Pugnacious and ever confident, Rahm Emanuel never has been one to back away from a political fight. But on Tuesday, he did just that, abruptly dropping a bid for a third term as Chicago’s mayor to instead write an undetermined “next chapter” of his life. After 23 years in politics, Emanuel said he had asked many sacrifices of his wife, Amy Rule, and their three children. In an interview, the mayor described his personal and professional lives as two planes preparing to land on separate runways, making the timing right to step away from public life. So after months of discussions with his family and a long holiday weekend spent dropping off his third child at college, Emanuel summoned reporters to his City Hall office on short notice and dropped a surprise that shook Chicago’s political landscape. “I’ve decided not to seek re-election,” said Emanuel, who took office as Chicago’s first Jewish mayor in 2011. “This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime.” Sources close to Emanuel said the family considerations were key, but so, too, was the reality that he would spend the next eight months in a bruising campaign that would feature him getting attacked from all sides. And while Emanuel and his top aides said they were confident he could win, the mayor increasingly acknowledged the need to muster up the energy for a third term that still would be filled with challenges, from needing to find even more money for the city’s financially beleaguered pensions to having a federal court enforce changes to the city’s Police Department, the sources said. Emanuel will step aside next May after two tumultuous terms in office that have included the largest round of school closings in the city’s history, a teachers strike, the corruption conviction of his onetime schools chief, rampant gun violence that has surged in recent years, a sex abuse scandal at Chicago Public Schools, record tax increases to shore up the city’s pensions and the Laquan McDonald police shooting that led to a federal investigation of the Police Department and sagging support among African-American voters. The mayor, though, also has had his transformative moments. He has expanded full-day kindergarten and pre-K, lengthened the school day, improved graduation rates, increased the minimum wage, attracted scores of corporate headquarters, overseen a boom in downtown construction, laid the groundwork for a major expansion of O’Hare International Airport, bolstered the downtown riverwalk and managed to stabilize — although not fully fix — the city’s shaky finances. Even as he decided to walk away from the job, Emanuel displayed his typical bravado. He noted several times in the interview that he was “6-for-6” in winning campaigns and insisted he could have made it 7-for-7. “I had the option to run,” the mayor said. “I knew I would win.” There will be no run, however, and someone else will enjoy the victory next year. Moments after Emanuel’s news conference, the political scramble ensued. ANALYSIS: What does Rahm Emanuel's decision mean for the Chicago mayor's race? Who's in so far, and who's out. » READ: Emanuel's prepared remarks announcing he will not seek re-election » Many of the 12 challengers already in the race, including former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, onetime Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and former Police Board President Lori Lightfoot, rushed to call news conferences in an effort to wedge their candidacies into the coverage of Emanuel’s decision. Behind the scenes, many other potential candidates were making phone calls to big-dollar donors and political operatives to gauge support for a run, various political sources confirmed. That list includes: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, Chicago Treasurer Kurt Summers, city Clerk Anna Valencia, 2011 mayoral candidate and lobbyist Gery Chico, Lakeview Ald. Tom Tunney and Michael Sacks, Emanuel’s close friend, confidant and top campaign donor who is the wealthy CEO of the investment firm GCM Grosvenor. Other names being floated by Chicago’s political class: former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, but there was no confirmation those three were seeking support. The mayoral election is Feb. 26. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote — a strong likelihood with such a large field — then a runoff election between the top two finishers would be held April 2. Emanuel’s decision to step away from City Hall next spring drew expected praise from establishment Democrats across the country, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Preckwinkle, who at times has been a political foe. But in other corners of Chicago — from the headquarters of the Chicago Teachers Union to the Twitter accounts of the city’s anti-violence activists, there was an unbridled joy unleashed in response to the surprise Emanuel delivered Tuesday. Eve Ewing, a poet, sociologist and a Chicago Twitter celebrity of sorts who goes by “Wikipedia Brown,” summed up the exuberance among those who long advocated against Emanuel’s policies and dubbed him “Mayor 1 Percent” for his close association with the city’s business interests and for the millionaires who have filled his campaign coffers. “I believe we will replace him w/someone better. But I also believe firmly that this is a victory NOW. He looked at the writing on the wall & it was a bad scene. And that’s because of the hard work, sacrifice and powerful organizing of a LOT of people. I’m proud of that,” Ewing tweeted about Emanuel. “If I could choose between winning the lottery and this, this is what I would have chosen.” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Sept. 4, 2018, that he will not seek a third term in office. (Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) The decision Emanuel’s decision not to run marks a dramatic political reversal, as for the better part of the last year he had said he would seek a third term. The mayor, long a prolific fundraiser, had already reeled in more than $10 million toward a re-election bid, with more than $7 million in cash left on hand at last check. Over the Labor Day holiday weekend, though, whispers began to emerge that Emanuel might not embark on a third campaign. The mayor’s closest aides privately dismissed the talk as “bull” and “BS.” Emanuel even told some close friends who called to inquire about the rumors that they weren’t true. 
 
