Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will exit office Monday after presiding over the city’s most tumultuous era in generations, one marked by enormous strain on every element of civic life and the twin crises of COVID-19 and civil unrest.
As Chicago’s first Black female and first openly gay mayor, Lightfoot vowed four years ago to make Chicago the safest big city in the country, transform its reputation as a hive for corruption and villainy and lead an overhaul of the long-troubled Police Department. Her ambitious plans were derailed by the pandemic and widespread looting following the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd, as well as Lightfoot’s own failure to forge or maintain bonds with stakeholders and public officials who could help her push a reform agenda...