In a surprise result, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel failed to receive 50% plus one of the vote and was forced into a runoff with Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
Emanuel will go down in history as the mayor who closed 50 public schools in a single day, most enrolling children of color. This action is without precedent in U.S. history.
“With 95.7% of precincts reporting, Emanuel had 45.3% of the vote and Garcia had 33.9%.
“Emanuel, who raised more than his four rivals combined, buried his challengers in $7 million in campaign advertising in his unsuccessful attempt to avoid the runoff.
“He even turned to President Obama, who Emanuel served as White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010, as his chief surrogate….
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Rahm Emanuel faces runoff in re-election bid
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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to the press after leaving a restaurant where more
CHICAGO — Rahm Emanuel was dealt a tough political blow on Tuesday, after he was forced into a runoff election to hold onto his seat as mayor of the Windy City.
Emanuel, who raised about $15 million for the campaign, finished first in the five candidate field, but fell far short of garnering the 50% plus one vote he needed to win outright and avoid a runoff election. He will now face the second place finisher, Cook County Commissioner, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, on April 7.
With 95.7% of precincts reporting, Emanuel had 45.3% of the vote and Garcia had 33.9%.
“We came a long way, and we have a little bit further to go,” Emanuel said.
Chicago ceased holding partisan primaries in 1995, when it switched to the current election format. It marks the first time that the city will hold a runoff mayoral election.
Emanuel, who raised more than his four rivals combined, buried his challengers in $7 million in campaign advertising in his unsuccessful attempt to avoid the runoff.
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He even turned to President Obama, who Emanuel served as White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010, as his chief surrogate….
“Emanuel’s latest television advertisement featured a clip of Obama wrapping Emanuel in a hug at the Pullman event and a sound bite of the president touting the mayor as “making sure that every Chicagoan in every neighborhood gets the fair shot at success that they deserve.”
“But the president’s influence wasn’t able to help Emanuel close the deal.
“We need to upgrade our communities by building more and better schools,” said Tracy McGrady, a college student and part-time construction worker. “Instead, Rahm is closing them.”
“In Chicago’s Bronzville neighborhood, a predominantly African-American neighborhood, Emanuel supporters appeared to be a rare breed.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wonderful news! Go Chicago!
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I hope Rahm’s opponents can unite and show him the door. Here’s hoping and where can I contribute?
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Go to webpage of Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
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I got tons of Rahm’s hate mail campaign fliers in my mailbox over the past several months and saw the same smear campaign on TV, which besides lying about his own accomplishments, was totally focused on trashing the only white person who ran against him, Bob Fioretti. This guy is so out of touch with his constituency that Rahm didn’t even consider the fact that voters might choose any of the other four candidates –all people of color. I doubt that oversight will be ignored by Chicagoans when they vote in the run-off, and I highly doubt that those who voted for Fioretti will vote for Rahmbo.
You can contribute to Chuy at Democracy for America’s website: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/rahmrunoff/
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Not really that much of a surprise. There is pretty fierce anti-Rahm sentiment around here and the polls were showing he didn’t have the 50%+1. Pretty sure my dog could have made a good showing against the Rahminator. The surprise is that 45% of the voting public can still stomach the man. He must have done a good job of turning out his own people to vote and snowing the low-information types with his schticks about raising the minimum wage and all.
Now we just have to make sure that everyone who voted against Rahm turns up in April to vote for Chuy.
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The way elections are set up now in Chicago, without identifying the parties of candidates or voters having to declare their party, Republicans are able to vote for Democrats in our primaries. I read that Rahm was courting the GOP vote, which is not surprising given his right-wing stance and closeness to Rauner, so I would not be surprised if substantial numbers of his votes came from Republicans.
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Good point.
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Well, yes, Reps voted for him, because this is, perhaps, the only city in the country where the primary IS the election, not a race
between Reps. (who are they?!) & Dems. Therefore, by process of elimination, Rahm was/is the Republican candidate.