 On Tuesday, Emanuel put the speculation to an end, saying he decided to step away after months of discussions this summer with Rule and his three children, Zach, Ilana and Leah. In an interview, he described the sacrifices he’s asked of his family as he’s pursued his political ambitions — from his early days as a senior adviser in the Clinton administration and his tenure in Congress to his time as Obama’s first chief of staff and his run for Chicago mayor. When he moved to Washington to work for Obama, the family stayed behind to finish the school year. The same happened a year and a half later, when Emanuel left Washington and returned to Chicago to run for mayor. As an example of the personal tolls, Emanuel described rushing from his son’s bar mitzvah to the White House to make phone calls to secure the final votes needed to secure passage of Obama’s signature legislation — the Affordable Care Act. “It’s literally this: We’re still young enough to write another chapter on this journey. … Marriage is not a destination. It’s a journey, and I have asked a lot of her,” Emanuel, 58, said of Rule. “In our conversation, the things that we wanted to do and postponed as a couple, through a whole host of 23 years because of my career, we had the option not to postpone them anymore, if I chose. Amy loves the city and loves being first lady and all of that, but we have other things we want to do, and we’re young enough to put our energy into those.” TIMELINE: Highs, lows and dead fish: Rahm Emanuel's political journey » READ MORE: 6 quick facts about Rahm Emanuel » Emanuel said the decision was made over the course of discussions with Rule throughout the summer, including a trip to Arizona to visit ailing U.S. Sen. John McCain and while walking on the beach and sitting around a fire pit at their Michigan cottage. “We had optionality. I’ve run six races and won six. Nobody has gotten within 10 points of me. I know where I was financially, idea-wise and organizationally, and I know where everybody else is. We could do this again,” Emanuel said. “At the end of the day … when we were coming to the finer points of the discussion, we just decided we still wanted to do the other things that we want to do when we’re young enough to do it.” As for what’s next for the two, Emanuel wouldn’t specify. Asked if he was done with politics, the mayor didn’t hesitate. “Well, no,” he said. “I’m not done, because I don’t think running for office is the only way you get involved in politics. I just won’t be mayor. I’ll be a citizen. I care about this city.” Emanuel, though, also said “it’s too early” to rule out ever running for public office again. Asked if he might get more involved in national politics, he was noncommittal. “I haven’t thought about it. I care about my party. I care about the country,” Emanuel said. “I care about those things, but I don’t care about them right now in the way that I used to.” As for the millions of dollars in his campaign war chest, the mayor said he would return it to donors. Emanuel said he’d stay out of the political race to succeed him but would be a “keen observer.” Although he has embraced some progressive policies, such as a higher minimum wage, Emanuel’s national profile remains emblematic of the centrist Democratic establishment as a longtime Clinton protege. Facing a race in which many of the candidates are rooted to his left, Emanuel would have joined a national trend of centrist Democrats trying to fight off a challenge from the party’s liberal and even socialist wing. Tom Bowen, the mayor’s former political director, said the current political environment is unlike anything Emanuel has faced before. He said the mayor doesn’t like entering fights he might not win. “If you look at his political career, he has had an advantage in most of the races he has taken on. I just don’t think with (President Donald) Trump in the White House and (Gov. Bruce) Rauner in the statehouse and the aggravation that’s coursing through the Democratic electorate, I don’t think you can say he has the advantages he (once) had,” Bowen said. “I just don’t know him to be a guy who gets into a race where he has a tremendous number of disadvantages.” Ald. Scott Waguespack, a frequent Emanuel critic, agreed. He said the mayor’s path to re-election was plagued by a “pretty consistent downward trend in his likability” over recent months, paired with a surge of enthusiasm from the progressive left. “I thought he would probably get into the runoff, but there were a number of people who could beat him. I thought he could potentially pull it off if he spent another $20, $30 million,” Waguespack said. “I thought he would have to do the same thing to avoid another narrow election.” The Laquan McDonald factor Emanuel made his decision as the murder trial of Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke is scheduled to begin this week. That high-profile case is sure to bring about fresh scrutiny of Emanuel’s handling of the McDonald police shooting, in which Van Dyke shot the teen 16 times in October 2014 as McDonald walked down a Southwest Side street holding a small folding knife. For most of 2015, Emanuel fought in court not to release police video of the shooting, arguing the matter was still under investigation. When a judge ordered Emanuel to release the video in November 2015, then-Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez filed murder charges against Van Dyke on the same day Emanuel made the video public. The controversy led to a federal civil rights investigation of the Police Department, accusations of a City Hall cover-up and weeks of street protests that called for Emanuel’s resignation. It also left Emanuel saddled with deep unpopularity among African-American voters, a demographic that he performed strongly with in his previous campaigns for mayor. A 2016 Chicago Tribune poll amid the McDonald aftermath found Emanuel’s approval rating at a record-low 27 percent, with 4 in 10 voters wanting him to resign. A vast majority of Chicagoans didn’t consider Emanuel to be honest and trustworthy, didn’t think he was justified in withholding the McDonald video and didn’t believe his statements about the controversial case. READ MORE: Rahm Emanuel's announcement comes on eve of trial over police shooting that plagued his second term » 

