CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot hosted Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson at City Hall Thursday in a traditional meeting between the outgoing chief executive at City Hall and the new one.
“This moment is quite frankly a historical moment where the first Black woman, LGBTQ, transitioned her administration to another Black man,” Johnson told reporters after leaving Lightfoot’s office. “It’s a very great day for the city of Chicago. We are going to be not only united, we’re going to be a stronger city, one that the rest of the world can look at as a model.”
He praised Lightfoot for a gracious welcome and her commitment to make sure a Johnson administration starts off, as he put it, “literally on the right foot.”
Johnson didn’t offer much by way of specifics about their conversation. But he did say he felt a “flood of emotions” arriving at the fifth floor mayor’s office at City Hall.
“What this moment means for people around the city who want the city to be united, the real opportunity to bring people together and how the office of the mayor has a role and a responsibility to do that, I really began to feel that once I crossed that threshold,” Johnson said.
He later released a statement calling the meeting “a positive, productive discussion today about the future of our city.”
Lightfoot later tweeted that she assured her successor “that myself and the Mayor’s Office staff are ready to support him over the next several weeks.”
Lightfoot lost her reelection bid in the first round of voting on Feb. 28 when she came in third behind Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Johnson.
Johnson, a 47-year-old Chicago Teachers Union organizer and Cook County Board member, then topped Vallas in a close runoff Tuesday, gaining about 51% of the vote to become the city’s next mayor. He will be sworn in next month.
