Rahm Emanuel wins Chicago mayoral race

**~~Gaztelu~~** · 02-23-2011, 02:54 AM

Rahm Emanuel wins Chicago mayoral race
Ex-White House chief of staff to replace city's 6-term Mayor Richard Daley
22 February 2011 7:12 PM

CHICAGO — Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago on Tuesday, easily overwhelming five rivals to take the helm of the nation's third-largest city as it prepares to chart a new course without the retiring Richard M. Daley.

With 86 percent of the precincts reporting, Emanuel was trouncing five opponents Tuesday with 55 percent of the vote to avoid an April runoff. Emanuel needed more than 50 percent of the vote to win.

The other major candidates — former Chicago schools president Gery Chico, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and City Clerk Miguel del Valle — had hoped to force a runoff but were no match for Emanuel.

Chico had 24 percent of the vote compared to 9 percent for both del Valle and Braun. Two other lesser-known candidates each got about 1 percent of the vote.

Emanuel, who takes office in May, thanked Chicago voters for welcoming him back from Washington. "You sure know how to make a guy feel at home," he said in his victory speech.

But, he said, the election was only the beginning of more tough work ahead. "My sense … is we have not won anything until a kid can go to school thinking of their studies and not their safety," he said.

Braun conceded the race for mayor of Chicago, telling supporter she "gave it her best." The election brings to an end Braun's attempt at a political comeback. She was elected as the country's first black female U.S. senator in 1992 and served one term before falling largely out of the public eye.

Emanuel's win caps off a campaign that included an unsuccessful legal challenge to try to keep him off the ballot.

The six candidates spent Tuesday morning still pushing for votes, shaking hands with surprised commuters and diner-goers and pleading their cases for why they should be picked to succeed the retiring Daley, who will leave office this spring after 22 years on the job.

"This is a critical election for the future of the city of Chicago. We're at a crossroads," Emanuel said as he greeted commuters at a South Side train station.

The campaign began last fall when Daley — with his wife ailing, six terms under his belt, and a future of fiscal challenges facing Chicago — announced he wouldn't seek re-election.

It was the city's first mayoral race in more than 60 years without an incumbent on the ballot and the first in more than two decades without Daley among the candidates. Daley and his father have led Chicago for more than 43 out of the last 56 years.

Full Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41715205...ics/?gt1=43001