A recent poll shows that if Chicago’s mayoral election were held now, union leader Karen Lewis would beat Rahm Emanuel.
“If the mayoral election were held today, the lightning rod union leader who was the architect behind a 2012 teachers’ strike would beat Emanuel by 9 percentage points in a head-to-head contest, the survey found.
“Lewis was leading Emanuel 45 percent to 36 percent with 18 percent of the likely voters undecided.
“And Emanuel could face an even steeper hill if he faces Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, long considered his most formidable challenger.
“A head-to-head contest found Preckwinkle romping Emanuel by a stunning 24 points.
“Preckwinkle dominated with 55 percent of those surveyed. Emanuel notched just under 31 percent.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
AFT may have done the poll to keep her from eating Randi’s lunch. She is against Common Core so there could be a real war chest out to get her, like those who give money to the AFT, a real coup de grace.
You know what? Forget about the AFT–they did NOT conduct this poll. As a Chicago person, it’s my belief that Karen has bigger fish to fry, & it’s time to move on & take it all. CTU CORE leadership is STRONG–great people in office. They can continue & move forward for their members. It’s the city of Chicago that needs to have the leader it deserves.
Agreed, it’s hard to know the nature of polls, that was tongue in cheek, though Randi had it on her FB page immediately encouraging the CTU President to move on. The big fish to be fried is her current position. Once she moves to elected office she will be torn apart, like what is happening to DeBlasio in NYC, where he was blocked from choosing his first choice as Chancellor, this is why the likes of Bill Clinton hang on to suck the blood from progressives, like a vampire. We need real labor leaders and she is the only one on the horizon.
Again, disagree with you, Joseph. Don’t think you know exactly who Karen Lewis is or what she’s made of–“Once she moves to elected office she will be torn apart, like what is happening to DeBlasio in NYC…”
Karen Lewis is no Bill DeBlasio, & (I think I can speak for many of you in Chi-town & thereabouts) she will NOT “be torn apart.”
Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were SHE who did some of the “tearing apart!” And we’d say, “About time!”
from your lips……
Preckwinkle claims she isn’t running.
The dog catcher in Chicago can probably beat Rahm. His support does not come locally. What they need is a really tough local candidate to run against Rahm. The number one thing is to get him out by any means necessary.
I personally think Lewis could do more good taking on national union leadership, but if she can make a good go at challenging Rahm instead, more power to her. He’s so wildly unpopular, yet no one is stepping up to challenge him, which is sort of hard to understand, except that this is, after all, Chicago.
Dienne,
It may be easier to unseat Rahm than Randi.
Which is also hard to understand, as it seems like Randi is about as unpopular as Rahm.
Dienne,
It’s easy to understand because Randi controls the majority of the votes. Most of everyone in her caucus has signed an oath basically saying they will stand by her and Unity elections and never disagree with her in public.
Karen Lewis is brilliant, tough, and has a strong sense of social justice. The United States need more people of these characteristics in office.
YES—in OFFICE. And MORE good, decent, non-political people need to run for public office ALL over the country. Yes, WE can!
A few years back I remember watching a 60 Minutes episode in which the brother of Rahm Emanuel urged his opponents to give up and give in because “my brother never loses.”
At the time I thought, “He does not know teachers and he doesn’t know Karen Lewis.”
It appears that I was right. Teachers might not have money but we have numbers and we vote. I look forward to seeing all the teacher-bashers (Jeb Bush, Emanuel, Christie, Jindal, Cuomo etc.) losing in the next election.
Never underestimate the political power of schoolteachers. Smart and successful politicians such as Jerry Brown know this.
The tragedy of Rahm Emanuel with respect to education is that he really should know better. He had to swim in [Zeke] his older brother’s wake in K-12, so knows what it is like to not have school be effortless. For college, Rahm went to a very expensive college with very individualized instruction. For someone with his background to be pushing the “all children’s brain develop at the same rate” world of high stakes testing is such a waste of his talent and capabilities. On top of it, he is the son of a pediatrician. Pediatricians are seeing how the world of high stakes testing is destroying K-12 students. Teachers are caught in the middle and put too much pressure on students, making the students think they can never succeed.
Rahm is just another mouthpiece for the deformers. That is the biggest indictment of his control of the schools, he’s just a pass through for the folks behind the reformy curtain. He knows what a good school actually looks like because he sends his kids to one, the same one the Obama children went to when they were in Chicago. The teachers and administration at the school Rahm’s kids attend backed the CTU positions 100% during the teachers strike. Rahm the foul mouthed tough guy is just another sock puppet. He’s already lost the election, but it will be a nasty show.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel sends his own children to U of Chicago Lab Schools. Paul Horton teaches at U of Chicago Lab Schools.
Google “U of Chicago Lab Schools” and “Paul Horton” and you will get a searing indictment of the self-styled “education reformers”—
They mandate one type of education for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN but ensure a [literal, not figurative] world-class education for THEIR OWN CHILDREN.