 Rahm Emanuel not seeking re-election as mayor of Chicago 
 
 Mayor Rahm Emanuel, joined by his wife, Amy Rule, announced he will not seek re-election. | Rahul Parikh/Sun-Times 
 
 Saying “this has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday morning he will not seek re-election to a third term. 
 
 Having just returned from dropping off his youngest child at college — she’s a freshman at Princeton — Emanuel and his wife, Amy Rule, apparently returned home with his mind made up. 
 
 “Amy and I have decided it is time to write another chapter together,” added Emanuel, who told staffers of his decision at a private meeting just before his public announcement at City Hall. “Amy and I are still young — and Amy still looks it.” 
 
 Married 27 years, the two are now officially empty-nesters, he said. 
 
 “What matters most is four more years for our children, not four more years for me,” he added. When they first got married, he said, he had told her he would never run for office — “and I’m about six elections behind the eight-ball.” 
 
 Emanuel, a former congressman who also held positions in two Democratic presidential administrations, was elected in 2011 and survived a run-off to win a second term in 2015. But he faced in increasingly crowded field for next year’s municipal election. 
 
 He also was looking at some turbulent weeks ahead, during the trial of Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, charged with murder in the October 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. 
 
 In an event that has come to define his second term, Van Dyke was caught on video fatally shooting McDonald 16 times — but the video was not released for more than a year. 
 
 Van Dyke’s trial, which starts this week, is certain to dredge up ugly memories of Emanuel’s decision to withhold the McDonald shooting video until after the 2015 election and release it only after a judge ordered the city to do so. 
 
