“For me, personally, I’m asking, ‘Who is going to be the break from politics as usual in Chicago?’” said Jordie Davies, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago whose dissertation focuses on political activism. “I’m excited about two black women. But I’m looking at records. I’m looking at who is going to offer the most holistic platform for addressing problems in Chicago.”

Deidre Baumann, 50, a lawyer who cast her vote Tuesday at a library in the Budlong Woods neighborhood on the North Side, said she would be happy with whichever candidate prevailed.

“Either way, this is a historic election,” she said.

She watched the debates and studied the candidates’ records carefully, she said, deciding in the end to vote for Ms. Lightfoot, who she believed would bring her experience as a federal prosecutor to push for criminal justice reform.

[Here’s what you need to know about Lori Lightfoot, the first black woman to be elected mayor of Chicago and the first openly gay mayor for the city.]

“We have to make this city safe for all the citizens and the police,” Ms. Baumann said. “On the other hand, we cannot continue to incarcerate black and brown people in disparate numbers.”

In her eyes, Ms. Preckwinkle represented an older political model. “I’m disturbed a bit by her ties to the machine,” she said. “She always touted herself as the progressive candidate. She’s had to move away from that as she navigated the political system in Chicago.”