As all of us Diane readers know, there are very few distinctions between the two parties–it’s just the Oligarch Party now.
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Honestly, I don’t really get this new system (actually, it’s 20 years old), because for elections, you do still have to declare your party and go to that party’s table to give your info and vote, but not for primaries. What this typically means is that, at election time, there is a very long line of people who are waiting at the Democratic table and few people, if any, waiting at the Republican table. For decades, I hated that the wait is so long for Democrats, if you don’t happen to get there during a lull, but years ago, whenever I saw someone at the Republican table, I used to think, “My vote is going to cancel out your vote.” Things have changed so much now that, starting in the last presidential election, I found myself thinking this about the people waiting alongside me at the Democratic table, because I voted 3rd party (Green) for the first time in my life.
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Let’s make this run-off the biggest Teacher Union and Teachers non-union event in the country by all contributing to beat Rahm! He is too smarty pants for his own good and should have known better than to wreck neighborhood schools instead of investing in them. He will have money, so must Garcia. Diane will tell us how to contribute.
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Hopefully the weather is good on election day and many voters show up to vote him out of office and replace this mayor.
The Nation needs to hear the vox populi to turn the tide to stop the erosion of our public education system.
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Yea!
>
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This is great news and I hope Rahm will leave office.
Seattle’s State Representative Eric Pettigrew is loved by Stand for Children and others that support charter schools. A few years ago, Pettigrew sponsored charter school legislation. This year, Eric Pettigrew sponsored legislation to appoint 2 members to the Seattle school board. the Seattle School Board and Seattle’s Mayor. It should be noted that Pettigrew fails to provide facts and just wants to “try something new”. Fortunately, the bill appears dead. The bill can be found here:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1497&year=2015
It should be noted that the Mayor of Seattle- Ed Murray also has his eyes on appointing school board members and Murray has a history of drafting legislation to appoint members to the school board.
“The mayor believes this collaboration is important to help close the opportunity gap. But if a change in governance is part of the solution, the mayor believes we should look at it”
.http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/friday-likes-and-dislikes-january-2015
Meanwhile, Seattle’s activists have begun organizing to oppose mayoral control of public education.
I can only hope that Ed Murray and his financial backers are watching Chicago and reconsidering their actions.
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Sarah in Seattle,
There is no evidence that mayoral control closes the achievement gap. See Chicago, Cleveland, D.C., Boston, NYC, all of which have gaps.
D.C. Has biggest achievement gaps of any urban district tested by NAEP after 8 years of mayoral control.
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Thanks, Diane. Seattle’s activists are aware of this information and are trying to educate the public.
In the last 2 school board elections, Seattle’s business community failed to get their candidates into office- despite the use of a PAC and a highly financed candidate. Clearly, Seattle’s business community is getting desperate. This is nothing more than a power grab.
So glad for Democracy.
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Correction:
…. This year, Eric Pettigrew sponsored legislation to appoint 2 members to the Seattle school board. It should be noted that Pettigrew fails to provide facts regarding the failure of mayoral control of public education and just wants to “try something new”. Fortunately, the bill appears dead…..
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It should be noted that Seattle’s mayor- Ed Murray- wants to appoint Jesus Aguirre to the Parks Department.
Aguirre comes from Washington DC. Although, Aguirre does have park experience, it should be noted that Aguirre has a strong education history. Aguirre’s past: Owning a failed charter school, working with Michelle Rhee, working as an executive for Teach for America in New York, and working as Superintendent of Washington DC schools.
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2015/02/jesus-aguirre-is-seattle-mayors-nominee-for-new-parks-department-superintendent/
Any chance Murray will move Aguirre into the Department of Education?
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The mention of Bronzville in the post is interesting, since that is the proposed location for the Privatizer in Chief’s presidential library, which would grab a huge parcel of publicly-owned land.
If Bronzville voted against Emanuel despite Obama’s efforts, perhaps the illusions about this man are starting to fade, which would be a good thing.
