DOWNTOWN — Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been re-elected in the city's first-ever runoff election, despite a challenge from Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.
The Board of Elections reports that as of 8:21 p.m., Emanuel had 55.83 percent of the vote and Garcia had 44.17 percent, with only 1457 of 2069 precincts reporting.
Garcia called to congratulate Emanuel on his victory.
At Emanuel’s Election Day event at Plumbers Hall on the Near West Side, his supporters were confident. Faye Consuela said she put on her best red dress to show support for the mayor, who she’s been working to re-elect.
“I always come to the winning circle,” said the West Rogers Park resident. “I support winners.”
Consuela said Emanuel "was born” to run Chicago.
Emanuel led Garcia in most African-Americans wards on the South and West Sides, with Garcia gaining his strength from Hispanic wards and the Northwest Side. Yet Emanuel's main strength remained in lakefront wards 42 and 43, where he topped 80 percent, while earning 75 percent in the 44th Ward.
Earlier Tuesday, Aldertrack reported that "nobody" from either the Emanuel camp or the campaign of Cook County Commissioner Garcia (D-Chicago) believes earlier polls showing the mayor with a double-digit lead.
There were few reports of political shenanigans. An inflated Uncle Sam inflatable bearing a "Vote for Rahm" sign across its chest in the 13th Ward had that sign removed by investigators for the Board of Election Commissioners. The balloon was found to be too close to a polling place.
Reports in the 15th Ward that judges were handing out ballots already marked for Emanuel were dismissed by an election board spokesman as laughable.
Turnout was estimated at 28 percent as of 4 p.m., but election officials expected it to eventually top the 34 percent turnout from the Feb. 24 election. Yet who would benefit from a high or low turnout was just about anybody's guess.
A poll released earlier this week, refusing to allow prospective voters to say they were undecided, found Emanuel with the support of 56.6 percent of the more than 800 people polled, with Garcia at 43.4 percent.
That came a day after a poll showing Emanuel with the support of 51.3 percent of those polled, with Garcia at 33 percent and undecided at 15.6 percent.
Retired engineer Richard Uzzel, 79, said Emanuel was “the best man for the job.” He and his fellow plumbers union members have been going door-to-door for the mayor’s re-election campaign.
“He’s the choice of the majority,” said Uzzel, of Elgin.
Despite the clear-cut differences between the candidates, established over the last six weeks when they've gone head to head in a runoff, many voters have remained undecided right up to Election Day.
Ted Cox explains why the race may be tightening up:
Mark Konkol wrote Monday of changing his mind in the voting booth — and being satisfied with the results.
Behavior like that has made political operatives a bit nervous, however. Aldertrack reported that even the most vocal Emanuel supporters, usually willing to chat off the record, have "buttoned up" in recent days.
The Garcia camp, by contrast, was "openly optimistic, but far from certain which way things will go," according to Aldertrack.
The Board of Election Commissioners reported late Tuesday morning that voting was proceeding normally across the city, but for precincts in four wards where judges were slow to arrive, meaning polls in those precincts would stay open an extra hour until 8 p.m.
The 18 aldermanic runoffs were potentially having an effect as well. Aldertrack reported Tuesday afternoon that seated aldermen seeking re-election were less likely to identify themselves with the mayor in palm cards their supporters were handing out outside polling places. Candidates aligned with Garcia were "more forceful," with "many aldermanic challengers double-billed with Garcia" on palm cards.
Aside from the affected precincts, polls were to close at 7 p.m., and the election board has said it hopes to have 90 percent of votes cast Tuesday counted by 10 p.m.
But almost 56,000 city voters applied for absentee ballots, more than double the 26,000 from the Feb. 24 election, meaning that, if the election is unusually tight, it's possible a final result could have to wait two weeks until all votes in the mail are given time to arrive.
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