Sam Cunningham (mayor)
Sam Cunningham is an American politician who was elected as the first African-American mayor of Waukegan, Illinois, the largest city in and the county seat of Lake County, Illinois. Biography Cunningham was born and raised in Waukegan. He is a graduate of Waukegan East High School and Central State University where he earned a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing. After college, he established his own business as an insurance agent. In 1975, he joined the Waukegan Police Department as an officer. In 1999, he was elected as alderman for the 1st Ward in Waukegan. In 2017, he defeated independent Lisa May, who at the time would have been the city's first female mayor. He was the first African-American to serve as mayor in Waukegan. Tenure as Mayor Cunningham proposed the development of a casino on the vacant land that used to house Lakehurst Mall. In 2019, with the signing of the Rebuild Illinois Act by governor J. B. Pritzker, six new casinos were to be constructed, including one in Waukegan. As of 2021, no operator had been chosen to construct and manage the proposed casino site. Another vision he had for the city was the transformation of the lake-front