Rahm Emanuel claims 2nd term in runoff after tough race

CHICAGO (AP

Rahm Emanuel won re-election Tuesday as voters in Chicago’s first mayoral runoff decided that, despite his brusque management style, the former White House chief of staff was best equipped to deal with the many dire challenges facing the nation’s third-largest city.

Emanuel was forced to campaign furiously across the city to beat Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia after failing to capture a majority against four other candidates in a February election. The mayoral runoff was the first since the city changed the way it conducts elections about 20 years ago.

“To all the voters I want to thank you for putting me through my paces,” Emanuel told supporters Tuesday night. “I will be a better mayor because of that. I will carry your voices, your concerns into ... the mayor’s office.”

With nearly all voting precincts reporting results, Emanuel had about 56 percent of the vote compared to around 44 percent for Garcia.

“We didn’t lose today, we tried,” Garcia told supporters gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “We fought hard for what we believed in. You don’t succeed at this or anything else unless you try.”

The incumbent highlighted tough decisions he’s made since succeeding former Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2011, but admitted that his management approach too often rubbed city residents the wrong way. He portrayed Garcia as too inexperienced to handle the city’s financial crunch.

Many of those heading to the polls Tuesday said the election should be a signal.

“Hopefully he (Emanuel) takes heed of the runoff when he should have been a shoo-in,” said Richard Rowe, a 50-year-old, who planned to vote for the incumbent.

Jesus Fernandez, a 44-year-old window washer who voted for Garcia, had the same view.

“If he (Garcia) gets close, we might push Rahm to do something,” Fernandez said. “At least we push him a little bit.”

Emanuel raised far more money than Garcia, plastered the airwaves with ads and had support from his former boss, President Barack Obama, who cast an early ballot for him from Washington.

The mayor faces huge obstacles in his second term, from fixing the worst-funded pension systems of any big U.S. city to stemming stubborn violence and confronting labor unions that just spent millions trying to defeat him.