Much hay has been made that Chicago just elected its first black female mayor, and an openly gay one at that, but more notable is that they didn't elect the worst option.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot stepped into a 14-person bloodbath of an election resulting from the vacuum left behind by outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel. She was a relative outsider, a tough-on-crime prosecutor who has never held elected office before. Though Lightfoot is as left a Democrat as the rest of the race, she came under fire for her role both as a prosecutor and as chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force.



Do Chicago a favor and save all excited posts and articles about our next mayor being Black lesbian.



You’re not helping. She loves and has worked to protect the very systems that suck resources and harm our communities. #stoplightfoot #LGBT — Charlene Carruthers (@CharleneCac) April 3, 2019



In any other city, a politically savvy prosecutor beating the odds first by a slim plurality and then in a runoff wouldn't be too notable. But this is Chicago, and the feat Lightfoot achieved isn't just herculean; it's promising.

In the first round, Lightfoot beat out multiple elected officials, including Bill Daley, the former Obama chief of staff and the son and brother of two previous Chicago mayors. Lightfoot then faced off Toni Preckwinkle, as much a member of the Chicago machine as one could be.

At the forefront of the mayoral runoff was the Jussie Smollett case. While no one expressed as much rage toward the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the alleged hate crime hoaxer as Emanuel, Lightfoot expressed real criticism of Kim Foxx's move to drop the charges. Preckwinkle found herself in a bit of a bind, as Foxx was her own personal protege.

"It’s really important that the state’s attorney be allowed to provide a fuller explanation as time goes on," Preckwinkle said of Foxx, who was also once her chief of staff.

Polling starkly divided as the election drew nearer, with Lightfoot's lead increasing from 28 points at the end of February to 36 points just before Foxx dropped the Smollett case. (The polls were administered by different sources, but the divide is still notable.)

The election may not be a referendum on the Smollett case specifically, but it's at least one of the Chicago machine as a whole. For all that progressives in the city like to brand themselves as, choosing Lightfoot over a union-backed career crony is actual change and progress.