 That release sparked street protests and, eventually, a Department of Justice investigation into the Chicago Police Department. The DOJ probe produced a scathing report that faulted the department for what it called widespread constitutional abuses. 
 
 The report also offered stark anecdotes of deadly force, including officers firing shots in residential neighborhoods, and “dangerous practices” like taking people into gang-rival territories to “display” them. 
 
 Emanuel and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan are nearing the end of negotiations over a court-enforced consent decree outlining department reforms recommended by that report. 
 
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 Kofi Ademola, with the Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter, called Emanuel’s announcement a “great victory” for grassroots organizers who, in the wake of the McDonald video’s release, had worked to defeat Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez (who lost a re-election bid in 2016) and also demanded the firing of CPD Supt. Garry McCarthy. 
 
 Emanuel did fire McCarthy, in December 2015, and McCarthy now is running for mayor. 
 
 Ademola said the closure of a record 50 schools, mental health clinics and the lack of police accountability and an elected school board brought people from all over the city together against the mayor. Now, he added, the hope is to get “somebody in there who will be progressive. We have a lot of educating to do with the public on who is in the field.” 
 
 Activists who had repeatedly called for Emanuel’s resignation planned a celebratory rally for Tuesday afternoon on Daley Plaza. 
 
 Another challenge that had been on Emanuel’s radar was a term-limit measure being pushed by former Gov. Pat Quinn. 
 
 Quinn had submitted petitions for a ballot measure that that limit Chicago mayors to two terms. But he said his efforts to get such a referendum on the ballot in November weren’t aimed personally at Emanuel — and he said Tuesday he won’t run for mayor. 
 
 But if Quinn still isn’t interested, many others are. Besides McCarthy, the field now includes former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, former Police Board President Lori Lightfoot, community activist Ja’Mal Green, former CPS principal Troy LaRaviere, businessman Willie Wilson and tech entrepreneur Neal Sales-Griffin. 
 
 Another oft-cited potential challenger, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, had taken herself out of the race. Her initial statement issued in reaction to Emanuel’s announcement did not hint at any change in those plans. 
 
 “I was surprised by Mayor Emanuel’s announcement this morning that he has decided not to seek re-election. I want to thank him for leading our city for the past eight years and also for his service to the nation – his time in Congress and as Chief of Staff to President Obama. Being mayor of the nation’s third-largest city is extraordinarily difficult and all-consuming. I wish him and Amy well in their future endeavors.” 
 
 Others also sang his praises. 
 
 “Chicago is better and stronger for his leadership, and I was a better president for his wise counsel at a particularly perilous time for our country,” former President Barack Obama said in response to the announcement. Emanuel had been his White House chief of staff. 
 
 “I’ve been blessed to call Rahm my friend. Whatever he chooses to do next, I know he’ll continue to make a positive difference, just as he has throughout his career in public service.” 
 
 Emanuel also served in the White House under President Bill Clinton. 
 
 “From the earliest days of my presidential campaign over a quarter-century ago, through my time in the White House; his service in Congress; as Chief of Staff to President Obama; and for eight vital years as Mayor, Rahm Emanuel has served with vision, purpose, principle, and impact,” Clinton said in a statement. 
 
 “I believe he succeeded because he cares about people, policy, and politics. Even people who disagree with him strongly on some issues understand that.” 
 
 Not everyone was sending Emanuel off with a pat on the back, however. 
 
 Emanuel had famously tussled with Karen Lewis, then the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, during a 2012 strike. That battle raised Lewis’ stature to the point that she pondered her own run for mayor — until a brain tumor put her on the sidelines. 
 
 Lewis’ successor, Jesse Sharkey, declared victory with Emanuel’s departure. 
 
 “Rahm came in like a wrecking ball, but he couldn’t wreck our love for the schools,” Sharkey said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. 
 
 “He couldn’t make us budge from our defense for the schools and the city. This union, the CTU, followed Karen Lewis into battle, and today we’ve won,” Sharkey said. 
 
