1943 Chicago mayoral election

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1943 Chicago mayoral election
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←  1939 April 6, 1943 1947  →
  Chicago Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly seated in audience 135843916 001 006 035a (3x4 a).jpg George B. McKibbin (6709 3x4).jpg
Nominee Edward J. Kelly George B. McKibbin
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote685,567571,547
Percentage54.54%45.47%
Mayor before election

Edward J. Kelly
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Edward J. Kelly
Democratic

The Chicago mayoral election of 1943 was held on April 6, 1943. The election saw incumbent Edward J. Kelly being reelected to a third term, defeating Republican nominee George B. McKibbin with a 9% margin of victory. Both nominees had received landslide victories in their party's primary elections.

Contents

The election was preceded by primary elections held on February 22, 1943, to determine the nominees of both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

Democratic primary

On January 13, Kelly officially confirmed that he would seek re-electioon. [1]

Reform-oriented Democrats supported a challenge by alderman John S. Boyle to incumbent mayor Edward J. Kelly. [2] This challenge failed to amount to much, with Kelly easily defeating Boyle.

Chicago Democratic mayoral primary (February 23, 1943) [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Edward J. Kelly (incumbent) 438,546 79.00
Democratic John S. Boyle 82,83614.92
Democratic Billy Patts33,7226.08
Turnout 555,104

Republican primary

Candidates

Ran
Withdrew

Summary

Originally, Roger Faherty (a conservative Republican) was seeking the nomination. [5] [1] The Cook County Republican Party had initially endorsed Faherty for the nomination. [1] However, Faherty lost their confidence by demonstrating himself to be a poor campaigner. [6] In January, leaders of the Illinois Republican Party and Cook County Republican Party persuaded McKibbin to run and Faherty to drop out of the race and support McKibbin. McKibbin's entry into the race and Faherty's intent to withdraw in support of McKibbin was announced on January 12. [1] McKibbin was a political ally of Governor Dwight H. Green, who played an active role in McKibbin's campaign. [7]

McKibbin won the Republican nomination by a landslide margin.

Results

Chicago Republican mayoral primary (February 23, 1943) [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican George B. McKibbin 318,166 76.27
Republican Arthur F. Albert 80,86819.39
Republican John Homer Lyle 18,1364.35
Turnout 417,170

General election

Campaigning

Newspaper advertisement for McKibbin's mayoral campaign George B. McKibbin mayoral ad 1943.jpg
Newspaper advertisement for McKibbin's mayoral campaign

Kelly did not actively campaign. Confident in his chances of victory, Kelly flaunted heavy gravitas and balked at the thought of campaigning. [2]

Like other Republicans that had run against Kelly, McKibbin framed his campaign as a crusade against machine politics]]. [2] declaring,

Pendergast is out in K.C., Hague in Jersey, and Tammany in New York have been cleaned out. Now it is time to clean out the Kelly–Nash Machine. [2]

McKibbin and his campaign accused the Kelly–Nash Machine (the Democratic political machine headed by Kelly and Patrick Nash) of having links with criminal activity. [2] McKibbin and Governor Green (while campaigning for McKibbin) accused Kelly's mayoral administration of having ties to criminal gangs and providing them protection from prosecution. [9] After Republican city treasurer nominee Morgan L. Fitch was escorted into a police station by several Black men ("kidnapped" –as he put it– by men who he alleged might be city police officers), city Republicans including McKibbin accused Kelly and Democrats of electoral violence. Officials from the police station he was brought to recounted that several citizens had escorted Fitch and others into the office under citizen's arrest out of concern that they were distributing literature that could incite a race riot. [10]

Democratic Party detractors alleged that McKibbin had signed his name to a covenant prohibiting Black tenants from occupying housing. [11]

Results

Voter turnout was considered to be very light. [2] Kelly won what was considered to be a very solid victory. [2] However, despite Kelly winning by a sizable margin, the mayoral election coinciding aldermanic elections were regarded by Chicago Tribune reporters as demonstrating an increase in Republican support and a significant loss of strength for the Kelly–Nash Machine. [12] [13]

