The 11th Ward, ancestral home and longtime political powerbase of the Daley family, is now represented by the Chicago City Council’s first-ever Chinese American and first Asian-American woman.
Nicole Lee, 47, cemented her place in the city’s political history on Monday after sailing through her confirmation hearing and being sworn into office less than an hour later with her two sons at her side.
“While it’s not lost on me, this particular moment in history, I’ve been nominated … to represent the residents of the 11th Ward and they are not all Asian-American,” Lee, 47, told the Rules Committee during her confirmation hearing.
“I’m here to represent the interests of every single person in the 11th Ward, regardless of whether or not they eat rice at night or [for] dinner.”
The confirmation votes in both the Rules Committee and the full council were unanimous. There was no debate, only praise, a few basic questions and words of welcome and offers of help with some sage advice sprinkled in.
“I want to extend my sincerest sympathies,” said Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th), only half-joking.
“I always say I’m one signature short of involuntary commitment. It’s insanity. But you were already in an insane position.”
Ald. Sophia King (4th) said it wasn’t “lost on me how difficult a job” Lee has in front of her, “having to learn an office while running an office and running for an office all at once.”
“I appreciate you still wanting to do this and not retreating,” King said.
Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, asked Lee whether she was “sure that you want to spend your late nights in your office, your weekends at parades and funerals and wakes and in the alley at 2 in the morning.”
Lee responded with humility and humor to, what she jokingly called a “bit of a trick question.”
Reiterating a line she used on the day she was appointed, she said: “I probably am just a little bit crazy for wanting to do this. But, I do....I could not be more happy and thrilled and excited and a little bit scared. Maybe a lot scared.”
Lee went on to say that every alderperson she has “had the pleasure of speaking with” in the run-up to Monday’s confirmation hearing has “reiterated the same things to me.”
“I sit before you really like, asking for permission to come and join you in this fight,” she said.
“I’m prepared for whatever’s gonna come. I know that there’s probably gonna be times when I’m gonna stumble. But I have no doubt that, with this body that’s been so generous to me already in terms of offering assistance, that I’m gonna be OK. And when I’m not, I’ll get help.”
Lee reiterated her top priority is to make certain city services that may have slipped in the month without an alderperson are on time and up to snuff. After that, her priorities are “safety, safety, safety. … Anybody who lives in the city understands that.”
The Lightfoot administration was apparently so confident in the outcome of Monday’s vote, Lee’s nameplate already was engraved and installed in the 11th Ward seat in the City Council chambers before the back-to-back votes.
Lee replaces Patrick Daley Thompson, who resigned in February. Thompson, nephew of Chicago’s longest-serving mayor and grandson of the second in mayoral seniority, was forced to resign after being convicted by a federal court jury of lying to regulators and filing false income tax returns.
Lee is a United Airlines executive whose father was a longtime deputy chief of staff under former Mayor Richard M. Daley. She and her two sons are the “fourth generation of Lees” to live in the Chinatown building purchased by Nicole Lee’s grandparents.
Lee is also the daughter of Gene Lee, a longtime deputy chief of staff under former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Chicago’s longest-serving mayor and the convicted former alderman’s uncle.
On the day Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the groundbreaking appointment, Nicole Lee described the 11th Ward as a “gateway for immigrants” and a place were “disparate cultures come to raise their families.”
But, Lee also talked openly about the ugly underbelly of the ward she now represents.
“The 11th Ward community has struggled with divisions,” Lee said.
“I want my sons and their friends to live in a world that is inclusive. … I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and move the 11th Ward in a new direction.”
Both city ward maps headed for a June 28 referendum vote — one drawn for the Black Caucus and backed by 33 alderpersons, the other favored by the Hispanic Caucus with 15 supporters — would turn Lee’s ward into the first one in which a majority of the population is Asian-American.
That reflects a 31% Asian American population gain, to 192,586 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Asked which of the two maps she supports, Lee punted. She said she wants to study both before choosing between the two camps.
“The impact on my ward is what I’m most concerned about,” she said.
