Lori Lightfoot

“When we ignore the will of the people, people lose.”

“I know every trick in the book, in terms of schemes and fraud.”

“I'm pretty funny on my own.”

“Look, there's no question that we have a challenge with gun violence. But there's a lot more nuanced parts of that narrative, and that's the part that I think that we have to make sure that we emphasize along with all the great things that are going on in Chicago, particularly in our neighborhoods.”

“Building channels for people to believe that the city sees them and hears them and is willing to invest, is going to be critically important, and we have to start that right away.”

“Chicago's been under the grip of the corrupt and broken political machine for as long as everybody's memory.”

“One of the challenges I think we have is people feel like the act of governance is a zero sum game. 'Whatever I get, you're not getting.' Changing that dynamic is going to be critically important for me as a leader, so that people don't feel they're pitted against each other.”

“Make no mistake about it: Change is hard, but change is necessary.”

“I'm not affiliated with Ed Burke, Joe Berrios or anyone else who represents the old, corrupt Chicago way. I am offering voters a complete break from that past and pushing us forward in a way that brings people together and makes government more inclusive.”

“What I hear from folks all the time is 'us against them.' It is a core part of what they feel is happening with our government. Investing here, but not there. Listening to some, but not nearly enough. Going into certain neighborhoods, but not others. That divide is something we have to categorically reject.”

“Obviously, we have to do a far better job on keeping our community safe, and that's where I'm going to put a significant amount of input.”

“Our kids' lives depend upon keeping them safe. That has to be a fundamental duty and responsibility for me as mayor. That means we have to continue hard but necessary work of bridging the divide between police and communities they serve.”

“We have been embarked on what I would call a proactive strategy that looks at our gun violence as a public health crisis, which is what it is. That means we look at the root causes of the violence.”

“I gotta be me. I'm going to go to ball games, because that's what I do. I'm going to go to live music shows, because I love live music.”

“Chicago is an incredibly great city, but it was clear to me that greatness wasn't being spread to all our neighborhoods.”

“Police departments, since the start of the history of this country, have been used to enforce unconstitutional laws that were designed to discriminate against communities of color and particularly African Americans.”

“We have to have a school board that's actually gonna be able to function and that has true parent representatives on it.”

“I am not tied to the broken political machine, and I did not aspire to climb the ranks of the Cook County Democratic Party to be the party boss.”

“What I'm saying is that government doesn't work for people. There is a perception of it and a reality of it.”

“Being the mayor of the third largest city in the country, that's humbling, but it also gives me incredible hope.”