Kelly performed strongly on much of the city's West Side and in other areas where the Cook County Democratic Party organization was best-organized. [12] However, while he led McKibbin on much of the West side, McKibbin did manage to outperform him in a few West Side wards. This included five wards which Governor Green had similarly outperformed Kelly in four years earlier: the 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, and 41st wards. The 37th ward included the Austin neighborhood. Additionally, McKibbin outperformed Kelly in the 47th ward, where he received his highest vote total. Furthermore, while Kelly carried the West Side's 33rd ward (home ward of Clayton F. Smith, the County Board president), it was by a very narrow margin with the two candidates nearly-tying in their vote totals there. [12]

McKibbin performed strongly in former Republican strongholds on the city's South and North sides. He outperformed Kelly in six of the city's north side wards. McKibbin saw particularly strong results in most of the lakefront-bordering wards (stretching from Lincoln Park up to the city's northern border with Evanston), winning most and narrowly trailing Kelly in the Uptown-area's 43rd and 48th wards. He also performed strongly against Kelly in the South Side's Hyde Park, Englewood, and Beverly Hills neighborhoods. Among the South Side wards where McKibbin outperformed Kelly was the 4th ward, in which McKibbin resided. McKibbin also narrowly-outperformed Kelly in the 18th ward, notably the home ward of Thomas J. Courtney (the Cook County state's attorney). Still, however, Kelly outperformed McKibbin in eleven of the nineteen wards on the city's south side, with Kelly performing strongly elsewhere on that side of the city. On the South Side, Kelly outperformed McKibbin in the 1st ward (at the time considered the "richest ward in the world"), as well as the African-American heavy 2nd and 3rd ward wards. Kelly also outperformed McKibbin in the Lake Calumet-area industrial region. [12]

In the coinciding runoff elections for Chicago City Council, the Republican Party saw gains. While the runoffs were officially non-partisan races. However, each of the nine runoffs had a Democratic-endorsed candidate and a Republican–endorsed candidate. Seven of the nine runoff candidates endorsed by the Republican Party were elected. This included three Republican challengers who unseated incumbent Democratic aldermen (including Oscar De Priest, who unseated Benjamin A. Grant in the 3rd ward; James B. Waller who unseated Paddy Bauler in the 43rd ward; and Theron W. Merryman, who unseated Edwin F. Meyer in the 45th ward). This result increased the number of Republican-affiliated aldermen on the City Council from five to nine. Two of the Republican-backed victors were former Democrats who had lost the support of the Kelly–Nash Machine. [13]

Mayor of Chicago 1943 election [14] (General Election)
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Edward J. Kelly (incumbent) 685,567 54.54
Republican George B. McKibbin 571,54745.47
Turnout 1,257,114

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Leaves State Job" . The Rock Island Argus. The Associated Press. January 13, 1943. Retrieved December 21, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition by Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli SIU Press, Jan 10, 2013
  3. ↑ "RaceID=609082". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Kelly Nominated for Another Term" . Chattanooga Daily Times. The Associated Press. February 24, 1923. Retrieved December 21, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Roger Faherty Papers, 1940-1965". digicoll.library.wisc.edu. Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids: Biography/History. Retrieved December 21, 2024.
  6. ↑ "U.S. At War: Gone Again Faherty". Time. January 25, 1943. Retrieved December 21, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Kelly Is Winner In Chicago Vote" . The Star Press. The Associated Press. April 7, 1943. Retrieved January 1, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "RaceID=609083". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Cut Gang Ties, Asks Aspirant; Mayor Cites Record" . Chicago Tribune. April 6, 1943. Retrieved January 1, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Republicans Accuse Rivals of New Violence" . Chicago Tribune. April 6, 1943. Retrieved January 1, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Restrictive Covenants". www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org. The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago Historical Society). Retrieved December 25, 2024.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Evans, Ryan (April 7, 1943). "Kelly Wins, But G.O.P. Gains; Return Mayor to Office By 116,159 Margin; Machine Strength Slips Sharply". Chicago Tribune.
  13. 1 2 Smith, Harold (April 7, 1943). "Kelly–Nash Get Big Beating In Alderman Vote. G.O.P Backs 7 Winners in 9 Runoffs" . Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 13, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "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.
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