Emanuel’s departure comes just over a month before the midterm elections. On Thursday, President Obama urged a youth gathering in Washington to mobilize for the vote.

President Obama: “They say that there is an enthusiasm gap and that the same Republicans and the same policies that left our economy in a shambles and the middle class struggling, year after year, that those folks might all ride back into power. That’s the conventional wisdom in Washington. We cannot let happen. We cannot sit this out. We can’t let this country fall backwards. The stakes are too high. We have to move this country forward for you and your future. So, there had better not be an enthusiasm gap, people. Not now.”