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Rep. Mike Quigley Considering Run for Chicago Mayor

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he will not seek re-election

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley said he will take his time in considering whether he’ll run for Chicago mayor. (Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley said he will take his time in considering whether he’ll run for Chicago mayor. (Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley said he is considering a run for mayor of Chicago after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he would not run for re-election. 

“Who wouldn’t be interested in being mayor of Chicago?” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. 

Quigley said he is considering it despite the fact he “loves” his job in Congress where he sits on the Appropriations and Intelligence committees.

The Democrat sat on the Cook County Board before his election to Congress and said any candidate for mayor should “focused on one issue or just being anti-Rahm Emanuel.”

“I am focusing on (what) we need to do and why the city is at a crossroad. And who can present a detailed, footnoted plan that moves the city forward in extraordinarily difficult times,” he said.

Quigley was elected to Congress in 2009 to succeed Emanuel when the latter was appointed White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama.

“And there are going to have be a tough choices here because the city faces very difficult financial challenges. And difficult challenges of education. Very difficult challenges in safety issues,” he said.

Quigley said he is not in a rush to make a decision. He said one does not “make a decision in 24, 48 hours. You think about it for at least a week.”

Quigley is expected to easily win re-election in November in a district that Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates Solid Democratic

Watch: House Ratings Change in Favor of Democrats

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