2015 Chicago mayoral election

2015 Chicago mayoral election
Turnout	33.65% 8.34 pp (first round); 40.98% 7.07 pp (second round)
	Emanuel: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% ; García: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% ; Tie: 50%
Mayor before election; Rahm Emanuel;	Elected Mayor ; Rahm Emanuel;

An election took place on February 24, 2015, to elect the mayor of Chicago. The election was non-partisan and no candidate received a majority. A runoff election was held between the top two finishers (both Democrats) on April 7, 2015, and resulted in the reelection of incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel.^[5] The elections were concurrent with the 2015 Chicago aldermanic elections.

Emanuel ran for reelection, seeking a second term in office. In the first round, Emanuel received 46% of the vote and Democratic Cook County Commissioner Jesús "Chuy" García received 34%. Because no candidate received a majority, a runoff was held. In the runoff, Emanuel received 56.23% of the vote, winning the election. Garcia received 43.77% of the vote.^[6] 2015 was the first time the election advanced to a runoff since mayoral elections became non-partisan in 1999.

Candidates

Ran

Rahm Emanuel, incumbent mayor^[7]^[8]^[9]
Bob Fioretti, Chicago City Alderman^[7]^[10]
Jesús "Chuy" García, Cook County Commissioner and former state senator^[7]^[11]
William "Dock" Walls, community activist, businessman, former aide to Mayor Harold Washington and perennial candidate^[7]^[12]
Willie Wilson, medical supply company executive^[7]^[13]

Write-in candidates

William H. Calloway^[2]
Christopher Ware^[2]
Mary Vann^[2]

Withdrew

Frederick Collins, Chicago police officer^[7]^[14]^[15]
Amara Enyia, urban affairs consultant and community activist^[7]^[16]^[17]
William J. Kelly, political activist, columnist and Republican candidate for Illinois Comptroller in 2010 and 2014^[18]^[19]
Gerald Sconyers^[7]^[15]
Robert Shaw, former Chicago City Alderman and former commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review^[7]^[20]^[21]^[22]

Removed

Fenton Patterson, perennial candidate^[7]^[15]

Declined

Leslie Hairston, Chicago City Alderman^[23]^[24]
Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union^[25]
Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners^[23]^[26]
Kwame Raoul, state senator^[27]
Scott Waguespack, Chicago city alderman^[28]

General election

Endorsements

Rahm Emanuel

Officeholders

Gery Chico, Chair of the Illinois State Board of Education and former president of the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners, candidate for mayor in 2011^[29]
Richard M. Daley, former mayor of Chicago^[30]
Barack Obama, President of the United States^[31]^[32]

Media

Organizations

Planned Parenthood Illinois Action^[31]

Robert Fioretti

Individuals

Mike Ditka, former coach of the Chicago Bears^[36]
Amara Enyia, previously a candidate for mayor^[31]

Organizations

Chicago Police Sergeants Association^[31]
Green Party of Chicago^[31]
Progressive Caucus of the Chicago City Council^[31]

Jesús "Chuy" García

Officeholders

Miguel del Valle, former City Clerk of Chicago, former Illinois state senator, 2011 mayoral candidate^[37]
David Orr, Cook County Clerk and former acting mayor of Chicago^[38]
Bobbie L. Steele, former president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners^[39]^[40]

Individuals

Karen Lewis, President of the Chicago Teachers Union^[33]

Media

The Gazette^[41]

Organizations

Chicago Teachers Union^[33]
Independent Voters of Illinois Independent Precinct Organization^[31]
Progressive Action Project^[31]
United Working Families^[31]

William "Dock" Walls

Media

Illinois Herald^[31]

Willie Wilson

Politicians

Danny K. Davis, US congressman and candidate for mayor of Chicago in 1999 and 2011^[31]
Robert Shaw, former Chicago City Alderman and former commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review, previously a candidate for mayor^[31]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Rahm Emanuel	Robert Fioretti	Jesús García	William Walls	Willie Wilson	Other	Undecided
Ogden & Fry^[42]	February 22, 2015	737	± 3.68%	48.3%	6.8%	26.5%	3.3%	15.2%	—	—
APC Research^[43]	February ? 2015	709	± 3.7%	45%	7%	20%	2%	7%	—	18%
Ogden & Fry^[44]	February 14, 2015	736	± 3.69%	49.2%	8.6%	23.0%	4.9%	14.4%	—	—
Ogden & Fry^[45]	January 31, 2015	884	± 3.36%	41.7%	6.7%	16.6%	1.7%	9.7%	—	23.5%
APC Research^[46]	January 22–27, 2015	708	± 3.7%	42%	10%	18%	2%	7%	—	20%
Ogden & Fry^[47]	January 24, 2015	950	± 3.24%	39.5%	7.5%	18%	1.8%	11.1%	—	22.2%
Lake Research Partners^[48]	January 15–19, 2015	600	± 4%	38%	8%	16%	1%	5%	—	30%
Ogden & Fry^[47]	January 17, 2015	1,010	± 3.15%	38%	6.7%	16.4%	1.5%	10.6%	—	26.7%
GQR*^[49]	January 3–6, 2015	600	± 4%	50%	10%	22%	2%	7%	—	9%
GQR*^[49]	December 2014	600	± 4%	48%	13%	21%	—	—	18%
David Binder Research^[50]	November 23–25, 2014	800	± 3.5%	44%	15%	16%	—	—	7%	18%
Lake Research Partners^[51]	November 2014	621	± 3.9%	33%	13%	18%	—	—	—	36%

