What You Need To Know About The Mayoral Runoff

You might have heard something about a runoff election for mayor between incumbent Rahm Emanuel and challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. Or maybe you’ve heard far more than you’d like and wonder if anything they’re saying is true. Here’s a primer on what’s really going on.

The short answer is that a lot of voters don’t like his style, which is often seen as imperious, dictatorial, arrogant, nasty, vindictive, shallow, deceitful—

What made him decide to run for mayor?

Depends on what you mean by “tool”—and which unions you’re talking about. Garcia is backed by CTU and units of the Service Employees International Union. But Emanuel has been endorsed by the firefighters’ union and a bunch of trades.

So what’s Emanuel done about the pensions?

We’re still waiting to hear it. Garcia says that if elected, he’ll form a commission to review the city’s financial books and then figure out the best way forward.