Democrat Quigley wins in 5th District Congressional race

A reform-minded Democrat on Tuesday claimed the high-profile Illinois congressional seat that Rahm Emanuel gave up to be President Barack Obama's chief of staff.

Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, 50, trounced Republican nominee Rosanna Pulido and Green Party candidate Matt Reichel for the 5th Congressional District seat that Emanuel first won in 2002.

He knows comparisons to Emanuel are inevitable.

"I recognize in many respects I will be compared to him and that's a tough, tough task. It's extraordinary," Quigley told supporters at an election night party at a North Side Chicago bar. "We will fight very hard to set our own ground, to establish our own credentials."

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Quigley had 29,634, or nearly 70 percent of the vote. Pulido had 10,360 or 24 percent, and Reichel had 2,839 or nearly 7 percent.

The district is a Democratic stronghold stretching from Chicago's wealthy North Side lakefront to ethnic neighborhoods on the northwest side and neighboring Cook County suburbs.

It's the same congressional seat once held by impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski.

The win means Quigley will fill the remainder of the two-year term Emanuel won in November.

Quigley told supporters what some of his priorities will be in Washington: change, reform, environmental issues, human rights and universal health care.

Quigley was the favorite after winning last month's crowded Democratic primary over 11 other candidates.

Pulido had counted on a corruption-weary public to back the Republicans in the wake of scandals surrounding Blagojevich.

But Pulido, 52, was in the race without the backing of national Republicans, support she said she did not want.

Pulido also has had to apologize for posts on a conservative Web site. She is director of the Illinois Minuteman Project, part of a national volunteer civilian border patrol group that wants to stop illegal immigration.