Jane Byrne

Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933 – November 14, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of consumer sales from 1969 until 1977 under Mayor Richard J. Daley, the only woman in the mayoral cabinet. Byrne won the 1979 Chicago mayoral election on April 3, 1979 becoming the first female mayor of the city, and causing an upheaval in beating the city's political machine. She was the first woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States, as Chicago was the second largest city in the United States at the time. Byrne narrowly lost her bid for renomination in the Democratic primary for the 1983 Chicago mayoral election, in which she faced a long-expected challenge from Richard J. Daley's son Richard M. Daley, with both Byrne and Daley losing to Harold Washington in an upset. Washington won the general election. Byrne unsuccessfully challenged Washington for the nomination in 1987, but endorsed his re-election in the general election. Byrne made one last unsuccessful bid for the Democratic mayoral nomination in 1991, challenging Richard M. Daley (who had become mayor in a special election two years earlier).