About Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms. Emanuel was the White House chief of staff from 2009 to 2010 under President Barack Obama and served as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019. He served as United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 to 2025. Born in Chicago, Emanuel is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College (BA) and Northwestern University (MA). Early in his career, Emanuel served as director of the finance committee for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. In 1993, he joined the Clinton administration, where he served as assistant to the president for political affairs and as senior advisor to the president for policy and strategy. Emanuel worked at the investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. for two-and-a-half years and served on the board of directors of Freddie Mac. In 2002, he was elected to the congressional seat vacated by Rod Blagojevich, who had resigned to become governor of Illinois. Emanuel represented Illinois's 5th congressional district from 2003 to 2009. As chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he oversaw Democratic wins in the 2006 House elections, allowing the party to gain control of the chamber for the first time since 1994. Following the 2008 U.S. presidential election, President Barack Obama appointed Emanuel to serve as White House chief of staff. In October 2010, Emanuel resigned as chief of staff to run for mayor of Chicago in 2011. Emanuel won with 55% of the vote over five other candidates in the non-partisan election and was re-elected in 2015. In late 2015, Emanuel's approval rating plunged to "the low 20s" in response to a series of scandals. In October 2017, Emanuel announced that he planned to run for a third term, but he stated on September 4, 2018 that he had changed his mind. The Chicago Tribune assessed Emanuel's performance as mayor as "mixed", and at one point half of Chicagoans favored Emanuel's resignation. He left office in May 2019 and was succeeded by Lori Lightfoot. In August 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Emanuel to be the United States Ambassador to Japan; he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December of that year. Emanuel stepped down from the ambassadorship in January 2025, shortly before Biden left office. Emanuel won the first of three terms representing Illinois's 5th congressional district, a seat he held from 2003 to 2009. Emanuel won with 55% of the vote over five other candidates in the non-partisan mayoral election.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.