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The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.
The Mayor appoints the Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department and Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. He is also responsible for appointing the heads of city departments, the largest of which are the Chicago Parks Department and the Chicago Streets & Sanitation Department. Under Richard M. Daley, the Illinois legislature granted the Mayor power to appoint the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools, which had long been an independent political field. The Chicago City Clerk and City Treasurer are elected separately.
The Mayor of Chicago is elected by popular vote every four years, on the last Tuesday in February, in the year preceding a presidential election. A run-off election, in the event no candidate garners more than fifty percent of the vote, is held on the first Tuesday in April. The election is held on a non-partisan basis. Chicago is the largest city in America not to term limit its Mayor.
The first mayor was William Butler Ogden and the longest serving mayor is Richard J. Daley. Two mayors have been assassinated in office: Carter Harrison, Sr. and Anton Cermak. Democrats have dominated the office in modern Chicago history; the last Republican mayor was William Hale Thompson who left office in 1931. Two sets of father and son have been elected Mayor of Chicago: Carter Harrison, Sr. and Carter Harrison, Jr. as well as Richard J. Daley and Richard M. Daley. Carter Harrison, Jr. was the first of the mayors to have been born within city limits. The first woman to hold the office was Jane Byrne. The first Black mayor was Harold Washington. As an interim mayor, David Duvall Orr has the shortest mayoral term. The current Mayor of Chicago is Richard M. Daley.
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| 1 Acting officeholder. 2 Election declared null and void. |
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