Bob Secter

Mayor Rahm Emanuel stops to chat with some women in a car as he leaves Manny's Coffee Shop & Deli in Chicago on April 7, 2015.

Rahm Emanuel wins second term; now comes the hard part

May 25, 2019 at 12:56 p.m.

With his re-election victory Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel renewed his lease on a municipal fixer-upper, one with buckling and painful-to-repair financial underpinnings caused by decades of deferred maintenance. Some of...

The stewardship of Chicago Public Schools has emerged as a major issue in the mayoral runoff between Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left, and challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, shown arriving March 26, 2015, for a televised debate.

Differences over Chicago schools stir mayor’s race for Emanuel, Garcia

May 15, 2019 at 2:36 p.m.

About 200 Chicago schoolteachers, wearing the red T-shirts their union has embraced as a symbol of solidarity against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, gathered in a Pilsen union hall recently for a...

Chicago Mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia announces his budget plans March 13, 2015 at the law offices of Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick and Dym Ltd.

Devil in the details with city finances

May 25, 2019 at 12:54 p.m.

In the telling of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, his four years in office have been a clinic in bold and decisive response to financial crisis while election rival Jesus "Chuy" Garcia...

Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan is joined by state workers and retirees outside the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield on March 11, 2015, as he talks to reporters after oral arguments in a lawsuit opposing a state pension overhaul.

Illinois pension law greeted with court skepticism

May 25, 2019 at 12:54 p.m.

A lawyer for the state faced skeptical questioning from Illinois Supreme Court justices Wednesday as she defended a landmark pension reform law by arguing that benefit cuts to public workers...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, left, and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia debate on Jan. 27, 2015.

Garcia vs. Emanuel could be proxy for fight within national party

May 25, 2019 at 12:54 p.m.

After forcing Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election to keep his job, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia is framing the head-to-head showdown as part of an ideological fight...

Emanuel and Garcia face different personality challenges

May 25, 2019 at 12:53 p.m.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has long nurtured a national reputation as a short-fused political savant, but with his re-election unexpectedly on the bubble, he finds himself trying to convince voters those...

People watch from a balcony as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel addresses supporters at the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers union hall in Chicago on Feb. 24, 2015.

Political dynamics change as Emanuel, Garcia move into runoff campaign

May 25, 2019 at 12:53 p.m.

In the sometimes quirky and symbolic math of politics, Mayor Rahm Emanuel lost the expectations game Tuesday, even though he captured more votes in a re-election bid than any of...

Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia forces runoff, steps into spotlight

August 18, 2019 at 6:49 p.m.

Re-election battles typically are referendums on the incumbent, one reason Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia framed his Chicago mayoral candidacy as a reaction to perceived shortcomings in the style...

Rauner gets cold shoulder, pro-union rhetoric at Obama Pullman event

May 15, 2019 at 2:30 p.m.

The day after using his first budget address to escalate a feud with state employee unions, Gov. Bruce Rauner was at a South Side school Thursday listening to President Barack...

Despite being a major supporter of organized labor on the City Council, Ald. Bob Fioretti hasn't won big union endorsements in his bid to become mayor. But, he says, "I know the rank-and-file is behind me."

Fioretti running down lonely road for Chicago mayor

May 15, 2019 at 2:29 p.m.

Mayoral challenger Bob Fioretti stood in the kitchen of a South Side firehouse on a recent morning and explained to a small group of firefighters and paramedics why he would...

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