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Good. I’m hoping the bullying style of politician is falling out of fashion, and politicians just don’t know it yet 🙂
Maybe it peaked in 2010-12.
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Unfortunately,bullying politics got STARTED in the Hoosier state in 2008-2011. I have no idea when it will peak and then diminish–but it is surely going strong now. Other Hoosiers might feel differently, but I feel that we’re being bullied every time a politician posts a bill in the statehouse.
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So right! Our legislators in Indy have it down to a fine art. The word “spew” is so incredibly accurate when describing just about anything that comes out of their mouths. Just one example:
HB 1072 (Top-Down Teacher Evaluations)
Sen. Bob Behning; R; Indianapolis
Status: On 3rd Reading Today
This bill gives credence to the suggestion that because most Indiana teachers are rated effective or highly effective under our current teacher evaluation system, that system must be inherently flawed.
As a solution, it further wrenches control of teacher evaluation plans from local stakeholders in favor of state dictated models.
Diminishes the role of the Department of Education by requiring that all changes to the model evaluation plan must be pre-approved by the State Board of Education
Diminishes local control over the teacher evaluation system by permitting the State Board of Education to mandate the weight a teacher evaluation plan must give to student achievement
and growth scores.
Requires the SBOE and DOE to monitor each locally developed school corporation’s teacher evaluation plan annually and to do so through on-site investigations once every four years at a
minimum, discouraging the development of such local plans.
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If the small community of Richmond, CA can SUE Chevron by voting Progressive, then Chcago folks can do the same, if they are intelligent. American GREED is just awful.
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STAND UP CHICAGO AND NEVER FORGET WHO CLOSED ALL YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS!
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I admit. I posted about the money which Rahm had, 4 times the amount of all the other candidates combined, the political backing etc. It seemed assured that Rahm would win.
Yes, the teacher’s union made a big difference and it gives us hope that our fight will prevail in the end even with all the money and power arrayed against us.
Let us hope that we educated enough people in critical thinking etc that though the struggle at times seem hopeless in the end right will prevail.
Again, I take my hat off to Dr. Ravitch for leading this fight.
Now that Garcia has made such a strong showing HE will get some backing. It will be more than interesting to see how this all comes out.
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Gordon, I agree–Diane, you most certainly deserve your share of the credit for this. Ever since I’d started reading your dialogue w/Deb in Education Week (after I’d retired & my daughter left for college, when I finally had the time), I hoped you’d turn to writing a blog. We can’t thank you enough for all that you have done with your writing, your speaking & your unending energy & advocacy.
Watch yourself at the N.P.E. (won’t you please all come to Chicago?)–because there’ll be lots of people who are going to be giving you a humongous hug!
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If the voters who supported the four rivals combine to support Jesus “Chuy” Garcia than no matter how much Rahm spends, the odds favor that he will lose the election. How do we contribute to Garcia?
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Here is the website for Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, for those who want to contribute directly to him in support of his bid for mayor of Chicago: http://chicagoforchuy.com/index.html
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I hope Rahm and his backers pound more money down a rat hole and lose this race.
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Also of note–at least one ward & Illinois district in Chicago managed (well–through a LOT of hard work & commitment on the part of the community) to elect BOTH real, progressive, public servant Democrats, ultimately winning over BIG $$$, terrible smear campaigns (made possible, of course, by that BIG $$$), & nepotism (the district race was against the daughter of a long-entrenched, connected elected official–& she lost!).
So, folks, once again–before you despair, look to Chicago (as we did when Karen Lewis led the CTU to its astounding victory)–it all starts, as I’ve said repeatedly, in YOUR village, YOUR town, YOUR suburb, YOUR city, YOUR state–& it will spread & grow, & we will, once again, have the America we deserve. Even if POTUS never did “put on his walking shoes” & march alongside the teachers in Wisconsin (& elsewhere), we’ll never be fooled again. We CAN get a real, viable 99% candidate for 2016 (hearing that Bernie’s been checking it out &, also, a groundswell has started for Warren).
