In a stunning decision, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday morning that he will no longer seek a third term in office, signaling the end to what has been a tumultuous — and at times transformative — eight years in office. The 58-year-old former White House chief of staff said only that he and his wife “look forward to writing that next chapter in our journey together.”

“This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime,” Emanuel said in remarks released by his office. Still, none of those challengers is considered to be a political heavyweight with the instant name recognition and deep pocketed donors that Emanuel brought to the table when he left the White House in 2010 as then-President Barack Obama’s chief of staff to run for mayor. Emanuel also likely will be viewed as the mayor who put Chicago back on the path to financial stability — dramatically raising taxes and fees to shore up four public employee pension funds that had become grossly underfunded during the tenure of predecessor Richard M. Daley. FILE - In this April 7, 2015, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel celebrates at Plumbers Local 130 Union Hall in Chicago after winning in a runoff election for a second term in office. Emanuel weighed the decision as the murder trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is scheduled to begin this week, a high-profile case that is sure to bring about fresh scrutiny of his handling of the Laquan McDonald police shooting, in which Van Dyke shot the teen 16 times in October 2014 as he walked down a Southwest Side street holding a small folding knife. The Emanuel administration was compelled by a court order to release the dashcam video, which showed the white officer shooting the black teen 16 times as he appeared to walk away, more than a year after the shooting and only a few months after the mayor won re-election.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces he will not seek a third term in 2019.