Mayor of Chicago

William B. Ogden was the first mayor of Chicago.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaving "The Fifth Floor" office of the mayor in 2016

The first mayor was William Butler 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, 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 (1987) held the office for the shortest time period. Richard M. Daley was elected six times becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, surpassing his father's record.[1]

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 third elected African American mayor.

The mayor appoints the commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department, the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department and the heads of other departments,[2] 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 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.

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 nonpartisan in 1999, the mayor was the de facto leader of the city's Democratic Party, and had great influence over the ward organizations.[3] Located in City Hall, "the fifth floor" is sometimes used as a metonym for the office and power of the mayor.[4]

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,[5][6] 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.[6][7] 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.[8] 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,[9] 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.[10]

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.[11]

Joseph Medill (#26) was the first foreign-born mayor.

John Patrick Hopkins (#35) was the youngest and the first Catholic mayor.

William Hale Thompson (#41) was the last Republican mayor of Chicago.

Jane Byrne (#50) was the first female mayor.

Harold Washington (#51) was the first African American mayor.

Richard M. Daley (#54) was the longest-serving mayor (22 years).

Lori Lightfoot (#56) was the first African American woman mayor of Chicago.

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.

#No.[12]	Image	Name	Term start	Term end	Terms	Years		Party
Town presidents
1		Thomas Jefferson Vance Owen	August 12, 1833	1834	1	1		None
2		John H. Kinzie	1834	March 4, 1837	3	3		Whig
Mayors
1		William B. Ogden	1837	1838	1	1		Democratic
2		Buckner S. Morris	1838	1839	1	1		Whig
3		Benjamin W. Raymond	1839	1840	1	1		Whig
4		Alexander Loyd	1840	1841	1	1		Democratic
5		Francis C. Sherman	1841	1842	1	1		Democratic
6		Benjamin W. Raymond	1842	1843	1	1		Whig
7		Augustus Garrett	1843	1844	1	1		Democratic
8		Alson Sherman	1844	1845	1	1		Independent Democratic
9		Augustus Garrett	1845	1846	1	1		Democratic
10		John P. Chapin	1846	1847	1	1		Whig
11		James Curtiss	1847	1848	1	1		Democratic
12		James H. Woodworth	1848	1850	2	2		Independent Democratic
13		James Curtiss	1850	1851	1	1		Democratic
14		Walter S. Gurnee	1851	1853	2	2		Democratic
15		Charles McNeill Gray	1853	1854	1	1		Democratic
16		Isaac L. Milliken	1854	1855	1	1		Democratic
17		Levi Boone	1855	1856	1	1		American (Know Nothing)
18		Thomas Dyer	1856	1857	1	1		Democratic
19		John Wentworth	1857	1858	1	1		Republican
20		John C. Haines	1858	1860	2	2		Republican
21		John Wentworth	1860	1861	1	1		Democratic
22		Julian S. Rumsey	1861	1862	1	1		Republican
23		Francis C. Sherman	1862	1865	2	2		Democratic
24		John B. Rice	1865	1869	2	4		Republican
25		Roswell B. Mason	1869	1871	1	2		Citizens[lower-alpha 1]
26		Joseph Medill	1871	1873	1	2		Republican (Dry)
--		Lester L. Bond (acting)	1873	1873	1⁄4	1⁄2		Republican
27		Harvey Doolittle Colvin	1873	1875	1	2		Republican (Wet)
28		Monroe Heath	1876	1879	2	4		Republican
29		Carter Harrison Sr.	1879	1887	4	8		Democratic
30		John A. Roche	1887	1889	1	2		Republican
31		DeWitt C. Cregier	1889	1891	1	2		Democratic
32		Hempstead Washburne	1891	1893	1	2		Republican
33		Carter Harrison Sr. †	1893	1893	1⁄4	1⁄2		Democratic
34		George Bell Swift (interim mayor)	1893	1893	1⁄12	1⁄6		Republican
35		John P. Hopkins	1893	1895	2⁄3	11⁄3		Democratic
36		George Bell Swift	1895	1897	1	2		Republican
37		Carter Harrison Jr.	1897	1905	4	8		Democratic
38		Edward F. Dunne	1905	1907	1	2		Democratic
39		Fred A. Busse	1907	1911	1	4		Republican
40		Carter Harrison Jr.	1911	1915	1	4		Democratic
41		William H. Thompson	1915	1923	2	8		Republican
42		William E. Dever	1923	1927	1	4		Democratic
43		William H. Thompson	1927	1931	1	4		Republican
44		Anton Cermak †	1931	1933	1⁄2	2		Democratic
45		Frank J. Corr (acting mayor)	1933	1933	24⁄1461	24⁄365		Democratic
46		Edward J. Kelly	1933	1947	3 1⁄2	14		Democratic
47		Martin H. Kennelly	1947	1955	2	8		Democratic
48		Richard J. Daley †	1955	1976	5 3⁄8	21		Democratic
49		Michael A. Bilandic	1976	1979	5⁄8	2 1⁄3		Democratic
50		Jane Byrne	1979	1983	1	4		Democratic
51		Harold Washington †	1983	1987	1 1⁄8	4 7⁄12		Democratic
52		David Orr (acting mayor)[13]	1987	1987	7⁄1461	7⁄365		Democratic
53		Eugene Sawyer	1987	1989	17⁄48	11⁄2		Democratic
54		Richard M. Daley	1989	2011	5 1⁄2	22		Democratic1
55		Rahm Emanuel	2011	2019	2	8		Democratic1
56		Lori Lightfoot	2019	2023	1	4		Democratic1
57		Brandon Johnson	2023	present	1			Democratic1

