
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel considering 2028 presidential run
The latest: In an interview with Crain's Chicago Business 's Greg Hinz, Emanuel said, "I'm looking at the (Democratic) field, and most importantly, what I have to contribute."
Context: Emanuel has been vocal about the future of the Democratic Party after returning from his ambassadorship to Japan under former President Joe Biden, but this is the most he's said publicly about vying for the White House.
Zoom in: He's pushing the party leaders to get back to "kitchen table issues" instead of focusing on more progressive issues and political correctness," he told Crain's.
"We have to go back to how we won. Focus on middle-class economics and values."
Flashback: Emanuel worked as a policy advisor under President Clinton beginning in 1993, before moving to Congress to represent Chicago's North Side. After orchestrating the Democrats' push to win the House in 2006, he left to join President Obama as his White House chief of staff in 2009.
All this was before running the city of Chicago for eight years, before choosing not to run for a third term in 2019.
Yes, but: Many progressive politicians don't see eye to eye with Emanuel, who has been criticized for his handling of the police murder of Laquan McDonald. He was accused of blocking the release of the video that captured the murder, which happened while Emanuel was mounting his reelection campaign in 2014.
He was also criticized for closing 50 neighborhood schools.
Reality check: The acrimony isn't just local. Progressives inside the Democratic Party, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), sought to block Emanuel's ambassadorship in 2021 because of the McDonald cover-up allegations, adding it "should be flatly disqualifying for any position of public trust, let alone representing the United States as an ambassador."
Between the lines: That bad blood may be why Emanuel is on the hunt to reclaim the Democratic party. After the loss to President Trump in November, Emanuel has tried to rally the party back to the middle.
The intrigue: Emanuel will be watching closely as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is also a potential candidate, as well as California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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Vice President JD Vance is on the road again to sell the Republicans' big new tax law
In West Pittston, Pennsylvania, Vance told attendees at an industrial machine shop that they should be able to keep more of their pay in their pockets, highlighting the law's new tax deductions on overtime. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Vance also discussed a new children's savings program called Trump Accounts and how the new law promotes energy extraction, while decrying Democrats for opposing the bill that keeps the current tax rates, which would have otherwise expired later this year. Advertisement The legislation cleared the GOP-controlled Congress by the narrowest of margins, with Vance breaking a tie vote in the Senate for the package that also sets aside hundreds of billions of dollars for Trump's immigration agenda while slashing Medicaid and food stamps. The vice president is also stepping up his public relations blitz on the bill as the White House tries to deflect attention away from the growing controversy over Jeffrey Epstein. Advertisement The disgraced financier killed himself, authorities say, in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump and his top allies stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein's death before Trump returned to the White House and are now reckoning with the consequences of a Justice Department announcement earlier this month that Epstein did indeed die by suicide and that no further documents about the case would be released. Questions about the case continued to dog Trump in Scotland, where he on Sunday announced a framework trade deal with the European Union. Asked about the timing of the trade announcement and the Epstein case and whether it was correlated, Trump responded: 'You got to be kidding with that.' 'No, had nothing to do with it,' Trump told the reporter. 'Only you would think that.' The White House sees the new law as a clear political boon, sending Vance to promote it in swing congressional districts that will determine whether Republicans retain their House majority next year. The northeastern Pennsylvania stop is in the district represented by Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a first-term lawmaker who knocked off a six-time Democratic incumbent last fall. On Monday, Vance will be in the district of Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes, who is a top target for the National Republican Congressional Committee this cycle. Polls before the bill's passage showed that it largely remained unpopular, although the public approves of some individual provisions such as increasing the child tax credit and allowing workers to deduct more of their tips on taxes.


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