Yes, WE did, yes, WE can &–yes, WE will!
(&–by the way–more than 1/3rd of Chicago wards are also going into April run-off elections, a number of these by TEACHER challengers!) As our good Cook County Commissioner, Toni Preckwinkle (a former, long-time teacher) said, “If you don’t like what’s going on, then run for office!”
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Chuy is Cook County Commissioner. Preckwinkle is Cook County Board President.
Five of seven progressive non-machine Aldermen won last night and the other two will be in the April run-off. It’s a great start towards ridding this city of a City Council stacked with the mayor’s Yesmen. In my ward, there were no competing candidates so the incumbent was the only choice on the ballot –a very common occurrence here, which always makes me feel like I’m living in a dictatorship that claims to have free elections when the only choice for voters is the dictator.
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Okay, I promise that this is my last comment (I have a touch of ADDH)–but–
for all of you able to come, there is a “Right to Refuse” (the PARCC) press conference being held at the Thompson Center, Chicago–100 W, Randolph TOMORROW, Thursday, February 26th (we have been told that it will be inside)–be there at 9:45 AM–we’ve been informed that it should last only an hour. Children are welcome (again, told it’ll be inside). If you have ???/concerns, Google Raise Your Hand, More Than a Score or ChiOptOut for contacts. See you there!
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The biggest media still downgrades the importance of education as a news issue…..and the reporting they do is pretty shallow. I think it is pretty big, when a wealthy Chicago mayor is challenged like this, in a city with significant black population…..after the president they helped elect remained true to Bill Gates and Arne Duncan in endorsing a teacher basher……nobody said much of anything about Jerry Brown getting 58 percent of the vote in California that night of national weeping by democrats as they lost so many races…….teachers played a role in that, also………..Hillary Clinton has to be pressed to start talking about where she stands on education…..maybe the Chicago runoff race will help, but somehow she and the media have to be drawn in to a significant fact about people….public education is an important issue—-and it is time to quit pretending it is not. The numbers show…….public education is extraordinarily important to democrats. and women. and people of color. They are not unanimous in what they think…….but it is something important to them.
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http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117989/hillary-clintons-education-policy-other-implications-2016
not sure what triangulate means….june of 2014 To some degree, Clinton has sought to triangulate between the two education camps in her party. She collected the American Federation of Teachers’ endorsement in 2007, pledging to “protect the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.” On the campaign trail, she decried standardized tests (which provide much of the data reformers see as critically important), asking, “How much creativity are we losing? How much of our children’s passion is being killed?” However, like her husband, she’s been a steady backer of charter schools. She’s been open to linking teacher pay to student performance, though she prefers that student achievement be measured and bonuses be distributed on a schoolwide basis—not to individually successful teachers.
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Diane, why would you write the following? “In a surprise result, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel failed to receive 50% of the vote and was forced into a runoff with Jesus “Chuy” Garcia…” The New York Times, The Economist, and most ruling class publications and pundits were backing Rahm shamelessly. Those of us who were “on the ground” knew that our vast infantry strength was going to block Rahm’s majority vote, and wars are won on the ground, not by fawning articles in The New York Times or The Economist. I had Rahm at 46 percent in an informal poll, which was close enough. (In May 2013, I had 80 percent for CORE in out CTU election poll; it’s important to pay close attention to the facts, not to corporate apologetics…).
Rahm is now doomed. Half his “supporters” will be smiling faces, like in the song, because they can’t tell him the truth. He is doomed, and with him the Obama wing of the Democratic Party. As you know, Obama shamelessly touted Rahm, first in a radio ad a month before the election, and then, five days before the voting (!) coming to Chicago to bro hug Rahm at a phony “Pullman” event. The party of Arne Duncan and Rahm Emanuel has now been exposed for its hypocrisy and lies here in Chicago.
We should all be cheering this “surprise.”
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George Schmidt, if you read this blog, you know I endorsed Chuy Garcia.
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