( photo : scott olson , getty images ) chicago — rahm emanuel was dealt a tough political blow on tuesday , after he was forced into a runoff election to hold onto his seat as mayor of the windy city .
he will now face the second place finisher , cook rahm emanuel failed to win a second term tuesday , suffering a national political embarrassment as little - known , lesser - funded challenger jesus “ chuy ” garcia forced the mayor into the uncharted waters of an april runoff election .
businessman willie wilson had 10.6 percent , 2nd ward ald .
the setback for emanuel , 55 , came despite a visit to chicago last week from president barack obama , whom emanuel served as chief of staff .
it ’s the first time chicago has had a runoff campaign for mayor , which is what happens when none of the candidates eclipses the 50 percent benchmark in round one .
emanuel failed to get more than 50 percent of the vote in tuesday 's election , and must face the second - place finisher in an april runoff .
with 98 percent of the city ’s precincts counted , unofficial results showed emanuel with 45.4 percent and cook county commissioner garcia at 33.9 percent .
emanuel , who raised about $ 15 million for the campaign , finished first in the five candidate field , but fell far short of garnering the 50 % plus one vote he needed to win outright and avoid a runoff election .
chicago mayor rahm emanuel speaks to the press after leaving a restaurant where he had lunch with u.s. representative luis gutiérrez ( d - il ) , illinois secretary of state jesse white and chicago city clerk susana mendoza on election day february 24 , 2015 in chicago , illinois .