through.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I’m an ardent feminist.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“In Massillon, you either hated football, or you loved it. On a Friday night in the fall, I don’t know what anybody did if they weren’t at, quote-unquote, ‘The Game.’”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Both my brothers played football. My mother had season tickets as a school board member. I was in the band, my sister was in the band. The thing was, the unifying civic activity was obsession over high school football.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“My view is I should have been Miss Massillonian, and I wasn’t. I think the reason I wasn’t was because I was black. Frankly, I was told later I should have been. But they were afraid if they elected a black girl as Miss Massillonian, it would have been a scandal.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Look, there’s no question that we have a challenge with gun violence. But there’s a lot more nuanced parts of that narrative, and that’s the part that I think that we have to make sure that we emphasize along with all the great things that are going on in Chicago, particularly in our neighborhoods.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I gotta be me. I’m going to go to ball games, because that’s what I do. I’m going to go to live music shows, because I love live music.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I don’t think I’ll be a good mayor if I don’t live my authentic life, and that’s got to be involved with having fun with my spouse and my daughter.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“One of the challenges I think we have is people feel like the act of governance is a zero sum game. ‘Whatever I get, you’re not getting.’ Changing that dynamic is going to be critically important for me as a leader, so that people don’t feel they’re pitted against each other.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I’ve wanted to be a parent for a really long time, and I’m going to make sure I’m doing everything I can to be present in her life, to be her mother. I don’t want to be absent from her life.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I support progressive revenue sources that ease the burden on low-income and working-class individuals and families who are least able to shoulder the burden of regressive taxes and fees.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“As I examine progressive revenue options, I want to make sure wealthy individuals and businesses pay their fair share, that we reduce the burden on low-income and middle-class families, and not drive businesses from Chicago or create a disincentive for businesses to invest in our city.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I do not support the city’s red light camera system. This system was sold to Chicagoans as a public safety solution, but it’s always really been about revenue, and we’ve seen that fines fall disproportionately on people of color.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“While I am opposed to elected officials running for multiple offices simultaneously, or within several months of one another, I do not support a state law making it illegal.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I can’t look into the crystal ball. All I can do is the here and now.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Chicago’s been under the grip of the corrupt and broken political machine for as long as everybody’s memory.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“My mother is a fascinating person.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We need to educate our young people about the dangers of gun violence and that there are real consequences for solving disputes with guns.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“When young people grow up with fear as the norm, they don’t have the luxury to dream.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Police departments, since the start of the history of this country, have been used to enforce unconstitutional laws that were designed to discriminate against communities of color and particularly African Americans.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I grew up in a small segregated steel town 6o miles outside of Cleveland, my parents grew up in the segregated south. As a family we struggled financially, and I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s where overt racism ruled the day.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I’m pretty funny on my own.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Let’s stand together, stick together, and work together for justice of every description. Racial justice. Gender justice. Immigrant justice. Economic justice. Environmental justice.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We have to have a school board that’s actually gonna be able to function and that has true parent representatives on it.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I think about my parents, and I think a lot about the sacrifices they have made.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Make no mistake about it: Change is hard, but change is necessary.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We have to get to a place in the city where our young officers understand that respectful, constitutional engagement with the community is their most powerful tool.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“What I hear from folks all the time is ‘us against them.’ It is a core part of what they feel is happening with our government. Investing here, but not there. Listening to some, but not nearly enough. Going into certain neighborhoods, but not others. That divide is something we have to categorically reject.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I have a coming-out story that’s probably very similar to lots of people who are my age: the fear of being rejected, the fear of losing your family and friends. You know, I worked through all of that, and that fear, and what that does to you, is pretty profound.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“It’s going very different for citizens of Chicago to know that they have an advocate in the mayor’s office – getting rid of the ‘us versus them,’ the lack of investment in our neighborhoods, the feeling that the only thing that matters is if you’re a campaign donor.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“When you’re walking down a street and you are a brown-skinned person or you’re a person that lives in an immigrant community, there’s no differentiating on – solely on the basis of what you look like. They don’t walk down the street saying, hi, I’m an immigrant; I’m here legally or not.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“You know, I’m a former federal prosecutor. Before ICE was ICE, I did a lot of cases with Customs Enforcement.