On Tuesday, an earnest, unassuming guy named Chuy Garcia did the unthinkable. He forced Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff for election to an office Emanuel thought he purchased outright four years ago. Even better, he did it with the help of United Working Families, a grass-roots movement that with its close cousin, the Working Families Party, is forging a new model of progressive political action. What a week ago seemed a liberal fantasy, Rahm’s imminent demise, is suddenly a very real possibility.

A Garcia victory would be a historic watershed not just for Chicago or for Democrats but for all progressives. It wouldn’t just frighten the Wall Street Dems who now reign over their national party. It would alter the terms of debate even beyond the party and prove, to cynics and to ourselves, that the power of ideas is still greater than the power of money and that grass-roots politics is not dead.

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Two things about him {Rahm in the White house years} stood out. One was the contempt he heaped on unions and liberals. I thought if he were ever caught on tape it would seriously damage the president and be the end of Rahm. Some later claimed to regard these rants as performance art but even at close range they seemed real enough to me. In any case I never heard him say an unkind word about the rich.

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The coalition taking Rahm to the mat works off the same model as the Working Families Party and even shares some of its DNA. It includes a dozen unions and community organizations, including the Chicago Teachers Union. Its basic tools are knocking on doors—it hit 153,000 in round one—and calling people up on the phone. Its members are rooted in their community and its message is rooted in its values. It may be about to topple one of the most powerful and least progressive Democrats in the nation. It is exactly seven months old.

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