Daley managed his brother
Richard M. Daley's campaign in the
1980 Cook County State's Attorney election, which Richard won and served as state attorney from 1981 to 1989. This was the first election in which a family member of former mayor
Richard J. Daley ran for Chicago or
Cook County politics. Daley continued to assist in his brother's political campaigns, notably during his campaigns for
Mayor of Chicago, which Richard M. lost in 1983 but won in 1989. Richard M. served six terms, serving until 2011 and declining to run for a seventh term.
Clinton administration Daley served as the 32nd
U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997 to 2000 under President
Bill Clinton. In 1993, William M. Daley was appointed
Special Counsel to President
Bill Clinton. In this role, Daley took part in advocating for and securing the passage of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He coordinated efforts between the
White House, members of
Congress, and private industry to build
bipartisan support for the agreement. His work on NAFTA involved policy development and negotiations with multiple stakeholders. In 1997, Daley was appointed
Secretary of Commerce by President Clinton and served in this role until the end of Clinton's second term in 2000. As Secretary of Commerce, Daley’s portfolio included U.S. exports, trade policy, and public-private partnerships, and he promoted free trade policies and efforts to streamline trade infrastructure.
Presidential politics Daley resigned as Secretary of Commerce to become the general chairman of Vice President
Al Gore's
presidential campaign, replacing
Tony Coelho. He was portrayed in the
HBO film
Recount, about the
Florida election recount of the 2000 presidential election, by actor
Mitch Pileggi. During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Daley supported
Barack Obama. On November 5, 2008, Daley was named to the advisory board of the
Obama-Biden Transition Project.
Obama administration He served as the 24th
White House Chief of Staff from January 2011 to January 2012 under President
Barack Obama.Daley succeeded
Rahm Emanuel, who served as chief of staff during the first two years of the president's term and left the position in October 2010 to run to succeed
Daley's brother as
Mayor of Chicago, and
Pete Rouse, who was serving as the interim chief of staff. In March 2011, speaking for the Obama administration on
Meet the Press, Daley said the administration would consider using the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve if rising oil prices caused by the
Arab Spring threatened the U.S. economy. He added that the administration was looking at all possible options. He repeated the administration's stance that there is enough output capacity in the world to deal with any disruptions from Libya. to monitor the progress of
Operation Neptune Spear. Daley was photographed in the
White House Situation Room photograph, taken on May 1, 2011, by
Pete Souza. Later in May 2011, he was part of the Presidential State Visit to the United Kingdom. In October 2011, Daley said that he planned to return home to Chicago after
President Obama made it through his re-election, "I made a commitment to put the president through his re-election, which I'm confident he will do, and then my wife and I will be back in Chicago." On January 9, 2012, it was announced that Daley would resign as Obama's chief of staff.
Jack Lew was announced as his successor.
Post-Obama administration Daley was a candidate in the
2014 Illinois gubernatorial election and the
2019 Chicago mayoral election. Just after the 2012 presidential election, in the November 8, 2012 issue of the
Chicago Tribune, Daley was reported as considering a run in the 2014 election for Governor of Illinois. Daley said:"I've thought about it before, and I don't take it off the table. I think right now, to be very frank with you, the last thing in the world anybody wants to hear about is a race that's two years down the road."Daley further was quoted as saying:"I'm not closing the door, and I know that sounds like a politician, but the fact of the matter is that these are tough days, and I think there's a lot to be done by the Legislature. I don't think it helps right now for people to be out there saying they're going to run, and they have a solution at this point. I think we've got to see what the Legislature does."
2014 Illinois gubernatorial campaign On June 10, 2013, Daley announced via
YouTube that he would launch an
exploratory committee to run for Governor of Illinois. On July 2, 2013, New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg endorsed Daley for governor. On July 30, 2013, Daley filed documents declaring himself an official candidate to challenge incumbent Governor
Pat Quinn in the 2014 Democratic primary. On September 16, 2013, Daley announced that he was exiting the race due to the personal hardships inherent in running a campaign for elected office. After the election, he served as co-chair of the transition team for the incoming
Rauner Administration. In
2018, Daley served as the head of finances for the campaign of gubernatorial candidate
Chris Kennedy.
2019 Chicago mayoral campaign After two-term mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he would not seek re-election, it was reported on September 14, 2018, that Daley would run for mayor of Chicago. Daley's candidacy made the 2019 election the fourteenth Chicago mayoral election in which a member of his family has been a candidate. His father won the
1955,
1959,
1963,
1967,
1971, and
1975 elections. His brother won the
1989,
1991,
1995,
1999,
2003, and
2007 elections, and was an unsuccessful candidate in the
1983 election. This means that a member of the Daley family participated in all but four of the eighteen Chicago mayoral elections held between 1955 and 2019 (with no member of the Daley family having run in the
1979,
1987,
2011, or
2015 elections). Among Daley’s positions was support for the city’s consideration of a potential
commuter tax. He also proposed reducing the size of the
Chicago City Council from 50 members to 15. Daley was one of four mayoral candidates (alongside
Gery Chico,
Susana Mendoza, and
Toni Preckwinkle) with ties to
Alderman Edward M. Burke, whose corruption scandal upended the race for mayor. Some coverage described Daley’s ties as less extensive than those of the other three candidates and suggested that his campaign was less affected by the scandal. Daley's campaign received endorsements from the editorial boards of the
Chicago Tribune,
Crain's Chicago Business, and
The Chicago Crusader. He received the endorsement of Plumbers Local Union 130. He also received endorsements from politicians
Al Gore,
Emil Jones,
Joseph P. Kennedy II, and
Bobby Rush. Daley's campaign emphasized fundraising and raised more money than his opponents. One notable financial contributor to Daley's campaign was Illinois billionaire
Kenneth C. Griffin. Griffin's financial support drew criticism; he had previously been a major financial backer of the unsuccessful 2018 re-election campaign of Republican former Illinois governor
Bruce Rauner. In the last several weeks of the campaign, Daley began to rise in the polls. ==Personal life==