For one example—
Link: https://dianeravitch.net/2014/02/27/paul-horton-common-core-standards-are-not-about-education-but-about-profits/
Emanuel is touted by his supporters as being the quintessential tough guy. How, then, did he end up being nailed by a very dead, very old and very Greek guy who long ago crumbled to dust?
“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.” [Homer]
😎
Rahm like Cuomo will get the dollars to back him and play dirty tricks.
Karen Lewis would be a fantastic mayor, but the election would be a hot mess of propaganda on a national scale with boatloads of deformer money flooding local and national media with disinformation and lies, something I’m sure Rahm would be counting on. Even though we might win, the unions on a national scale would get another undeserved black eye from all the money and fear driven lies brought to bear against them. At this time, I’m pushing for Amara Enyia to run against Rahm with the full backing of the CTU. Having two strong, intelligent African American women in key positions in Chicago would position us to not only make major changes in the city that primarily benefit it’s people, but serve as an example to the nation as well. Why settle for one when you can have two? If Karen ends up being the candidate then I’m all in on her campaign, but I think that the time and the political landscape is not as it should be for a lateral move like that. Amara is a semi-outsider with great political acumen. She lacks a sufficient organization to move her campaign forward, she lacks boots on the ground……..at the present time. I think Fioretti would also be a great candidate, but not the best one. Since they’ve redistricted him out, I think having him move up into city hall in some other capacity with an actual democrat (unlike Rahm) as mayor would be a strong move for both him and the city.
No, Jon. ONE person–and the most viable, recognizable person–must be picked to run. Any more people in the mix merely serve as spoilers. The saying, “too many cooks spoil the broth” holds VERY true for political campaigns. We all saw what happened in the last Chicago election with many running in the primary (Chico, Mosely Braun, at least 4-5 others). IMO, then, I would hope that Amara Enyia NOT run–perhaps for alderman or a lesser position. She is not known, & she would lose BADLY.
And–even though I have great admiration & respect for Bob Fioretti, I would hope that he also not run, in favor of Karen. His poll numbers, thus far, are underwhelming. Just as with Will Guzzardi (took him the 2nd time around to win), I would urge Enyia to set her sights at a more comfortable level. We STILL need more progressive alderman!
Karen is Karen. Good for her and good for CTU and good for us!
I recall her taking succunctly about having dinner with Rahm at a rather nice place in the city and her apalled reaction when he told her that it was not worth throwing any more money into the inner city CPS because almost half the kids were not going to learn much anyway because they were not going to amount to much.
Of course, he approached the subject of poverty with complete disconnect, hubris, and condescension.
The questions are, “Does Karen really want to run for mayor? And who is taking her place?”
The second in command at the CTU, Jesse Sharkey is an extremely capable leader. Any leadership transition would not even amount to a small hiccup.
Absolutely! And Kristin, the CTU Secretary, is a Special Ed. expert–she greatly helped pushback the IL State Bd. of Ed.’s/Supt. Koch’s attempt to loosen restrictions on sped. class size & caseload numbers.
I am sick of this narrative about children growing up in poverty not amounting to much. Poor kids are bright, creative and funny just like other kids. They are resilient and they excel at problem solving. They are missing the societal advantages enjoyed by their wealthier peers.
Yes, those of us who have worked with poor children know this is true.
Yes Nj Teacher, and the rest of society is tragically missing out on the contributions these kids can make given half a chance. The narrative about “inner city schools” is wrong on so many levels it’s impossible to know where to start, but maybe the greatest fallacy is the belief that the children attending these schools represent anything less than a national treasure of human potential.
Rahm should have been thrown in jail for saying it. He is a very bad person.
Good Lord, I am sorry about my spelling errors.
Then I hope Karen runs. . . . . it would be a game changer. And then Illinois state government would go after her and the CTU aggressively. With her as mayor with people in the CTU alimged with her: uh-oh. . . . . . The overclass will some work harder to keep its bounty.
I hope Karen does run and brings the establishment to its knees.
I also hope the LIRR strikes.
Eough income inequality in this country.
The working class must rise up if we are to ever sustain a real middle class . . . . . . Maybe Karen running would be a symptom of this.
Correction: . . . ” . . . . will have to work harder to keep its bounty.”
Rahm’s appeal as a politician escapes me.
The Clintons and Obamas have a certain charm that can mislead people into trusting them, but Rahm is openly a thug. He is Chris Christie after Jenny Craig.
I suppose their is something comforting about voting for a bully, thinking he will protect you from other bullies, but then when he gets into office, you realize it’s like giving the neighborhood bully the keys to your house and your bank account passwords.
Love this, Mike! Your second paragraph gave me a much-needed laugh!
Now this would be interesting!
This kind of speculation is a distraction from what is happening with the unions in the present and takes the CTU Pres. out of the picture for real change.
Joseph, don’t know where you’re from, but please be reassured by Jon Lubar’s 2:25 PM comment above (& my reply). Not to worry–CTU is in good hands.
If Karen runs and I’m still here, she will be definitely getting my vote.