Rahm Emanuel wins Chicago mayoral race (w/ related video)

Fresh off his election as mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff for President Obama, said in a news conference that he plans to work with the city council and everybody else to achieve the reforms he promised in his campaign. "The page has been turned, and we're starting a new beginning in this city," Emanuel said.

Emanuel said he wants to create jobs, improve the city's schools and provide better security. He said he had been asked many times during the campaign about his "style," which some consider divisive, but he plans to "reach out to everybody to work for reform and enacting reform," because the voters had made it clear that "the status quo will not do." "The challenges are big, and they'll require people from all parts of the city to feel like they have a part in solving these problems," he said.

The city faces a $655 million budget gap and unfunded pension liabilities estimated at more than $20 billion, problems Emanuel promised to address by increasing government efficiency to make better use of existing resources, according to his campaign website. He also plans to help small businesses, dedicate more resources to teachers and parents of students, put 1,000 more police officers on the street and expand the city's Red Line commuter rail.