CHICAGO |
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago on Tuesday, powering to a strong majority of the vote to avoid a run-off.
Emanuel will take over as head of the nation's third-largest city in May after the retirement of Richard M. Daley, who has been in office for 22 years.
In his acceptance speech, Emanuel thanked the city for the "humbling victory."
"I am determined with your help to meet our challenges head on and to make a great city even greater," Emanuel said.
His victory ends a chapter in Chicago history. A member of the formidable Daley family has been mayor of Chicago for 43 of the past 56 years. The current mayor's father, Richard J. Daley, was mayor for 21 years, from 1955 until his death in 1976.
Emanuel will face a formidable task as Chicago's finances, like those of many U.S. cities and states, were devastated by the recession.
"Obviously there are lots of problems facing the city and the first task is to get all of the stakeholders of the city together," David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama and Emanuel's close associate on the White House staff, told Reuters at the victory celebration.
"The great thing about the victory he has put together tonight is that he has a strong foundation on which to build. This was not a factional win. It wasn't one part of the city that elected this mayor, it was a city-wide victory. Having been through many, many mayor's races in this city over the last four decades, it's a really refreshing thing to see."
A STYLE FIT FOR CITY OF BIG SHOULDERS?
Known for his hard-driving style and language sometimes laced with profanity, Democrat Emanuel, 51, led opinion polls throughout the campaign. He won endorsements from the city's two major newspapers, the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, and built a $12 million campaign war chest. He blanketed local television with ads lavishing praise on him from Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
But Emanuel's campaign was not trouble-free. He spent weeks this winter fighting claims that he did not meet residency requirements because of his time working at the White House. A state appeals court threw him off the ballot in late January, but the state's Supreme Court reinstated him.
Emanuel's five rivals, who included former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and former Chicago public schools president Gery Chico, mostly focused their attacks on him rather than on each other. In the end, none polled over 25 percent of the vote.
He received about 55 percent, comfortably over the majority needed to avoid a runoff with the second place finisher.
"As a Chicagoan and a friend, I couldn't be prouder. Rahm will be a terrific mayor for all the people of Chicago," Obama, who called Emanuel with congratulations, said in a statement.
Emanuel will have to make unpopular choices. Chicago is staggering under fiscal problems, with a $500 million deficit and shortfalls in its public worker pensions.
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