Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will not seek re-election as city's gun violence crisis deepens

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Rahm Emanuel has announced he would not seek re-election, in a move surprising both supporters and critics alike.

The two-term incumbent — who has already reportedly raised over $10m for his re-election campaign — said being mayor of Chicago “has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime.”

The 58-year-old previously served as Barack Obama’s chief of staff and in Congress before being elected mayor in 2011. His announcement arrived on Tuesday, as the city faces increasing controversy over gun violence and the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.

On Wednesday, one of the city’s largest police-shooting trials in history will begin, in which police officer Jason Van Dyke has been accused of murdering Mr McDonald, a black teenager.

Critics of the mayor claimed his office delayed the release of the officer’s dash cam footage, showing Mr McDonald being shot 16 times in 2014, in an attempt to reduce an adverse political impact on Mr Emanuel.

Meanwhile, the mayor has struggled to quell protests over gun violence across the city, with dozens of fatal shootings being reported in a single weekend last month.

"Today, the time has come to make another tough choice," Mr Emanuel said Tuesday. "I’ve decided not to seek re-election."

The announcement was met with celebration across Twitter, with critics referring to Mr Emanuel as the "murder mayor".

"He oversaw the murder of public schooling, of public housing, of mental health clinics, of jobs in low-income communities and the literal murder of the city's poor," one user wrote.

However, his tenure as the city’s mayor was praised in a statement by Barack Obama, who called Mr Emanuel a “tireless and brilliant public servant.”

"I’ve been blessed to call Rahm my friend," Mr Obama wrote in the statement. "Whatever he chooses to do next, I know he’ll continue to make a positive difference, just as has throughout his career in public service."

There are currently at least 12 candidates who have filed paperwork to run for mayor in Chicago’s next mayoral election. A 26 February vote will determine whether a run-off election is required to choose who fills Mr Emanuel’s seat.