Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will face Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia in a runoff election in April.
Markos Moulitsas, the founder and editor of the Daily Kos,
endorsed Jesus "Chuy" Garcia on Nov. 21, 2014, for Mayor of Chicago. It is not the first time that "Markos" has elevated and obscure an unknown local candidate and propelled him or her on the national scene. Not long thereafter, Chuy visited all 50 Chicago wards, campaigning vigorously from early morning to late evening.
Here is what Markos said back about why he could not endorse Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Ah, Chicago, my birth town, home of my favorite sports teams (and those of my son, because I'm a perfect dad) and one of the coolest places on earth when it's not winter. Also, it's the latest place that Rahm Emanuel is stinking up.
You guys don't need a rundown on Rahm's escapades. He was virulently anti-immigration when running the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and was essentially the reason the issue didn't move forward during Obama's first term when he served as the president's chief of staff. He once said that liberals were "fucking retarded" for wanting to push the president to the left. He was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's biggest ally in bailing out the banks with zero reciprocity for taxpayers.
About the best thing that could be said about Rahm's mayoralship was that it got him the fuck away from D.C., and good riddance. But that still leaves the little problem of that asshole screwing up Chicago, and that's not fair to our nation's third largest city where the mayor has closed 50 public schools while focusing his efforts on the downtown business core while ignoring its vibrant neighborhoods. He truly is a mayor for the 1 percent. So how about we help boot his ass into the private sector?
In a prophetic statement, Markos said that money would not make a difference, once again showing the power of the "grassroots."
Garcia won't raise $9 million, much less whatever total Rahm ends up with by the time votes are cast. But he doesn't need to. People have either decided they want an alternative, or are open to one.
Garcia, a Cook County Board Commissioner, has been running a remarkable grassroots campaign, using all the "guerrilla" tactics at his disposal necessary when taking on a well-funded opponent that has raised nearly $30 million dollars in campaign donations from friends. A well-known and well-heeled incumbent, no less, in Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
A guy named Chuy has forced a guy named "Rahm" into a runoff tonight in the 2015 Chicago Mayoral election, reported the Chicago Tribune. The runoff will take place on Tuesday, April 7, and it will be a huge risk for "Rahm." This unlikeliest of events took more than three months to develop, as this guy named "Chuy," better known as Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, ran a classic "grassroots" campaign. Chuy worked from dusk to dawn, delivering his message across Chicago in all 50 wards, accepting every invitation that came his way and greeting every voter he met along the journey toward this night. He delivered his message in "retail-style" politics, one-on-one and look 'em in the eye sort of way.
The message was obvious to anyone that wanted to read the tea leaves, as the Ogden & Fry poll once again proved its uncanny accuracy by calling the Chicago Mayoral race. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel never quite eclipsed the all-important 50 percent mark as he did quite often in 2011 polling. In the last poll released on Monday, Ogden & Fry had Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel at 48.3 percent, while Jesus “Chuy” Garcia came in at 26.5 percent. The poll, conducted Feb. 22, with a margin of error of +/- 3.68 percentage points.
In other words, Ogden & Fry poll showed the race going into a runoff as Mayor Emanuel failed to receive "50 percent plus one" of the total votes cast. With 75 percent of the votes now counted, Emanuel has received 146,527 votes, totaling 45.6 percent, and Chuy Garcia has received 109,842 votes, totaling 34 percent. The rest of the field had self-funded millionaire candidate, Willie Wilson, with 10.4 percent, 2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti with 7.4 percent and William "Doc" Walls with just 2.7 percent of the total vote. A runoff is now certain, reported the Chicago Sun Times, calling it the political equivalent of Ground Hog Day: six more weeks of campaigning for Rahm Emanuel.
Which leads to the question: Can a guy named 'Chuy' become the next Mayor of Chicago?
The answer just a few weeks ago was far from certain. Today that answer is less than certain, as an obscure Cook County Board Commissioner has done what they said couldn't be done. Forced the invincible Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago into a runoff that will be held on Tuesday, April 7.
Chuy was not the first choice of the progressive community that has targeted Mayor Rahm Emanuel for defeat. That choice was the President of the Cook County Board, Toni Preckwinkle, who was polling very well and would have been a presumptive favorite to defeat Mayor Emanuel. After some thought and deliberation, Preckwinkle to declined to run and instead focusing on another four years as President of the Cook County Board.
Then there was Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis, who was making the rounds through the city. But a brain tumor suddenly derailed her candidacy, and many thought all hopes to knock off Mayor Emanuel had evaporated. While it derailed her candidacy, it did not derail her spirit.
Then along came Chuy, as President Lewis encouraged him to jump into the race, with the full support of the CTU. President Lewis believes that Chuy can win and he also believes he can win. Ever since he jumped in, Chuy has hit the ground running, balancing a positive campaign of what he hopes to achieve and enough negative campaigning to remind voters why Mayor Emanuel should be denied another term.
Can a guy named Chuy become the next Mayor of Chicago?
Yes he can.