Rahm Emanuel Makes Surprise Decision About 3rd Term

Time to 'write another chapter together' with his wife, he says
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2018 12:28 PM CDT
Rahm Emanuel Not Seeking Re-Election
In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a news conference in Chicago.   (Associated Press)

Rahm Emanuel will not seek re-election to a third term as mayor of Chicago in 2019, he announced Tuesday. "This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not the job for a lifetime," said Emanuel, who just returned to the city after dropping his youngest child off for her freshman year at Princeton, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago Tribune reports the 58-year-old had already amassed $10 million to fund a third-term run. Emanuel said he and his wife of 27 years decided it was "time to write another chapter together," noting he once promised her he would never run for office—"and I'm about six elections behind the eight-ball."

The former congressman, who also served as Barack Obama's chief of staff, told staffers of his decision shortly before his City Hall press conference. The AP points to the timing of his surprise announcement: one day before "one of the biggest police-shooting trials in the history of Chicago" is to begin. Police officer Jason Van Dyke goes on trial Wednesday for the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. Emanuel had fought the release of the dashcam video. If that goes down as a low point, the Tribune also outlines some high points, including Emanuel's expansion of free pre-K and full-day kindergarten and financial moves he made to address four "grossly underfunded" public employee pension funds. (More Rahm Emanuel stories.)

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