 “Maybe it’s different down in Emerald City, in the gleaming downtown, but out in the neighborhoods this is not a popular mayor. In the working class parts of this city, this is not a popular mayor.” 
 
 Just last week, Emanuel, along with other candidates for mayor, had begun circulating nominating petitions to gather the 12,500 signatures he would have needed to get on the ballot. 
 
 Emanuel had 1,400 volunteers — including Democratic ward committeemen, labor and community leaders — passing his petitions. 
 
 But even though he had been raising money, gathering signatures and putting a campaign infrastructure in place, Emanuel never formally declared his candidacy for a third term. 
 
 “For the last seven and a half years, I’ve given my all every day and left it all on the field,” Emanuel said Tuesday. “I’ve approached public service the only way I know how — giving 100 percent, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” 
 
 Last week, the Emanuel campaign chose to release results of a $153,500 poll bankrolled by Michael Sacks, the mayor’s close friend, business adviser and largest campaign contributor. 
 
 Despite an avalanche of tax increases, persistent violence and deep distrust among black voters tied to his handling of the McDonald shooting video, it showed the embattled incumbent strongly positioned to win a third term — contradicting recent polls done for competitors that showed otherwise. 
 
 The timing of the poll’s release was curious. 
 
 “They’re either trying to pump him up to run or make the case that he could have won, even if he doesn’t run,” one political operative had said at the time. 
 
 Contributing: Rachel Hinton, Michael Sneed, Fran Spielman, Lauren FitzPatrick, Tina Sfondeles, Jane Recker 

 FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a news conference in Chicago. Emanuel announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he will not seek a third term in 2019. AP Photo/Teresa... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a news conference in Chicago. Emanuel announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he will not seek a third term in 2019. AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File) (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a news conference in Chicago. Emanuel announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he will not seek a third term in 2019. AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File) (Associated Press) FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at a news conference in Chicago. Emanuel announced Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he will not seek a third term in 2019. AP Photo/Teresa... (Associated Press) 
 
 CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday that he won't seek a third term in 2019. 
 
 Emanuel said in a statement released by his office that being mayor "has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime." The Chicago Tribune says he had already raised more than $10 million for another run for a four-year term. 
 
 Emanuel, 58, was a Democratic congressman and chief of staff to President Barack Obama before becoming mayor in 2011. He followed Richard M. Daley, who was mayor for more than 20 years. His won a second term in a 2015 runoff. 
 
 His surprise announcement comes the day before the start of one of the biggest police-shooting trials in the history of Chicago — the murder trial of police officer Jason Van Dyke. The release of a dashcam video two years ago of the white officer shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014 drew the sharpest criticism of Emanuel in his two terms as mayor. 
 
 Many questioned whether his office delayed releasing the video to lessen political damage on Emanuel. The trial is expected to bring added scrutiny of how the city, and Emanuel, dealt with the case.
– Rahm Emanuel will not seek re-election to a third term as mayor of Chicago in 2019, he announced Tuesday. "This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not the job for a lifetime," said Emanuel, who just returned to the city after dropping his youngest child off for her freshman year at Princeton, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago Tribune reports the 58-year-old had already amassed $10 million to fund a third-term run. Emanuel said he and his wife of 27 years decided it was "time to write another chapter together," noting he once promised her he would never run for office—"and I'm about six elections behind the eight-ball." The former congressman, who also served as Barack Obama's chief of staff, told staffers of his decision shortly before his City Hall press conference. The AP points to the timing of his surprise announcement: one day before "one of the biggest police-shooting trials in the history of Chicago" is to begin. Police officer Jason Van Dyke goes on trial Wednesday for the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. Emanuel had fought the release of the dashcam video. If that goes down as a low point, the Tribune also outlines some high points, including Emanuel's expansion of free pre-K and full-day kindergarten and financial moves he made to address four "grossly underfunded" public employee pension funds.