HYDE PARK — Despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ties to Barack Obama, the president could not persuade a substantial majority of his neighbors to vote for the mayor.
Jesus "Chuy" Garcia won more votes in the area of Kenwood across the street from the president’s home than Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff in the White House.
The precincts are split right down Greenwood Avenue. In the precinct that includes the west side of the street where Obama lives, Emanuel bested Garcia by 18 votes, 126-108. The margin may rise to 20 votes when Barack and Michelle Obama's absentee ballots are counted.
In the precinct that includes the east side of Greenwood, Garcia beat out Emanuel by the narrowest of margins — one vote, or 150-149.
In Kenwood, North Kenwood and Hyde Park, Emanuel beat Garcia. But Garcia saw some of his biggest support on the south lakefront in Hyde Park, where he garnered 40 percent of the vote to Emanuel's 44 percent.
Garcia bested Emanuel in the area bounded by Hyde Park Boulevard, 61st Street, Lake Park Avenue and Ellis Avenue.
In East Hyde Park along the lakefront, Emanuel saw more support, eking out a narrow three-vote lead in the high-rises and six-flats between 53rd and 55th streets east of Hyde Park Boulevard.
Support was highest for Emanuel at the northeastern edge of Hyde Park, just south of 49th Street along Lake Shore Drive. It was the only precinct in the neighborhood where Emanuel topped a three-digit lead, topping Garcia by 108 votes. The area includes many of the neighborhood’s historic high-rises and is where city Treasurer Kurt Summers lives.
In neighborhoods like South Shore and the Jackson Park Highlands, voters were deeply divided, and Emanuel took some precincts with as little as a third of the vote.
It’s unclear whether either candidate will have the time in the next five weeks to win over the divided south lakefront.
A runoff election for mayor has never happened under the current system, and typically during aldermanic runoffs, voter turnout declines sharply for the second vote.
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