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A vacancy on the CTA’s board of directors could give Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson a chance to exert some control over the transit agency’s future — months before control over the CTA’s board is wrested away from the mayor for good.

Michele Lee, a disability advocate who was appointed to the CTA board by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022, is leaving the board.

Lee told the Tribune on Tuesday that she was stepping down because she had moved outside of the CTA’s service area — to Scottsdale, Arizona. The CTA’s website noted there was a mayoral vacancy on the board.

Lee’s departure presents an opportunity for Johnson to exert some mayoral control over the transit agency before governance reforms mandated by the state’s new transit fun

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