In a bit of news that will shake the local and national political world, Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago announced he will not seek reelection as Mayor of Chicago.
Mayor Richard M. Daley announced Tuesday afternoon that he will not be seeking another term.
The mayor unexpectedly made the announcement Tuesday afternoon in a news conference with his family. He said he has been considering retiring for several months.
He said it was a personal decision to retire.
Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has been Mayor of Chicago since April of 1989, has changed the face of Chicago since that time.
Immediate speculation will come in a likely successor. Because the filing time for candidacy is doable for most candidates, many now will reconsider their plans.
First comes to mind is Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama's chief-of staff who has often talked of running for Mayor should Daley step down.
That time has come.
As Emanuel said recently.
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has publicly discussed his well-known political ambition: Being mayor of Chicago.
Of course, 21-year incumbent Richard Daley will have to retire first.
"I hope Mayor Daley seeks re-election; I will work and support him if he seeks re-election," Emanuel told Charlie Rose of PBS. "But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor of the city of Chicago. That's always been an aspiration of mine even when I was in the House of Representatives."
The problem is that Rahm Emanuel is unelectable as mayor of Chicago. Outside of the Congressional district where Emanuel served as Congressman, Emanuel has no familiarity with the voters of Chicago and has never showed interest in such a thing.
One of Emanuel's strengths in running for mayor is his fund raising ability and his vast network of friends that will donate to an Emanuel campaign. This network of friends, though, is a fickle bunch and will abandon him quickly if they sense any weakness.
And Emanuel's main weakness is he doesn't understand the new political order in Chicago. The recent victory of Toni Preckwinkle has changed the political landscape when Preckwinkle receive 45.98% of the vote against three other very strong candidates. One was the incumbent Board President. Another white candidate had some regular party support. And yet Preckwinkle prevailed.
It has been changing since 2004 when Barack Obama received 66.56% of the vote in Chicago in a crowded field of candidates that included a Democratic party regular.
Barack Obama ran a real grassroots campaign in that election. Because of changes in how political work can be done and rewarded, this worked to Obama's advantage. It has also worked to the advantage of some other candidates who had the ability to tap into the grassroots organizations. Candidates such as Debra Shore and Alexi Giannoulias in 2006, who had no regular party backing, yet performed exceptionally well. These are groups that typically have 20, 30, 50 working members but are very passionate about what they do. And there are dozens of these groups in Chicago. A dozen here. A dozen there, and pretty soon it all adds up to some real votes.
And incredibly, none are paid for their work nor are any of them tied to any monetary reward for the work performed.
There are a plethora of candidates waiting to jump in should Daley decide to step aside. David Hoffman, Daley's former Inspector General for the City of Chicago for the past four years, is eager to jump in after a respectable showing in a run for United States Senate. Even with Daley in the race, I predict Hoffman will run. And with a fair chance of defeating Daley.
Besides, many in the grassroots movement have not forgiven Emanuel for the dumping of Christine Cegelis, a big favorite of the grassroots movement, in favor of Tammy Duckworth for Congress. And include myself in that group because now we are stuck with Peter Roskam in the 6th Congressional District for a long time. I don't pretend to know who will succeed Daley when he steps aside, but it will not be Rahm Emanuel.
Other possible candidates are Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart who has been adding positively to his reputation as a "Rising Star" in the Democratic Party. I would now list Tom Dart as the early favorite because of his keen understanding of Chicago and the political system here. Dart has been quoted as saying that he would entertain running for Mayor of Chicago should Daley ever step aside.
Many others are expected to jump into the fray, including Congressmen Louis Gutierrez and Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. who both considered a run in 2007.
Chicago City Hall Examiner and The Chicago Grassroots Political Examiner. John is the author of a book published by The Elevator Group Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots: How Barack Obama, two Bookstore Owners, and 300 Volunteers did it. Also available an eBook on Amazon. John is also a member of the Society of Midland Authors and is a book reviewer of political books for the New York Journal of Books.