Mike Quigley Elected To Succeed Rahm Emanuel In Congress (VIDEO)
Democrat Mike Quigley, a reform-minded Cook County commissioner, on Tuesday claimed the high-profile Illinois congressional seat that Rahm Emanuel gave up to be President Barack Obama's chief of staff.
Quigley, 50, trounced GOP nominee Rosanna Pulido and Green Party candidate Matt Reichel for the 5th Congressional District seat that Emanuel first won in 2002.
He knows comparisons to Emanuel are inevitable.
"I recognize in many respects I will be compared to him and that's a tough, tough task. It's extraordinary. For a while I will be the guy in D.C. that's recognized as that's the guy taking Rahm Emanuel's seat. We will fight very hard to set our own ground, to establish our own credentials," Quigley told supporters at an election night party at a North Side Chicago bar.
With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Quigley had 29,634, or nearly 70 percent of the vote. Pulido had 10,360 or 24 percent, and Reichel had 2,839 or nearly 7 percent.
The district that includes Wrigley Field is a Democratic stronghold stretching from Chicago's wealthy North Side lakefront to ethnic neighborhoods on the northwest side and neighboring Cook County suburbs.
It's the same congressional seat once held by impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski.
The win means Quigley will fill the remainder of the two-year term Emanuel won in November.
Quigley told supporters what some of his priorities will be in Washington: change, reform, environmental issues, human rights and universal health care.
Chicago Ald. Tom Tunney introduced Quigley at the party and praised the congressman-elect as someone who would get things done because of his political schooling in Chicago.
"Mike is about change but let me tell you something, Mike doesn't forget where he came from. He knows what street politics is about. He's a fighter," Tunney said.
Quigley joked about the work waiting for him in Congress and how he'll have to quickly get up to speed.
"The newspapers will say that this is a seat in Congress. To be honest with you, I don't think I'm going to have time to sit very much," he said.
Quigley was the favorite after winning last month's crowded special Democratic primary over 11 other candidates.
Quigley lapped Pulido and Reichel in fundraising and got three times as many votes as all six Republican challengers combined in the primary.
Pulido had counted on a corruption-weary public to back the GOP in the wake of scandals surrounding former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
But Pulido, 52, was in the race without the backing of national Republicans, support she said she didn't want.
Pulido, director of the Illinois Minuteman Project, part of a national volunteer civilian border patrol group that wants to stop illegal immigration, also had to apologize for posts on a conservative Web site.
Both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune endorsed Quigley, praising him for being a reformer in Cook County government where he has served as a commissioner since 1998.
Reichel, a 27-year-old French teacher and translator, said if he didn't beat Quigley, he wanted to get more votes than Pulido on Election Day. He didn't.
Voter turnout was low on Chicago's North Side.
James LaVelle, 64, cast his ballot for Quigley.
"He's a smart guy, I see him as good government," LaVelle said.
Retired architect Carl Schwebel, 73, also supported Quigley, who he sees as a reformer and fiscal watchdog who will work well with the Obama administration. Schwebel also appreciated that Quigley has been willing to stand up to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.
"Anybody who does that, I'm for them," he said. "It takes a lot of nerve, because the board definitely leans toward Stroger."
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First Posted: 5/8/09 Updated: 5/25/11