^† Died/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, Lori Lightfoot, and Brandon Johnson are known to be Democrats.[14]

Vice mayor of Chicago
Seal of the City of Chicago
Incumbent Walter Burnett since May 15, 2023
Inaugural holder	Casey Laskowski
Formation	1976
Salary	$0[15]

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 Walter Burnett.

The position was created by state law in response to the power struggle over succession that took place following Richard J. Daley's death in office.[9][15][16]

The position is considered to be largely ceremonial.[17][18][19]

If neither the mayor nor president pro tempore can preside over a City Council meeting, then the vice mayor presides.[11]

• Law and government of Chicago
• Timeline of Chicago history

• Banfield, Edward C. Political Influence (1961), covers major public issues 1957 to 1958 in Chicago
• Becker, Richard Edward. "Edward Dunn, Reform Mayor Of Chicago: 1905-1907" (PhD dissertation, The University of Chicago; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1971.T-22350).
• Bennett, Larry. “The Mayor among His Peers: Interpreting Richard M. Daley". in The City, Revisited: Urban Theory from Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, ed. by Dennis R. Judd and Dick Simpson, (2011), pp. 242–72.

• Biles, Roger. Mayor Harold Washington: Champion of Race and Reform in Chicago (U of Illinois Press, 2018).
• Biles, Roger. Big City Boss in Depression and War: Mayor Edward J. Kelly of Chicago (1984).
  • Biles, William Roger. "Mayor Edward J. Kelly Of Chicago: Big City Boss in Depression and War" (Phd Dissertation, University Of Illinois at Chicago. Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 1981 .8120559).

• Bradley, Donald S., and Mayer N. Zald. "From commercial elite to political administrator: The recruitment of the mayors of Chicago". American Journal of Sociology 71.2 (1965): 153-167.
• Bradley, Donald S. The historical trends of the political elites and metropolitan Central City: the Chicago mayors (1963)

• Bukowski, Douglas. Big Bill Thompson, Chicago, and the Politics of Image (1998)
• Bukowski, Douglas. "William Dever and Prohibition: The mayoral election of 1923 and 1927" Chicago History 7#2 (1978) pp. 109-118

• Byrne, Jane. My Chicago (Northwestern University Press, 2004), a primary source.
• Carl, Jim. " '‘Good Politics Is Good Government': The Troubling History of Mayoral Control of the Public Schools in Twentieth‐Century Chicago". American Journal of Education 115#2, 2009, pp. 305–36.
• Cohen, Adam, and Elizabeth Taylor. American pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley, his battle for Chicago and the nation (2001). online review; also see excerpt
• Fehrenbacher, Don E. “Lincoln and the Mayor of Chicago". Wisconsin Magazine of History 40#4 (1957), pp. 237–44. online, on Long John Wentworth

• Gottfried, Alex. Boss Cermak of Chicago: A Study of Political Leadership (U of Washington Press, 1962).

