Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel holds a wide lead in the first poll to be released in the Chicago mayoral race.
In the poll, commissioned by the local Chicago Teamsters union affiliate, Emanuel was the top choice with 36 percent support ahead of his nearest rivals, Democratic Rep. Danny Davis with 14 percent and former Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, who received 13 percent, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Former Chicago Board of Education President Gery Chico received 10 percent, state Sen. James Meeks received seven percent and City Clerk Miguel del Valle received four percent in the poll.
Emanuel, 50, officially declared his candidacy for the job Saturday after leaving his White House job in October.
“Only the opportunity to help President Obama as his chief of staff could have pried me away from here,” Emanuel told supporters at Saturday’s announcement. “And only the opportunity to lead this city could have pried me away from the President’s side.”
“Anything he [Emanuel] can do, I can do better,” Braun said Monday as she hand-delivered the requisite 12,500 signatures needed to be placed on the ballot.
Braun turned in more than 91,000 signatures in a show of strength that eclipsed even Emanuel’s 90,905. Emanuel did not submit his signatures in person.
Emanuel will need to win more than 50 percent of the vote in the February 22, 2011 election to succeed Richard Daley and become the next Mayor of Chicago. Failure to do so will force him into a runoff with the other top vote-getter. The city’s current Mayor Richard Daley has held the post since 1989.