Bridget Gainer (born 1968/1969)[1] is an American politician serving as a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners from the 10th district.
[citation needed] Gainer worked for then-Mayor Richard M. Daley as a budget analyst in Chicago's City Hall.
[5] Gainer was initially appointed to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in April 2009 to replace former commissioner Mike Quigley, who won the special election to fill former Congressman Rahm Emanuel's seat when Emanuel left Congress to become White House Chief of Staff to President Obama.
She beat out other contenders, including openly gay lawyer Jay Paul Deratany, now Alderman Michele Smith, Quigley's former Chief of Staff Kim Walz, Jim Madigan, former city attorney Sara Ellis, Democratic National Committee affiliated lawyer Robert Block, and electrician Michael Hickey.
[3] In 2015, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Gainer founded a Chicago chapter of Off the Sidelines, a civic impact organization for women which gained over 3,000 members.