Rahm Emanuel Elected Mayor of Chicago

Obama’s notoriously foul-mouthed former chief of staff trounced his opponents after defeating a legal challenge to knock him off the ballot.

It was not a bad showing for a man who was disqualified from the election in January. Because Emanuel had moved to Washington while he worked as Obama’s chief of staff, a judge found he no longer met Chicago’s residency standards to run for mayor. The Illinois Supreme Court eventually reversed the ruling, paving the way for Emanuel’s victory Tuesday. He took 55 per cent of the vote, handily beating five other candidates and surpassing the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Emanuel will be Chicago’s first Jewish mayor and usher in a new era in the city’s politics. Outgoing mayor Richard M. Daley and his father ran Chicago for 43 of the past 56 years.