Toni Preckwinkle
Toni Lynn Preckwinkle (née Reed; born March 17, 1947[2]) is an American politician and the current County Board president in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was elected to her first term as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the executive branch of Cook County government, in November 2010, becoming the first woman elected to that position.
Toni Preckwinkle
Shirley Newsome
2
Preckwinkle previously served as a five-term alderman in the Chicago City Council, representing Chicago's 4th ward centered in Hyde Park. During her tenure, she emerged as the council's prominent defender of affordable housing. She was also the runner-up in the 2019 election for mayor of Chicago.
Among other issues, she is known for championing the county's controversial sweetened beverage tax, sponsorship of living wage ordinances, concerns about the costs and benefits of Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and her strong stance against police brutality and excessive force.
Early life, education, and career[edit]
Toni Lynn Reed was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and attended local schools there. She graduated from Washington High School in St. Paul in 1965.[3] During high school, she worked on the campaign of Katie McWatt, who was the first African American person to run for St. Paul City Council.[4] She moved to Chicago to study at the University of Chicago in the Hyde Park community area, where she earned her bachelor's in 1969, and later a master's degree in 1977.[3][5]
After college, Preckwinkle taught history for ten years in several high schools in the Chicago metropolitan area, including Calumet High School, the Visitation School, and Aquinas.[5]
In 1985 and 1986, Preckwinkle served as President of the Disabled Adult Residential Enterprises (DARE). She was active in community organizations, serving as a member of the board of directors of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, and Political Action Director of the Near South Chapter of the Independent Voters of Illinois (IVI-IPO).[5]
During and after her 1987 aldermanic election campaign, she worked as a planner for the Chicago Department of Economic Development.[6][7] By 1990, she was working as executive director of the Chicago Jobs Council and become allied with civil rights attorney R. Eugene Pincham.[8][9]
Unsuccessful 1983 and 1987 Chicago City Council campaigns[edit]
Chicago's fourth ward is on the South Side of Chicago, adjacent to the Lake Michigan lakefront. It includes all of the Kenwood and Oakland community areas, and portions of Hyde Park, Washington Park, Grand Boulevard, Douglas and the South Loop community areas. The northern part of the ward (North of 45th Street) is predominantly African American, while the more racially diverse southern half is predominantly middle and upper middle-class.[10]
In her first two aldermanic campaigns for the 4th ward, in 1983 and 1987, Preckwinkle lost to the incumbent, Timothy C. Evans, who had been in office since 1973.[11] Evans was Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's City Council floor leader and lieutenant.[11][12] In 1983, Preckwinkle, supported by many independent voters,[13] received enough support in the preliminary election to force a runoff election[14] (Chicago Aldermen are elected without regard to political party affiliation, but must earn a majority of votes or the top two candidates have a runoff election).[10] In the runoff, Preckwinkle carried traditionally "independent" precincts in Hyde-Park, but Evans carried the precincts in the north of the Ward.[15]
In the 1987 elections, Evans defeated Preckwinkle by a 77% to 21% margin.[16] In 1987, although both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times endorsed Evans, they praised Preckwinkle for qualities including her intelligence and independence, and expressed hopes she would continue in politics.[6][17] Preckwinkle was endorsed by then state Rep. Carol Moseley Braun and also by the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. Mayor Harold Washington endorsed Evans.[18][19]
Political relationship with Barack Obama[edit]
Preckwinkle supported Barack Obama in his political pursuits. She endorsed him in his campaigns for Illinois Senate in 1995–96,[163] U.S. House in 1999–2000,[164] and U.S. Senate in 2004.[165] She was among those who encouraged Obama to make his first run for the United States Congress in 2000,[166] taking a political risk in supporting his unsuccessful challenge to incumbent congressman Bobby Rush.[167] She was also an early supporter when he ran for United States Senate in 2004.[168]
When Obama was elected in 2004 as a United States Senator, Preckwinkle had a large say in his Illinois State Senate replacement.[169] She became Obama's alderman when he moved from Hyde Park to South Kenwood in June 2005.[170]
Preckwinkle's views on Obama were prominently featured in a July 2008 New Yorker cover story on then-presidential candidate Barack Obama's political origins.[171][172][173] The article begins by recounting a 1995 meeting between Preckwinkle and Obama in which he discussed a possible run for the Illinois Senate seat then held by Alice Palmer.[173] According to The New Yorker, Preckwinkle "soon became an Obama loyalist, and she stuck with him in a State Senate campaign that strained or ruptured many friendships but was ultimately successful."[172][173]
In 1997, she successfully challenged the signatures of Obama's opponents in the Democratic Primary for the Illinois Senate, allowing Obama to run unopposed.[174] According to the New Yorker article, Preckwinkle became "disenchanted" with Obama. The article's author suggested that Preckwinkle's "grievances" against Obama were motivated by her perception that Obama was disloyal.[175] Preckwinkle still served as an Obama delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Ahead of the Democratic Party primary in 2018 reelection election for president of the County Board of Commissioners, Obama endorsed Preckwinkle's reelection campaign.[176] However, the following year, Obama opted not to endorse any candidate in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election.[167][177] It had been reported that, during her campaign in runoff of the election, Preckwinkle had unsuccessfully sought to persuade both Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama to endorse her faltering candidacy.[177] Barack Obama had not stayed neutral in the city's previous mayoral election, having endorsed Rahm Emanuel's 2015 reelection campaign.[178]
Personal life[edit]
From 1969 to 2013, she was married to Zeus Preckwinkle, then a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at Ancona Montessori School.[191] They have two children. Her former husband is European-American, and as "a lightly complexioned black woman". When she ran for city council against Evans in the 1980s, Evans and Luella Young (his precinct captain) used Preckwinkle's interracial marriage against her. Both Evans and Young are African-American.[192]
Preckwinkle's son, Kyle, has been summonsed twice, once on a charge of assault and once on a charge of battery. However, he was not arrested for either incident, which is contrary to normal procedure. The two separate judges that heard these matters both issued acquittals from the bench.[193]