1935 Chicago mayoral election
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Elections in Illinois |
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In the Chicago mayoral election of 1935, incumbent Edward J. Kelly (who had been appointed to office of mayoral after the assassination of Anton Cermak) defeated Republican Emil C. Wetten and independent candidate Newton Jenkins by a landslide 60% margin of victory
Nominations
Democratic primary
Interim mayor Edward J. Kelly ran for election to a full first term. He had been appointed as interim mayor by the Chicago City Council following the death in office of Anton Cermak and subsequent resignation of acting mayor Frank J. Corr.
Results
Despite a blizzard, a substantial number of Chicago voters participated in the Democratic mayoral primary.[1] Edward J. Kelly won what was the greatest plurality ever in a Chicago mayoral primary.[1]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Edward J. Kelly (incumbent) | 479,825 | 88.92 | |
Democratic | Martin Powroznik | 39,153 | 7.26 | |
Democratic | James Fred Robertson | 15,541 | 2.88 | |
Democratic | John P. O'Meara | 5,077 | 0.94 | |
Turnout | 539,596 | 100.00 |
Republican primary
The Republican primary was won by Emil C. Wetten. Wetten was an attorney that had served in such roles as the city's First Assistant Corporation Counsel.[3]
Mortimer B. Flynn had been president of the Pottinger-Flynn Coal Company.[4][5]
Unsuccessful candidate Grace A. Gray was the first woman ever to file as a candidate for mayor of Chicago.[6]
The primary illustrated a collapse in Chicagoans' support for the Republican Party. In the previous election, more than five times as many voters had participated in the Republican primary.[1]
Results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Emil C. Wetten | 69,600 | 59.73 | |
Republican | Mortimer B. Flynn | 37,061 | 31.80 | |
Republican | Grace Gray | 9,868 | 8.47 | |
Turnout | 116,529 | 100.00 |
Independent candidate
Newton Jenkins ran as an independent candidate. Jenkins promoted himself as a "progressive" candidate.[8][9]
Jenkins had run for office before. During the 1930 Illinois U.S. Senate race he had been one of several candidates challenging incumbent Charles S. Deneen for the Republican Party nomination. Ultimately, Ruth Hanna McCormick had received the Republican nomination.[10]
Jenkins was very openly antisemetic.[11][12]
Jenkins' run was supported by the Third Party, an effort to create a new party. The party claimed itself to be spun-off from the progressive Republican movement.[13] The party, which intended to use "U.S., Unite" as its national slogan and utilize the buffalo as its mascot, sought to use Jenkins' candidacy as a national launchpad for the party.[13][11] This effort ultimately evolved into the short-lived Union Party.[12][11]
General election
Wetten framed his campaign against Kelly as a campaign against machine politics.[14] Wetten was a rather weak opponent.[15]
Results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Edward J. Kelly (incumbent) | 798,150 | 75.84 | |
Republican | Emil C. Wetten | 166,571 | 15.83 | |
Independent | Newton Jenkins | 87,726 | 8.34 | |
Turnout | 1,052,447 | 100.00 |
Kelly received 84.84% of the Polish-American vote, while Wetten received 8.08%.[17]
Aftermath
Kelly would go on to win reelection twice. In 1947, he would forgo seeking a fourth term after being urged to step aside by the Cook County Democratic Party, which had been concerned about the prospect of Kelly losing a general election due to scandals which had plagued him during his fourteen years as mayor.[18][19][19][20]
This was the first Chicago mayoral election won by a candidate hailing from the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago.[21] Over the subsequent decades, Bridgeport would come to generate several additional mayors, with Martin Kennelly, Richard J. Daley, Michael A. Bilandic, and Richard M. Daley all hailing from the neighborhood.[21]
References
- ^ a b c https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19350227.2.5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 "CHICAGO MAYOR WINS LANDSLIDE" Madera Tribune, Volume LXV, Number 97, 27 February 1935
- ^ "RaceID=609081". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
- ^ "WOMEN CHAUFFEURS BLAMED.; Chicago 0fficial Says They and Children Cause Most Accidents". New York Times. 21 August 1908. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
- ^ Official Reference Book: Press Club of Chicago (page 263)
- ^ Chicago Tribune 17-Jun-1923 (page 4)
- ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19350202&id=GHAhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FIgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3578,587786
- ^ "RaceID=609080". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
- ^ Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 35. p. 220.
- ^ "1935 Press Photo Newton Jenkins Veteran Illinois Progressive Republic".
- ^ Strickland, Arvarh E. "'The Lady Candidate': Ruth Hanna McCormick and the Senatorial Election of 1930". Illinois Historical Journal, vol. 88, no. 3, 1995. p. 189–202 – via JSTOR..
- ^ a b c John L. Spivak. "Nazi Spies and American "Patriots"".
- ^ a b Mackerels in the Moonlight: Four Corrupt American Mayors. p. 62.
- ^ a b "THIRD PARTY TRIES WINGS IN CHICAGO; Newton Jenkins Is Entered for Mayor Under Symbol of the American Buffalo". New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition by Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli SIU Press, Jan 10, 2013
- ^ Simpson, Dick (8 March 2018). "Rogues, Rebels, And Rubber Stamps: The Politics Of The Chicago City Council, 1863 To The Present". Routledge. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ^ "RaceID=123289". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
- ^ Kantowicz, Edward. “The Emergence of the Polish-Democratic Vote in Chicago.” Polish American Studies, vol. 29, no. 1/2, 1972, pp. 67–80. JSTOR, JSTOR
- ^ Stewart, Russ (12 September 2018). "EMANUEL'S CHOICE WAS EITHER TO GET OUT OR TO GET BEAT". Retrieved 4 January 2019.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b World War II Chicago By Paul Michael Green, Melvin G. Holli
- ^ Pacyyga, Dominic, Chicago: A Biography, 2009, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 324 ISBN 0-226-64431-6
- ^ a b "Bridgport: Politics". lockzero.org.uic.edu. University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved 6 May 2020.