• Green, Paul M., and Holli, Melvin G. The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition (4th ed. 2013), scholarly biographies excerpt covers Medill, Harrison II, Dunne, Busse, Thompson, Dever, Cermak, Kelly, Kennelly, both Daleys, Bilandic, Byrne, Washington, and Emanuel.

• Harrison, Carter Henry. Stormy Years: The Autobiography of Carter H. Harrison, Five Times Mayor of Chicago (1935), a primary source.
• Holli, Melvin G., and Jones, Peter d'A., eds. Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980 (Greenwood Press, 1981) short scholarly biographies each of the city's mayors 1820 to 1980. online; see index at p. 408 for list.
• Johnson, Claudius O. Carter Henry Harrison I: Political Leader (1928)
• Jones, Gene Delon. "The Origin of the Alliance Between the New Deal and the Chicago Machine". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 67 (1974) pp 253-274.
• Kleppner, Paul. Chicago Divided: The Making of a Black Mayor (1985)

• Lydersen, Kari. Mayor 1%: Rahm Emanuel and the Rise of Chicago's 99% ( Haymarket Books, 2013).
• Koeneman, Keith. First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley (University of Chicago Press, 2013).
• McCarthy, Michael P. "Prelude to Armageddon: Charles E. Merriam and the Chicago Mayoral Election of 1911". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 67#5 (1974), pp. 505–18.
• Mantler, Gordon K. The Multiracial Promise. Harold Washington's Chicago and the Democratic Struggle in Reagan's America (U of North Carolina Press, 2023)

• Marshall, Jon, and Matthew Connor. "Divided Loyalties: The Chicago Defender and Harold Washington's Campaign for Mayor of Chicago". American Journalism 36.4 (2019): 447-472.

• Morton, Richard Allen. Justice and Humanity: Edward F. Dunne, Illinois Progressive. (SIU Press, 1997).
  • Morton, Richard Allen. "Justice and humanity: The politics of Edward F. Dunne' (PhD dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  1988. 8823207). Mayor 1905 to 1907

• O'Malley, Peter Joseph. "Mayor Martin H. Kennelly of Chicago: A Political Biography" (PhD dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1980. 8023247).
• Preston, Michael B. “The Election of Harold Washington: Black Voting Patterns in the 1983 Chicago Mayoral Race". PS 16#3 1983, pp. 486–88.
• Rex, Frederick. The mayors of the city of Chicago from 1837 to 1933 (1947).
• Schottenhamel, George. "How Big Bill Thompson Won Control of Chicago". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 45.1 (1952): 30-49.

• Schmidt, John R. The Mayor Who Cleaned up Chicago: A Political Biography of William E. Dever (1989)

• Shipps, Dorothy. “Updating Tradition: The Institutional Underpinnings of Modern Mayoral Control in Chicago's Public Schools". in When Mayors Take Charge: School Governance in the City, edited by Joseph P. Viteritti, (Brookings Institution Press, 2009), pp. 117–47.

• Simpson, Dick. The Good Fight: Life Lessons from a Chicago Progressive (2017), a primary source. excerpt
• Simpson, Dick. Rogues, Rebels, and Rubber Stamps: The Politics of the Chicago City Council, 1863 to the Present. (2018)
• Simpson, Dick, Melissa Mouritsen, and Betty O’Shaughnessy. "Chicago: The Election of Rahm Emanuel". in Local Politics and Mayoral Elections in 21st Century America (Routledge, 2014) pp. 99-115.

• Spirou, Costas. Building the City of Spectacle: Mayor Richard M. Daley and the Remaking of Chicago (Cornell UP, 2016)

• Tompkins, C. David. "John Peter Altgeld as a Candidate for Mayor of Chicago in 1899". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 56.4 (1963): 654-676.
• Wendt, Lloyd and Herman Kogan. Big Bill of Chicago (1953) Popular biography of Big Bill Thompson
• Zald, Mayer N., and Thomas A. Anderson. "Secular Trends and Historical Contingencies in the Recruitment of Mayors: Nashville as Compared to New Haven and Chicago". Urban Affairs Quarterly 3#4 (1968): 53-68.

• Mayor's official webpage
• "History of Chicago's mayoral office" from Ballotpedia
• "A Chronology of Chicago's Mayors". Chicago Public Library. Retrieved May 26, 2010.

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