The city of Chicago, Illinois held a nonpartisan mayoral election on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Incumbent Mayor Richard Michael Daley, a member of the Democratic Party who had been in office since 1989, did not seek a seventh term as mayor.[3] This was the first non-special election since 1947 in which an incumbent mayor of Chicago did not seek reelection.[4]
Candidates needed to collect 12,500 petition signatures by November 22, 2010, to qualify for a place on the ballot.[5] April 5, 2011 was scheduled to be a runoff election date if no candidate received an absolute majority.[6][7]
Rahm Emanuel won the race for mayor with more than 55% of the vote.[8] He was inaugurated on May 16, 2011.[9]