Chicago Mayor Keeps His Job In Tough Runoff Election

By David Schaper / NPR

Published April 7, 2015 at 4:41 PM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel shakes hands at a campaign office Tuesday, as voters gave him a second term. He won a runoff election against Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has survived a stiff challenge that forced him into a runoff and the former White House chief of staff has won a second term.

Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who had made a strong bid to become Chicago's first Latino mayor, has called Emanuel to concede the election and congratulate the mayor.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Emanuel had won 56 percent of the vote to Garcia's 44 percent.

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Both candidates had framed the city's first-ever runoff election for mayor as one in which the future of Chicago was at stake.

In many ways, the race mirrors a struggle nationally for the future and the identity of the Democratic party between the more moderate, business friendly wing of the party (represented by Emanuel) and the more liberal or progressive wing which some political activists and analysts say is the future of the Democratic party, in Chicago and nationally.

The Chicago Board of Elections says 44 percent of the city's registered voters turned out in this historic runoff. That's up from just 34 percent turnout in the Feb. 24 election, in which Emanuel won just 45 percent of the vote.