Chicago City Wire

Valerie Jarrett, a longtime adviser to President Barack Obama, is strongly considering a challenge to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, sources tell Chicago City Wire.

Jarrett, 61, currently serving as an adviser to the Obama Foundation and on corporate boards, including that of ride-sharing giant Lyft and the politically connected asset management firm Ariel Investments, has worked in Chicago Democrat politics since the 1980s.

A lawyer, she served as deputy corporation counsel to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington before joining the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley. She served as Daley's deputy chief of staff before being tapped to run the city’s Department of Planning and Economic Development in 1991, at age 34.

Jarrett also spent seven years as CEO of The Habitat Company, a leading developer of government subsidized housing throughout the Chicago area.

She joined the Obama administration in 2008 as a senior adviser, known for her personal relationship with the Obamas. Michelle Obama worked for her in the 1990s under Daley.

Other declared candidates for Mayor of Chicago include:

• Rahm Emanuel, incumbent Mayor of Chicago

• Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County

• Ja’Mal Green, executive director of the Majostee Allstars Community Center    

• Troy LaRaviere, President of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association  

• Lori Lightfoot, President of the Chicago Police Board    

• John Kozlar, candidate for Ward 11 in Chicago in 2015    

• Garry McCarthy, former Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department

• Neal Sales-Griffin, a professor at Northwestern University’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

• Paul Vallas, former Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools  

• Willie Wilson, businessman and candidate for mayor in 2015, candidate for President in 2016