Last night Chicago voters headed to the polls and didn't overwhelmingly offer their support for incumbent mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. In fact, he's headed for a run-off with Cook County Commissioner Jesus Garcia in April after failing to gather enough votes for a victory last night. More from AP:
In a race Tuesday against four challengers, Emanuel discovered it wasn't enough to spend millions of dollars on TV ads, earn the backing of the city's business leaders, and secure the hometown endorsement of President Barack Obama. In order to keep the job, he'll need to win another race in six weeks against Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, a Cook County commissioner who claims the backing of teachers, unions and neighborhood residents disillusioned with Emanuel.
Emanuel pledged to rev up campaigning immediately, starting Wednesday morning by shaking hands with residents at Chicago Transit Authority stops.
"We will get back out there, talking to our friends and families and neighbors as they make a critical choice about who has the strength, who has the leadership, who has the ideas to move this great city forward," Emanuel told supporters Tuesday evening.
Ace of Spades HQ Decision Desk is calling this humiliating for Emanuel.
Make no mistake: this is utter humiliation for Rahm Emanuel. Not only will not avoid runoff, he's running dismally low. And I voted for him.
— Jeff B@AoSHQDD (@EsotericCD) February 25, 2015Guess who will be back out on the campaign trail soon to try and save his hometown buddy? President Obama.
Thank you, Chicago. pic.twitter.com/gc7tAb0MbZ
— Rahm Emanuel (@RahmEmanuel) February 25, 2015