Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson takes questions from the news media after meeting with Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday, April 6. (Heather Cherone/WTTW News)

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson met with Mayor Lori Lightfoot for nearly 90 minutes on Thursday, launching the formal transition of power from Chicago’s 56th mayor to its 57th mayor.

Johnson will have to work fast to set up his administration and prepare to tackle the myriad problems facing Chicago. Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, will become the city’s chief executive just 41 days after defeating former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas.

Johnson told reporters after the meeting he was “deeply humbled” by Lightfoot’s welcoming and “gracious reception.”

“She is definitely committed to making sure that this city is united,” Johnson said, adding that Lightfoot had offered to make herself and her staff available to his team to ensure that the transition is a smooth one.

“I’m incredibly grateful for her love and dedication to the city of Chicago,” said Johnson, adding that he found the meeting inspirational.

Johnson said Lightfoot encouraged him to savor and seize the moment as mayor of Chicago.

“Crossing the threshold, I had a flood of emotions,” Johnson said. “I thought a lot about my parents.”

Chicagoans should appreciate the historic nature of what it means that a mayoral administration led by a Black gay woman is transitioning to an administration led by a Black man, Johnson said.

“It is a very great day for the city of Chicago,” Johnson said, declining to answer specific questions about what the two talked about and what he would do once in office.

Lightfoot leaves office as the first mayor not to win a second term since 1983, the second woman to serve as Chicago’s mayor following in the footsteps of its first, Jane Byrne.

Lightfoot stepped out of her suite of offices on the fifth floor of City Hall to greet Johnson, shaking his hand not once but twice to ensure the phalanx of assembled cameras and reporters could get a look at the interaction between Johnson and his soon-to-be predecessor, who predicted in January that Johnson would never be mayor of Chicago.

Lightfoot had only been in office for a few months before she began predicting that the Chicago Teachers Union would attempt to oust her in 2023. The relationship between Lightfoot and the politically powerful unions never recovered from a 2019 labor dispute that resulted in a 14-day strike.

Johnson, a former middle school teacher who worked as an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, made good on that push by the union, which contributed approximately $2.4 million to his campaign for mayor.

Lightfoot endorsed neither Johnson, nor Vallas in the runoff race.

“We didn’t really discuss campaigning, because that’s over,” Johnson said. “We talked about the future.”

Lightfoot, who has not held a formal news conference as mayor since her defeat 37 days ago, did not take questions from the news media.

Contact Heather Cherone:@HeatherCherone| (773) 569-1863 |[email protected]