(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago's next mayor, Brandon Johnson, met for about 90 minutes Thursday with incumbent Lori Lightfoot, who leaves office next month.
Lightfoot met Johnson ceremoniously at the door of her Fifth Floor office at Chicago City Hall and shook his hand before going inside (she repeated the gesture for media who missed the moment).
The two discussed the pending transition of power and, presumably, other things. Johnson expressed gratitude to Lightfoot for the "gracious reception."
“She is certainly someone that I believe that the City of Chicago will continue to appreciate in the coming days,” Johnson said.
Johnson was asked about what it was like to actually enter the office he had sought. He said he had a wave of feelings as he crossed the threshold, thinking of his parents, including his late mother.
Johnson did not answer questions about his immediate plans beyond the handoff with Lightfoot's administration. But he called his meeting with Lightfoot a historic moment: when Chicago’s first African-American female mayor transitions to another African American, this time a man.
Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, on Tuesday beat opponent Paul Vallas in the Chicago mayoral runoff. Both candidates edged out Lightfoot, who had sought re-election, in the initial, crowded contest in February.
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