* Internal poll for the Rahm Emanuel campaign

Hypothetical polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Rahm Emanuel	Robert Fioretti	Karen Lewis	Toni Preckwinkle	Robert Shaw	Undecided
McKeon^[52]	May 7, 2014	511	± 4.2%	29%	5%	10%	26%	3%	27%

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Rahm Emanuel	Karen Lewis	"Qualified Republican"	Undecided
Ogden & Fry^[53]	August 9, 2014	1,152	±2.9%	33.9%	20.6%	14.3%	31.3%

Results

Chicago mayoral election, 2015^[2]^[54]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Rahm Emanuel (incumbent)	218,217	45.63%
	Nonpartisan	Jesús "Chuy" García	160,414	33.55%
	Nonpartisan	Willie Wilson	50,960	10.66%
	Nonpartisan	Robert W. "Bob" Fioretti	35,363	7.39%
	Nonpartisan	William "Dock" Walls, III	13,250	2.77%
	Write-in	Christopher Ware	40	0.01%
	Write-in	William H. Calloway	9	0.00%
	Write-in	Mary Vann	3	0.00%
Total votes			478,256	100.00%

Results by ward

Support for Wilson by ward:
  >30%
  25–30%
  20–25%
  15–20%
  10–15%
  5–10%
  0–5%
Support for Fioretti by ward:
  >15%
  12–15%
  9–12%
  6–9%
  3–6%
  0–3%
Support for Walls by ward:
  >7%
  6–7%
  5–6%
  4–5%
  3–4%
  2–3%
  1–2%
  0–1%

^[1]

