Mayor of Chicago

The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments. In addition, the Mayor submits proposals and recommendations to the Chicago City Council, is active in the enforcement of the city's ordinances, submits the city's annual budget and appoints city officers, department commissioners or directors, and members of city boards and commissions.

During sessions of the city council, the mayor serves as the presiding officer. The mayor is not allowed to vote on issues except in certain instances, most notably where the vote taken on a matter before the body results in a tie.

The office of mayor was created when Chicago became a city in 1837.

History

The first mayor was William B. Ogden (1837–1838). Forty-six men and two women (Jane Byrne, 1979–1983, and Lori Lightfoot, 2019–2023), have held the office. Two sets of father and son have been elected Mayor of Chicago: Carter Harrison III (1879–1887, 1893) and Carter Harrison IV (1897–1905, 1911–1915), as well as Richard J. Daley (1955–1976) and Richard M. Daley (1989–2011). Carter Harrison IV was the first mayor to have been born in the city.

As an interim mayor, David Duvall Orr (1987) held the office for one week, the shortest time period. Richard M. Daley was elected six times becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, his 22 years surpassing his father's record of 21 years."Daley now Chicago mayor 1 day longer than father" Associated Press December 26, 2010

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. Lightfoot (2019–2023) was the city's first African American woman and first LGBT mayor. Brandon Johnson (2023–present) is the fourth African American mayor, Eugene Sawyer (1987–1989) having been selected by the council after Washington died in office.

Appointment powers The mayor appoints the commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department and the heads of other departments, 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. The mayor also appoints members to the boards of several special-purpose governmental bodies including City Colleges of Chicago, 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 alderpersons 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.

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 in most other weak-mayor systems, the mayor 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 non-partisan in 1999, the mayor was the de facto leader of the city's Democratic Party, and had great influence over the ward organizations. Located in City Hall, "the fifth floor" is sometimes used as a metonym for the office and power of the mayor.

Election and succession

The mayor of Chicago is elected by popular vote every four years, on the last Tuesday in February. A run-off election, in case 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, 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. 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. 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, 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.Harold, the People's Mayor: The Biography of Harold Washington by Dempsey Travis, Agate Publishing, Dec 12, 2017

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.

List of mayors Between 1833 and 1837, Chicago was incorporated as a town and headed by town presidents. Since 1837, it has been incorporated as a city and headed by mayors.

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.

Mayor Took office Left office Tenure Election Party Vice Mayor Town Presidents 1 Thomas Jefferson Vance Owen – Nonpartisan rowspan="2" 2 John H. Kinzie 3 years – Whig Mayors 1 William B. Ogden 10 months 1837 Democratic rowspan="73" 2 Buckner Stith Morris 1 year 1838 Whig 3 Benjamin Wright Raymond 1 year 1839 Whig 4 Alexander Loyd 1840 Democratic 5 Francis Cornwall Sherman 1841 Democratic 6 Benjamin Wright Raymond 1842 Whig 7 Augustus Garrett 1843 Democratic 1844 8 Alson Sherman 1844 Independent Democratic 9 Augustus Garrett 1845 Democratic 10 John Putnam Chapin 1846 Whig 11 James Curtiss 1847 Democratic 12 James Hutchinson Woodworth 1848 Independent Democratic 1849 13 James Curtiss 1850 Democratic 14 Walter S. Gurnee 1851 Democratic 1852 15 Charles McNeill Gray 1853 Democratic 16 Isaac Lawrence Milliken 1854 Democratic 17 Levi Boone 1855 American 18 Thomas Dyer 1856 Democratic 19 John Wentworth 1857 Republican 20 John Charles Haines 1858 Republican 1859 21 John Wentworth 1860 Democratic 22 Julian Sidney Rumsey 1861 Republican 23 Francis Cornwall Sherman 1862 Democratic 1863 24 John Blake Rice 1865 Republican 1867 25 Roswell B. Mason 1869 Citizens 26 Joseph Medill 1871 Republican(Dry) – Lester L. Bond – Republican 27 Harvey Doolittle Colvin 1873 People's – Thomas Hoyne Election invalidated;tenure annulled 1876 Independent Democratic 28 Monroe Heath 1876 Republican 1877 29 Carter Harrison III 1879 Democratic 1881 1883 1885 30 John A. Roche 1887 Republican 31 DeWitt Clinton Cregier 1889 Democratic 32 Hempstead Washburne 1891 Republican 33 Carter Harrison III 1893 Democratic 34 George Bell Swift – Republican 35 John Patrick Hopkins 1893 special Democratic 36 George Bell Swift 1895 Republican 37 Carter Harrison IV 1897 Democratic 1899 1901 1903 38 Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne 1905 Democratic 39 Fred A. Busse 1907 Republican 40 Carter Harrison IV 1911 Democratic 41 William Hale Thompson 1915 Republican1919 42 William Emmett Dever 1923 Democratic 43 William Hale Thompson 1927 Republican 44 Anton Cermak 1931 Democratic 45 Frank J. Corr – Democratic 46 Edward Joseph Kelly Democratic 1935 1939 1943 47 Martin H. Kennelly 1947 Democratic 1951 48 Richard J. Daley 1955 Democratic 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 49 Michael A. Bilandic Democratic Casey Laskowski 1977 special 50 Jane Byrne 1979 Democratic Richard Mell 51 Harold Washington 1983 Democratic 1987 David Orr 52 David Orr – Democratic Himself 53 Eugene Sawyer Democratic David Orr Terry Gabinski 54 Richard M. Daley 1989 special Democratic 1991 1995 1999 Nonpartisan(Democratic) Bernard Stone 2003 2007 55 Rahm Emanuel 2011 Nonpartisan(Democratic) Ray Suarez 2015 Brendan Reilly 56 Lori Lightfoot 2019 Nonpartisan(Democratic) Tom Tunney 57 Brandon Johnson Incumbent 2023 Nonpartisan(Democratic) Walter Burnett Jr.

Notes

Died in office

Vice mayor

The position was created by a state law that was passed in response to the power struggle that took place over succession following Richard J. Daley's death in office.

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

The position was long considered to be largely ceremonial. However, in 2023, Mayor Brandon Johnson successfully championed a resolution that gave the office a $400,000 budget. He also had his vice mayor, Burnett, act as an official community liaison for the mayoral administration.Multiple sources

List of vice mayors Vice Mayor Took office Left office Party 1 Casey Laskowski Democratic Michael A. Bilandic 2 Richard Mell Democratic Jane ByrneHarold Washington 3 David Orr Democratic Harold WashingtonHimself Eugene Sawyer 4 Terry Gabinski Democratic Eugene SawyerRichard M. Daley 5 Bernard Stone Democratic Richard M. Daley 6 Ray Suarez Unknown Rahm Emanuel 7 Brendan Reilly Democratic Rahm Emanuel 8 Tom Tunney Democratic Lori Lightfoot 9 Walter Burnett Jr. Democratic Brandon Johnson

Mayor of Chicago

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