Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who announced her candidacy to replace Rahm Emanuel as Mayor of Chicago on Thursday, has a reputation as a smart politician who only goes for sure things. That could be a result of lessons learned: She ran for her first elected position — alderman of 4th Ward on the city’s South Side — three times, in 1983, 1987, and 1991, when she finally won. Even after winning in 1991, her victory was the subject of a court battle that lasted nearly until her reelection in 1995.

In her first term on the City Council, Preckwinkle earned a reputation as an “independent,” which in the Chicago political parlance of the time typically meant someone who at times opposed Mayor Richard M. Daley and supported process-oriented “good government” reforms.

Preckwinkle, a Minnesota native and former high school teacher, soon became involved with the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO), a mostly nonideological network of ward organizations that was borne of opposition to the Democratic Party machine. The IVI-IPO served different interests in different wards, but generally represented independence from City Hall, “good government,” and locally focused, “process-oriented” reform.