With help from Nirvi Shah
RAHM COMES OUT ON TOP: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel soundly defeated his challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia on Tuesday night, carrying the vote 56 percent to 44 percent with 73 percent of the vote tallied. Emanuel now heads into his second term after winning the first runoff in the city’s history. It was a bruising campaign, with some estimating that Emanuel raised as much as $30 million. In recent weeks, he blanketed the airwaves with TV ads that called into question Garcia’s ability to manage city finances. The race divided labor unions and the city’s black community, pitting traditional public school advocates against education reformers. In the end, Garcia wasn’t able to capitalize on broad discontent in the city over public education, among other issues. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said Emanuel now has a second chance to make it right with the Chicago Teachers Union and others. “The mayor now has a chance to reverse some of the damage felt by neighborhoods in Chicago,” she said. “We urge him to start by reinvesting in the communities he unnecessarily gutted by closing schools he could have chosen to fix and make the hub of neighborhoods.” Pro Campaign’s Kyle Cheney has the story: http://politico.pro/1IIX6nE
– Democrats for Education Reform celebrated Emanuel’s victory. “Given a choice between a proven education reformer versus the hand-picked candidate of the teachers’ union who opposed the longer school day and vowed to limit school choice, Chicagoans clearly chose the reformer,” said Executive Director Joe Williams.
[…]
Read the full story on POLITICO here:
http://www.politico.com/morningeducation/0415/morningeducation17802.html