1935 Chicago mayoral election

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1935 Chicago mayoral election
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  Chicago Mayor discusses Illinois political situation with President. Washington, D.C., Jan. 18. Mayor Edward Kelly of Chicago arriving at the White House for a conference with President LCCN2016872892 (cropped).jpg Emil C. Wetten (1) (3x4a).jpg Newton Jenkins 1 (a).jpg
Nominee Edward J. Kelly Emil C. Wetten Newton Jenkins
Party Democratic Republican Independent
Popular vote798,150166,57187,726
Percentage75.84%15.83%8.34%
Mayor before election

Edward J. Kelly
Democratic

Elected mayor

Edward J. Kelly
Democratic

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1935, incumbent Interim Mayor Edward J. Kelly (who had been appointed to office of mayor after the assassination of Anton Cermak) defeated Republican Emil C. Wetten and independent candidate Newton Jenkins by a landslide 60% margin of victory.

Contents

Both major parties held primary elections to select their nominees. In the Democratic Party primary, Interim Mayor Kelly won a massive majority over three opponents, winning 88.92% of the overall vote. In the Republican primary, Wetten won a sizable majority against two opponents. Businessman Mortimer B. Flynn was the strongest of his opponents. The second opponent, Grace Gray, was the first woman to ever file as a candidate for mayor of Chicago.

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]

Chicago Democratic mayoral primary (February 25, 1935) [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Edward J. Kelly (incumbent) 479,825 88.92
Democratic Martin Powroznik39,1537.26
Democratic James Fred Robertson15,5412.88
Democratic John P. O'Meara5,0770.94
Turnout 539,596100.00

Republican primary

The Republican primary was won by Emil C. Wetten. Wetten was an attorney that had served in such roles as first assistant corporation counsel for the city. [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

Chicago Republican mayoral primary (February 25, 1935) [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Emil C. Wetten 69,600 59.73
Republican Mortimer B. Flynn37,06131.80
Republican Grace Gray9,8688.47
Turnout 116,529100.00

Independent candidacy of Newton Jenkins

Newton Jenkins, an attorney, [8] ran as an independent candidate. Jenkins promoted himself as a "progressive" candidate. [9] [10]

Jenkins had run for office before. He first ran for alderman of the 27th Ward in 1920. [8] He ran in the Republican primary of the 1924 United States Senate election in Illinois on a Robert La Follette-aligned platform. [8] [11] 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. [8] [11] [12] He again ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary of the 1932 United States Senate election in Illinois. [8] [11]

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. [8] [13] [14] This effort ultimately merged into the short-lived Union Party, on which party line Jenkins would go on to run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1936. [8] [15] [14]

Jenkins was very openly antisemitic. [14] [15] During his campaign, Jenkins published a number of antisemitic pieces. [16] The platform of the Third Party-backed slate of independent candidates in the 1935 Chicago municipal elections was to create a city manager position in the city, to adopt the city commission-style of government in Chicago, to create jobs for the head of family of 100,000 households, to eliminate taxes in the city, and to end "corrupt elections". [17] The Third Party was regarded to be "openly fascist". [18] The July 10, 1935 edition of the American Guardian newspaper wrote that Jenkins had,

Established contact with the Chicago Nazi organization, has appeared on platforms with uniformed Nazis at their official meetings, is openly anti-Semitic and has announced as part of his policy the formation of highly militarized storm troops to defend and protect the interests of his party. The Jenkins [Third Party] is also anti-labor, Jenkins having pescribed the lamp post hanging as the cure for all labor "agitators". [18]

General election

Wetten framed his campaign against Kelly as a campaign against machine politics. [19] Wetten was a rather weak opponent. [20]

Results

Mayor of Chicago 1935 election [21] (General Election)
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Edward J. Kelly (incumbent) 798,150 75.84
Republican Emil C. Wetten166,57115.83
Independent Newton Jenkins 87,7268.34
Turnout 1,052,447100.00

Kelly received 84.84% of the Polish-American vote, while Wetten received 8.08%. [22]

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. [23] [24] [25]

This was the first Chicago mayoral election won by a candidate hailing from the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago. [26] 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. [26]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 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
  2. ↑ "RaceID=609081". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Women Chauffeurs Blamed.; Chicago Official Says They and Children Cause Most Accidents". New York Times. August 21, 1908. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  4. ↑ Official Reference Book: Press Club of Chicago (page 263)
  5. ↑ Chicago Tribune 17-Jun-1923 (page 4)
  6. ↑ "Grandma Seeks to Become Chicago Mayor After Taste of Holding Office One Day" . Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  7. ↑ "RaceID=609080". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Newton Jenkins, 55, Lawyer and Soldier; Defeated for Mayor of Chicago and United States Senator". The New York Times . October 17, 1942. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  9. ↑ Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 35. 1934. p. 220.
  10. ↑ "1935 Press Photo Newton Jenkins Veteran Illinois Progressive Republic".
  11. 1 2 3 "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Newton Jenkins". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  12. ↑ Strickland, Arvarh E. (1995). "'The Lady Candidate': Ruth Hanna McCormick and the Senatorial Election of 1930". Illinois Historical Journal. 88 (3). University of Illinois Press: 189–202. JSTOR   40192957..
  13. 1 2 "Third Party Tries Wings in Chicago; Newton Jenkins Is Entered for Mayor Under Symbol of the American Buffalo". New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  14. 1 2 3 John L. Spivak. "Nazi Spies and American "Patriots"".
  15. 1 2 Leinwand, Gerald (August 17, 2004). Mackerels in the Moonlight: Four Corrupt American Mayors. McFarland. p. 62. ISBN   9780786418459.
  16. ↑ "Chicago Election Blow to Nazi Hopes". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. April 4, 1935. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  17. ↑ Gallagher, John P. (February 3, 1935). "More Taxable Items Sought in the Corn Belt" . The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 25, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  18. 1 2 "Calls Third Party Aid to Fascism" . The Pittsburgh Press. July 17, 1936. Retrieved March 25, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition by Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli SIU Press, Jan 10, 2013
  20. ↑ Simpson, Dick (March 8, 2018). Rogues, Rebels, And Rubber Stamps: The Politics Of The Chicago City Council, 1863 To The Present. Routledge. ISBN   9780429977190 . Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Board of Election Commissioners For the City of Chicago Mayoral Election Results Since 1900 General Elections Only". Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. July 18, 2004. Archived from the original on July 18, 2004. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  22. ↑ 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
  23. ↑ Stewart, Russ (September 12, 2018). "Emanuel's Choice Was Either to Get Out Or to Get Beat". Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  24. ↑ World War II Chicago By Paul Michael Green, Melvin G. Holli
  25. ↑ Pacyyga, Dominic, Chicago: A Biography, 2009, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 324 ISBN   0-226-64431-6
  26. 1 2 "Bridgport: Politics". lockzero.org.uic.edu. University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
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