1839 Chicago mayoral election

Chicago mayoral election, 1839

←  1838 March 5, 1839 1840  →

Candidate Benjamin Wright Raymond James Curtiss Party Whig Democratic Popular vote 353 212 Percentage 62.48% 37.52%

Mayor before election Buckner Stith Morris Whig Elected mayor Benjamin Wright Raymond Whig

The 1839 Chicago mayoral election saw Whig nominee Benjamin Wright Raymond defeat Democratic nominee James Curtiss by a landslide 25 point margin.

The election was held on March 5. ^[1]

Campaign

With the nation enduring a difficult economic recession, many citizens believed that successful merchant Benjamin Raymond would be a wise choice for the city's next mayor. However, Raymond was initially not amenable to the prospect of serving as mayor. When former mayor William B. Ogden attempted to persuade him at his dry goods store to run for mayor, Raymond initially, "leaped over the counter and knocked Mr. Ogden prostrate with a bolt of factory-cloth." However, Raymond was nonetheless eventually persuaded to run for mayor. ^[2]

Results

1839 Chicago mayoral election ^{[3] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Benjamin Wright Raymond	353	62.48
	Democratic	James Curtiss	212	37.52
Turnout			565

References

1. "Mayor Benjamin Wright Raymond Biography". www.chipublib.org.
2. 10 things you might not know about Chicago mayoral elections Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer March 10, 2015
3. "Chicago Mayors, 1837-2007". www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
4. Andreas, A.T. (1884), History of Chicago: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, vol. 1, Chicago, IL: A.T. Andreas