Four Major US City Mayors Are Black Democrats... "A Historic Event"

New York, LA, Chicago, Houston Maintain Black Mayoral Leadership
Foreign Media Analyze "They Are Empowering Each Other"

Black candidate Brandon Johnson (47, Democrat) won the 57th Chicago mayoral election, creating a situation where the mayors of the four largest U.S. cities are all Black Democrats.

According to Chicago media reports on the 7th (local time), Johnson visited City Hall the day before to greet incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot (60, Democrat) and officially began the handover of duties. Johnson will be inaugurated on the 15th of next month.

Johnson defeated former Chicago Schools CEO Paul Vallas (69, Democrat) in the runoff election held on the 4th, winning 51.4% to 48.6%, a margin of 2.8 percentage points.

Johnson expressed his excitement, calling it a "historic moment," and said, "The first Black female mayor is passing the mayoral office to another Black person."

From the left, Eric Adams, Mayor of New York; Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles; Brandon Johnson, Mayor-elect of Chicago; Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Currently, the mayors of the four largest U.S. cities?New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston?are all Black Democrats. Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was nominated as ambassador to India, and in the election held last November, former U.S. Representative Karen Bass (69, Democrat) won, becoming the second Black mayor after Tom Bradley (served 1973?1993) and the first female mayor of Los Angeles, establishing the current situation.

In New York, former police officer Eric Adams (62, Democrat) took office in January last year as the successor to former Mayor Bill de Blasio, and in Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner (68, Democrat) succeeded former Mayor Annise Parker in 2016.

At the time of Mayor Bass's inauguration, local media reported that "it is the first time in U.S. history that all four largest cities are led by Black mayors."

The New York Times also reported last month that "these four major cities face similar issues such as rising violent crime, homelessness, and drug addiction, and the four mayors share similar views on how to address these problems," adding that "they are empowering each other."

Meanwhile, the first Black mayors of major U.S. cities were Carl Stokes, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio (served 1968?1971), and Richard Hatcher, mayor of Gary, Indiana (served 1968?1987).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.