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“When we ignore the will of the people, people lose.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I know what it’s like to be denied opportunity based on the nature of your skin.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“There’s things that you can learn by being in the room with people that’s different than talking to them over the phone or reading a policy paper.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I think he’s a great talent, Stephen Colbert.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Our kids’ lives depend upon keeping them safe. That has to be a fundamental duty and responsibility for me as mayor. That means we have to continue hard but necessary work of bridging the divide between police and communities they serve.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Our children… deserve to grow up in an environment where fear is not their constant companion. And I’m determined to do everything I can to make sure every kid – in every neighborhood regardless of zip code, economic status and race or ethnicity – is able to live a life of safety.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I am an independent reform candidate. I do not represent the past.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I am not tied to the broken political machine, and I did not aspire to climb the ranks of the Cook County Democratic Party to be the party boss.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I’m not affiliated with Ed Burke, Joe Berrios or anyone else who represents the old, corrupt Chicago way. I am offering voters a complete break from that past and pushing us forward in a way that brings people together and makes government more inclusive.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“We can and will make Chicago a place where your ZIP code doesn’t determine your destiny.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“What I favor is that we have health care access to people that is not income based. We have to have health care that is acceptable and it’s going to come in a number of forms.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“It’s not enough to be anti-Trump.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“There’s significant movement as far to the left in our party as far as you can go, where people are trying to out-Bernie Bernie.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Taxes and fees in Chicago and Cook County are forcing low-income families like the one I grew up in out of this city. It’s clear we can’t keep treating low-income and middle-class families like an ATM machine with no limit.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I have to explain to my daughter what it means when adults lie. I have to explain to my daughter what it means when adults are bullies. I have to explain to my daughter what it means when an adult says something that’s not true just to try to score political points.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“If you look at the number of aldermen who have been prosecuted and found liable of federal crimes over the years… the common thread among all of them is doing something in the exercise of aldermanic prerogative or privilege.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I am a lesbian. I am married to a woman. We have a child. We have a family.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“If you really want to make a difference you don’t do it via Tweet, via Facebook, via Instagram – you get down, you understand what the facts are and then you offer a path forward.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“It’s true that not every day a little black girl in a low-income family from a segregated steel town makes the runoff to be the mayor of the third-largest city in America.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“When I was in my 20s and kind of going through my own coming out process, I feared that I would lose my family. I feared that I would grow old alone. And that was a real part of my struggle.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Being the mayor of the third largest city in the country, that’s humbling, but it also gives me incredible hope.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“People feel like city government is corrupt. They feel like it doesn’t work unless you have clout.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“When you decide you’re going to be a public servant, you should not be able to take on interests that conflict with the city.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Community isn’t something I ever take for granted.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I grew up in a small town in a low-income family and was the only black kid in my elementary school. I felt like an outsider, and since I didn’t know of LGBT people – much less LGBT black women – living happy, healthy, and successful lives, I didn’t believe I could ever marry or have a child.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Throughout college and law school, as well as in my career as a lawyer and police reform advocate, I’ve faced various toxic combinations of racism, sexism, and homophobia.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Chicago is an incredibly great city, but it was clear to me that greatness wasn’t being spread to all our neighborhoods.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I think of being the mayor of a big city with so many incredible things happening – but also so many challenges and opportunities – as really being kind of the chief advocate for the people.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I learned early on about the real meaning of equity and inclusion, and that when those guiding principles are not met, they can have devastating effects on individuals, families, and communities.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“I’ve been lucky and I recognize that, but I haven’t lost sight of that girl I was.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“When I hear stories about the number of kids that have been lost to violence, where families grow up teaching kids ‘duck and cover’ long before they learn their ABC’s or their colors, I know there is something profoundly wrong in our city.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“You’re never going to catch me agreeing with anything that Bruce Rauner says, given the things he’s done in this state, trying to pit the city of Chicago against the rest of Illinois – I’ll never agree with anything Bruce Rauner says.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“Obviously, I believe that Rahm Emanuel’s leadership has failed. Obviously, I believe we need change.”
― Lori Lightfoot
“What I’m saying is that government doesn’t work for people. There is a perception of it and a reality of it.”
― Lori Lightfoot
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