Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s failure to get more than 50 percent of the vote in Chicago’s election earlier this week means the embattled mayor who once was a top figure in President Obama’s team is now fighting to stay in office.

The well-funded Emanuel now must attempt to put down a challenge by Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, the current Cook County Commissioner, an embarrassing situation for Emanuel, according to a Daily Journal report.

Emanuel ended up with 45 percent of the vote in the election, and Garcia had 34 percent, a sharp drop from 2011 when Emanuel had 55 percent of the vote, and his top competitor had just 25 percent.

The runoff will be held April 7, and marks the first runoff for the city of Chicago. There is likely to be a mad scramble for weeks to air ads to sway voters to one side or the other.

Emanuel is in a small class of currently living Chicago mayors. Jane Byrne died at the age of 81 last fall, leaving just two former Chicago mayors still alive today. David Orr, 70, and Richard M. Daley, 72, would be joined by Emanuel as the only living former mayors of the city if Emanuel loses the election.

Emanuel, a Democrat, became Chicago’s first Jewish mayor when he was elected in 2011. Emanuel is from the area and graduated from Northwestern University. He was the director of the finance committee for Bill Clint’s 1992 presidential campaign, after which he served as the president’s senior advisor before stepping down in 1998. In 2002, he was elected to the House of Representatives, and held the seat from 2003 to 2009. He was appointed as President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff after the 2008 presidential election, a position he resigned from in 2010 to run for mayor of Chicago. His bid to do so was initially rejected by the Illinois First District Appellate Court, but he was later found eligible by the Supreme Court of Illinois.