Michelle Harris first came to the City Council in 2006 when she was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley to fill Todd Stroger's aldermanic seat after he was elected Cook County Board President. As current chair of the City Council’s Committee on Committees and Rules — one of the three most powerful committees — Harris plays a prominent role in council politics as the rules committee oversees the operations of Council, appointments to its committees and the referral of legislation to committees. As rules committee chair, Harris is also empowered to hire the City Council Sergeant of Arms and its security staff.

Perhaps most notably in her role as rules committee chair, Harris oversaw the decennial ward remapping process that played out over a tense several months, finally ending in May 2022 with an 11th hour map compromise between members of the Latino Caucus and another group of members of the Black Caucus and several white aldermen. The tumultuous road to the final map deal came more than five months after aldermen missed a critical Dec. 1 deadline to vote on a new ward map and included several furious rounds of negotiations between the two aldermanic camps.

After she was appointed to the 8th Ward seat, Harris won reelection in 2007 with a solid majority against a crowded field of seven challengers. She has yet to face a serious challenger in subsequent reelections. Harris was considered a serious contender for former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s vacated position of chair of the state Democratic party, but she narrowly lost to U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly in a hotly contested struggle. Shortly after that, Harris took over as Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s floor leader in City Hall and continues to serve in the position.

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