Chicago mayoral runoff delays Obama’s library announcement

President Obama will not announce the site of his presidential library until after a mayoral runoff election in Chicago, one of the finalist cities, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Though the Barack Obama Foundation was expected to announce the library’s location before the end of this month, they will hold off until the April runoff where former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, the president’s former chief of staff, is in a tougher than expected reelection race. 

{mosads}The move is intended to avoid the allegations that Obama is trying to boost Emanuel’s candidacy or politicize the library’s site selection, the AP reported.

Emanuel will face Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia on April 7 after he failed to get over 50 percent in the first round of voting last month.

His campaign has already benefited from his association with the president. Obama visited Chicago just days before voters went to the polls in order to dedicate a site in the Pullman neighborhood as a national monument. He and Emanuel appeared together at the event and Obama visited a campaign office during his visit.

The four finalists to host the library are the University of Chicago, where the president taught law, University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Hawaii and Obama’s alma mater Columbia University in New York City.