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Emanuel wins Chicago Mayoral race
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After almost being booted from the race because of residency issues, President Barack Obama's former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has claimed victory as Chicago's next mayor.
Emmanuel's win with 55 percent of the vote in the hotly contested race means a runoff in April will not be necessary. As a result, he now prepares to take the helm in the nation's largest city, charting for it a new course in the wake of Mayor Richard Daley's retirement.
According to the Huffington Post, Emanuel described his Feb. 22 win as "humbling," adding that Daley had earned a special place in the hearts of Chicagoans and the city's history.
However, "We have not won anything until a kid can go to school thinking of their studies and not their safety," Emanuel said. "Until the parent of that child is thinking about their work and not where they are going to find work, we have not won anything."
Among those to congratulate Emanuel was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with whom he reportedly had had a complicated political relationship after helping her to land the post by leading the Democrats' 2006 election efforts.