Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago on Tuesday, besting School Board head Gery Chico and City Clerk Miguel del Valle with 55 percent of the vote and avoiding a runoff in the crowded six-way race.
“All I can say, you sure know how to make a guy feel at home,” Emanuel said at his victory party in a plumbers union hall. Emanuel, who will be Chicago’s first Jewish mayor, and most likely its first former ballet dancer mayor, used a major fund-raising advantage and an endorsement from President Obama, who said Emanuel would make a “terrific” mayor, to draw votes from across the city’s white, black, and Hispanic voting blocs. Chico was a distant second with 24 percent of the vote, followed by del Valle at 9.3 percent and Carol Moseley Braun at 9 percent.
After Emanuel overcame a legal challenge that questioned whether he had fulfilled a residency requirement, he was the overwhelming favorite. He succeeds Richard Daley, mayor since 1989. Oddly enough, Daley’s brother William succeeded Rahm as White House chief of staff.
For color commentary, we’ll turn to the parody MayorEmanuel Twitter feed, which has been filing expletive-filled dispatches since the famously profane politician left the White House: “FIFTY FOUR MOTHERFUCKING PERCENT, BITCHES.” The identity of the faux mayor on Twitter is still unknown, despite a bounty offered by Emanuel last week.
Chicago’s next mayor: Emanuel [Chicago Tribune]
Rahm Emanuel wins Chicago mayoral vote [CNN]
Rahm Emanuel Wins Chicago Mayor’s Race: Outright Victory Means No Runoff [HuffPo/AP]
This post has been updated with additional information.