Emanuel

García

Ward	Emanuel votes	Emanuel %	Wilson votes	Wilson %	Fioretti votes	Fioretti %	García votes	García %	Walls votes	Walls %	Total votes	Turnout
1st	3,349	39.60%	260	3.07%	618	7.31%	4,128	48.81%	103	1.22%	8,458	28.93%
2nd	6,727	64.47%	331	3.17%	863	8.27%	2,428	23.27%	85	0.81%	10,434	32.17%
3rd	5,223	49.07%	1,768	16.61%	954	8.96%	2,211	20.77%	489	4.59%	10,645	33.12%
4th	5,329	44.56%	1,703	14.24%	942	7.88%	3,396	28.40%	588	4.92%	11,958	39.01%
5th	5,088	44.00%	1,494	12.92%	533	4.61%	3,890	33.64%	588	4.83%	11,563	39.44%
6th	4,703	42.63%	2,569	23.28%	519	4.70%	2,525	22.89%	717	6.50%	11,033	32.78%
7th	4,690	43.76%	2,294	21.40%	439	4.10%	2,595	24.21%	700	6.53%	10,718	33.07%
8th	5,938	43.39%	2,987	21.83%	569	4.16%	3,289	24.03%	903	6.60%	13,686	36.50%
9th	5,186	43.30%	2,873	23.99%	517	4.32%	2,625	21.92%	777	6.49%	11,978	32.86%
10th	3,586	37.74%	482	5.07%	816	8.59%	4,501	47.37%	116	1.22%	9,501	37.15%
11th	4,711	48.93%	253	2.63%	1,440	14.95%	3,140	32.61%	85	0.88%	9,629	37.81%
12th	1,284	25.70%	96	1.92%	241	4.82%	3,335	66.74%	41	0.82%	4,997	27.87%
13th	5,822	52.04%	210	1.88%	1,021	9.13%	4,067	36.35%	67	0.60%	11,187	46.75%
14th	2,293	37.99%	107	1.77%	448	7.42%	3,151	52.20%	37	0.61%	6,036	33.87%
15th	1,403	30.02%	599	12.82%	156	3.34%	2,394	51.23%	121	2.59%	4,673	25.63%
16th	2,451	39.88%	1,641	26.70%	211	3.43%	1,552	25.25%	291	4.73%	6,146	23.57%
17th	3,499	40.08%	2,313	26.50%	323	3.70%	2,092	23.97%	502	5.75%	8,729	28.53%
18th	4,794	38.99%	2,043	16.62%	800	6.51%	3,988	32.44%	669	5.44%	12,294	38.68%
19th	7,613	41.95%	1,139	6.28%	2,503	13.79%	6,509	35.87%	383	2.11%	18,147	51.83%
20th	2,808	40.59%	1,693	24.47%	231	3.34%	1,798	25.99%	388	5.61%	6,918	26.96%
21st	5,698	42.56%	3,249	24.27%	533	3.98%	2,973	22.20%	936	6.99%	13,389	35.01%
22nd	1,127	21.18%	279	5.24%	137	2.57%	3,711	69.73%	68	1.28%	5,322	28.15%
23rd	3,868	40.19%	232	2.41%	1308	13.59%	4,165	43.27%	52	0.54%	9,625	42.97%
24th	2,653	36.50%	2,209	30.39%	324	4.46%	1,701	23.40%	381	5.24%	7,268	27.07%
25th	2,586	33.40%	263	3.40%	497	6.42%	4,331	55.94%	65	0.84%	7,742	30.73%
26th	2,331	34.33%	359	5.29%	348	5.13%	3,665	53.98%	87	1.28%	6,790	27.48%
27th	4,291	48.61%	1,640	18.58%	695	7.87%	1,911	21.65%	290	3.29%	8,827	27.51%
28th	3,084	39.92%	2,043	26.45%	596	7.72%	1,682	21.77%	320	4.14%	7,725	23.84%
29th	4,662	41.99%	2,460	22.16%	723	6.51%	2,748	24.75%	510	4.59%	11,103	32.17%
30th	2,018	39.60%	149	2.92%	391	7.67%	2,489	48.84%	49	0.96%	5,096	23.88%
31st	2,381	40.61%	141	2.40%	291	4.96%	2,996	51.10%	54	0.92%	5,863	27.36%
32nd	4,111	47.61%	188	2.18%	712	8.25%	3,559	41.22%	64	0.74%	8,634	28.34%
33rd	3,332	40.02%	272	3.27%	532	6.39%	4,084	49.06%	105	1.26%	8,325	36.34%
34th	5,722	45.46%	3,127	24.85%	413	3.28%	2,581	20.51%	743	5.90%	12,586	32.72%
35th	2,110	40.02%	188	3.00%	336	5.36%	3,580	57.06%	60	0.96%	6,274	28.72%
36th	2,380	39.31%	281	4.64%	611	10.09%	2,731	45.10%	52	0.86%	6,055	28.44%
37th	3,465	41.38%	2,372	28.33%	373	4.45%	1,754	20.95%	409	4.88%	12,586	40.16%
38th	5,408	48.09%	315	2.80%	1,705	15.16%	3,723	33.11%	95	0.84%	11,246	38.00%
39th	5,499	48.48%	355	3.13%	1,187	10.47%	4,202	37.05%	99	0.87%	11,342	38.93%
40th	4,634	47.26%	300	3.06%	636	6.49%	4136	42.18%	99	1.01%	9,805	35.27%
41st	7,153	47.80%	451	3.01%	2,644	17.67%	4,605	30.77%	112	0.75%	14,965	43.58%
42nd	6,558	73.52%	262	2.94%	548	6.14%	1,476	16.55%	76	0.85%	8,920	28.49%
43rd	7,608	71.97%	283	2.68%	665	6.29%	1,938	18.33%	77	0.73%	10,571	34.94%
44th	6,055	64.25%	211	2.24%	554	554%	2,543	26.98%	61	0.65%	9,424	31.62%
45th	6,243	48.06%	406	3.13%	1,682	12.95%	4,545	34.99%	115	0.89%	12,991	41.65%
46th	6,079	57.55%	520	4.92%	518	4.90%	3,316	31.39%	130	1.23%	10,563	36.84%
47th	6,427	51.47%	267	2.14	721	5.77%	4,985	39.92%	88	0.70%	12,488	37.59%
48th	5,906	52.33%	450	3.99%	560	4.96%	4,220	37.39%	150	1.33%	11,286	37.89%
49th	3,941	44.10%	492	5.51%	431	4.82%	3,893	43.57%	179	2.00%	8,936	35.60%
50th	4,390	55.29%	341	4.29%	548	6.90%	2,557	32.20%	104	1.31%	7,940	31.87%