Sophia King

Sophia D. King (born February 14, 1966) is an American politician and former member of Chicago City Council, who served as alderman from the 4th ward, which includes portions of the neighborhoods Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Oakland, and South Loop. King was appointed to the position by mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2016 as a replacement to the retiring William D. Burns. She won a special election in 2017 to serve out the rest term of the Burns' unexpired term, and was re-elected to a full term in 2019. On the council, she was a member and chair of the Progressive Reform Caucus. She forwent reelection to the city council in 2023 in order to make an unsuccessful run for mayor of Chicago in the 2023 Chicago mayoral election.

Early life and education King was born in Colorado. She grew up in Evanston, Illinois, where her family moved after her mother was accepted to attend university at Northwestern. During her childhood, King spent many of her summers in Jackson, Mississippi. King's extended family had lived in the Mississippi Delta. In the late 1980s, King moved to a house she built with her husband, Alan, in the Kenwood neighborhood. Her husband studied for the bar with Michelle Obama and they are friends of the Obama family. Neighborhoods in the ward included Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Oakland, Kenwood, and parts of the South Loop. King had been a 4th ward resident since the 1980s. King was appointed from a field of three finalists and eighteen initial applicants. She had run with the endorsement by President Barack Obama, with whom she has long been friends. Also endorsing King was County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who had formerly represented the 4th district on the council. Another high-profile endorsement came from Jesse Jackson, whose Rainbow/PUSH organization was headquartered within the ward's boundaries.

In her 2019 reelection, King again received the endorsements of Obama and Preckwinkle. which Preckwinkle ultimately lost.

Committee assignments

King was a member of the committees on Rules and Ethics, Health and Environmental Protection, Housing and Real Estate, Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, Transportation and Public Way and Workforce Development and Audit. She was the chair of the Chicago City Council Progressive Reform Caucus.

Relationship with mayors King's tenure overlapped with the mayoralties of Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot.

Mayor Emanuel appointed King to the city council. King's husband challenged the matter, and the board ultimately agreed to drop the fine on the condition that King would not commit any further lobbying violations over the next year.

In 2019, Lori Lightfoot was elected in a runoff against King's endorsed candidate, Toni Preckwinkle. During Lightfoot's mayoralty, King collaborated with her on certain issues and was at odds with her on others. but did not support King's ordinance as it had been introduced. This proposal entitled tipped workers to a minimum wage that would be 60% that of guaranteed to all other workers. The Progressive Reform Caucus criticized this as being insufficient.

A compromise minimum wage ordinance was adopted by the council on November 26 by a 39-11 vote with King's support. For those employing more that thirteen workers, it increased the minimum wage for most employees (except tipped employees) from the existing $13 to $14 beginning in July 2020 and $15 beginning in July 2021. Every subsequent July 1, there will be an increase in proportion to increase of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). For employers whose number of employees ranges from 14 to 20, the minimum wage for most employees (except tipped employees) was increased from the existing $13 to $13.50 beginning in July 2020, $14.00 beginning in July 2021, $14.50 beginning in July 2022, and $15 beginning in July 2023, with increases every subsequent July 1 in proportion to any increase in the CPI.

Historic preservation matters King advanced the successful local landmarking of the former Michigan Avenue headquarters of Ebony and Jet magazines. She submitted an emergency request to advance the nomination. The building was landmarked by the end of 2017.

In 2021, King proposed imposing outright ban on historic house museums in locations where zoning only allows for detached houses on individual land lots and imposing the requirement of special permission from either the Zoning Board of Appeals of City council for such museums in other areas where the majority of residences are single-family residences. The next day, King withdrew the proposal. The editorial board of the Chicago Sun Times celebrated its withdrawal, criticizing the proposal as, "a solution in search of a problem."

Policing and public safety King was involved in the creation of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. King also called for more equity in community development. King was made to recuse herself on the vote approving construct The following year, Mayor Lightfoot launched the $31.5 million "Resilient Communities" universal basic income pilot program.

Bring Chicago Home

King co-sponsored the "Bring Chicago Home" ordinance, which proposed raising money to combat homelessness by increasing the real estate transfer tax for property transactions exceeding $1 million. which voters rejected.

Other policies and ordinances King was involved with the successful push to rename Congress Parkway for Ida B. Wells.

King prevented a car sharing pilot program by the company Car2go from operating in her ward, citing concerns about the ward's street parking capacity.

2023 mayoral campaign

In August 2022, King announced that she would be running in the 2023 Chicago mayoral election, providing incumbent mayor Lori Lightfoot with a female challenger in a race that had previously seen only male challengers. Lightfoot was the city's second female mayor. As a result of her campaign for mayor, King did not seek reelection to the City Council.

As a mayoral candidate, King proposed expanding the size of the Chicago police force by filling 1,600 vacancies and returning 1,000 retired officers to the force to investigate non-violent crimes.

In the initial round of the election, King was defeated, placing eighth of nine candidates with less than 7,200 votes (1.27% of the election's overall vote), a number of votes which was even less than her vote total had been in her previous 2019 aldermanic reelection.

King endorsed Paul Vallas's candidacy in the runoff election. In a rebuke of this, nine of the Progressive Reform Caucus' eighteen members signed a letter condemning Vallas and endorsing Brandon Johnson (three other members of the caucus had like King endorsed Vallas, including fellow eliminated mayoral contender Roderick Sawyer). Vallas was defeated by Johnson in the runoff. King had also endorsed Prentice Butler (her chief of staff) to be elected as her successor in the election for 4th ward alderman. Butler was defeated by state representative Lamont Robinson in a runoff election.

Personal life King has been wed to her husband, Alan King, since the 1980s. Together, they are the parents of two adult daughters.

Votes % Votes % Brandon Johnson

Paul Vallas

Lori Lightfoot (incumbent)

Chuy García

Willie Wilson

Ja'Mal Green

Kam Buckner

Sophia King

Roderick Sawyer

Write-ins

Total