Sophia D. King (born February 14, 1966)[1] 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.

[4] Between 1996 and 2003, King owned the Brush Streaks pottery bar, a small business that was located on 53rd Street in Chicago.

[1] King founded Harriett's Daughters, a nonprofit dedicated to employment and wealth creation opportunities for African-American neighborhoods.

[4] In April 2016, King was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to replace outgoing 4th ward alderman Will Burns, who had resigned to become Vice President of Governmental Affairs with AirBnB.

Laura Washington of the Chicago Tribune described the ward's residents as including, "academic and professional elites, working-class families and a bounty of reliably voting senior citizens.

"[9] Neighborhoods in the ward included Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Oakland, Kenwood, and parts of the South Loop.

[16] However, King herself was handily reelected, receiving more than 66% of the vote against real estate attorney Ebony Lucas, who had also been one of the candidates she had faced in 2017.

[11][17] 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.

[6] In 2017, King's husband was fined by the Chicago Board of Ethics for illegally lobbying Mayor Emanuel without first registering as a lobbyist.

[20][21] King criticized the board, accusing them of failing to follow the "spirit or the letter of the law" in fining her husband.

[25] Lightfoot argued that quickly increasing the wages of tipped workers to a minimum of $15 would place be too burdensome a change for businesses, especially small restaurants.

[28] King advanced the successful local landmarking of the former Michigan Avenue headquarters of Ebony and Jet magazines.

[31] 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.

"[32] King revised her efforts in regards to historic house museums, shifting to championing and introducing to the council a revised proposal put forth by the Department of Planning and Development which did not include a ban, instead creating a requirement that such museums receive special permission in order to establish themselves in residential areas.

Those that were working to create such museums at the former residences of Emmett Till and Muddy Waters raised concern that such a proposal might imperil their efforts.

[33] The editorial board of the Chicago Sun Times celebrated its withdrawal, criticizing the proposal as, "a solution in search of a problem.

[35] King co-sponsored the Anjanette Young Ordinance, which prohibits the Chicago Police Department from executing no-knock warrants.

[9] King opposed the prospect of the site of the former Michael Reese Hospital becoming location of the casino that Chicago had been given a state license to have operate within its borders.

[5] In 2021, King partnered with alderman Gilbert Villegas and Maria Hadden to co-sponsor a non-binding resolution calling for the city to create a $30 million pilot program on universal basic income.

[35][38] The following year, Mayor Lightfoot launched the $31.5 million "Resilient Communities" universal basic income pilot program.

[5][35] 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.

[5] Efforts to ratify the "Bring Chicago Home" proposal progressed further after she left the city council, resulting in a ballot referendum,[39] which voters rejected.

[12] She was also involved in the successful push to rename Lake Shore Drive for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable.