 | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Elections in Louisiana |
|---|
 |
 Government |
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1946 was held on January 22, 1946. It resulted in the defeat of incumbent mayor Robert Maestri and the election of deLesseps Morrison as Mayor of New Orleans.
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Elections in Louisiana |
|---|
|
| Government |
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1946 was held on January 22, 1946. It resulted in the defeat of incumbent mayor Robert Maestri and the election of deLesseps Morrison as Mayor of New Orleans.
Like most Southern states between Reconstruction and the civil rights era, Louisiana's Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in terms of electoral support. This meant that the city's Democratic primary was the real contest for mayor.
Despite his initial popularity, by 1946 incumbent mayor Robert Maestri had developed a reputation for corruption and ineffectual governance. He used his political machine, the Regular Democratic Organization, to dispense patronage and to dominate the city's electoral process.
A reform candidate, Shirley G. Wimberly, had already run unsuccessfully against Ryan Bernard in the election of 1942. This time, Wimberly announced his candidacy in June 1945 and began charging that Maestri ran an inefficient government with high taxes and a compliant commission council which contributed to the city's economic stagnation. He called for registration of new voters in order to break the hold of machine politics. However, Wimberly ran as an independent and had no significant backing.
The Independent Citizens Committee, a group of Uptown reformers, began their own search for a candidate who could challenge Maestri and his Old Regulars on a platform of good government and economic development. They chose former Congressman Joachim O. Fernandez, the city's collector of internal revenue. Though he had been the local Ninth Ward boss of Huey Long's machine, Fernandez began to campaign on a reform platform. But on December 2, 1945, Fernandez abruptly withdrew from the race after making a deal with Maestri, who offered to pay off his campaign expenses. The reform coalition began a desperate search for a replacement candidate, and only six days later emerged with Colonel deLesseps Morrison, a returning Army veteran and state representative for the city's Twelfth Ward who was allied with former reform governor Sam H. Jones.
Morrison began his campaign with critiques of the corruption, gangsterism and dictatorship of the Maestri administration. His platform was similar to Wimberly's, but the young and enthusiastic Morrison was a much more dynamic campaigner and had the full support of the city's reform coalition. He augmented his support by allying with women's groups and by forming the Morrison Veterans Organization, which allowed to build support beyond the reformers' traditional Uptown base. His frequent public appearances were a novelty for New Orleanians used to politicians who relied on political machines instead of courting public opinion. Morrison was endorsed by the city's newspapers, which aided his campaign by emphasizing the deficiencies of the Maestri administration in their articles. Meanwhile, Maestri made only perfunctory attempts at campaigning. He rarely made public appearances, instead sending representatives to events attended by the other candidates.
Despite his image as a clean reformer, Morrison called for legalized gambling as a way to control vice, and he accepted campaign donations by underworld figure Henry Muller. Morrison was alleged to have attended an election-eve meeting with underworld leaders where he promised to allow prostitution and bookmaking to continue.
| Candidate | Votes received |
|---|---|
| deLesseps Morrison | 67,160 |
| Robert Maestri (incumbent) | 63,273 |
| Shirley Wimberly | 1,888 |
Four minor candidates - Anthony Deckelmann, Mrs. Louis Dillon, John Golden, and Warren Johnson - received 1387 votes between them. No runoff was necessary. The 1946 election was the last time an incumbent mayor of New Orleans was defeated in the polls.
The 1946 election saw the emergence of new groups of voters - most notably women, veterans, and members of a newly-professionalized civil service - who were not subject to the patronage of the Old Regulars and who thus operated outside the city's traditional machine politics. The Regular Democratic Organization continued to have political power into the 1950s and 1960s, but its monopoly over the city's politics was broken after Morrison's victory.
| Preceded by 1942 mayoral election | New Orleans mayoral elections | Succeeded by 1950 mayoral election |
deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., known as Chep Morrison, was an American attorney and politician, who was the 54th mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1946 to 1961. He then served as an appointee of U.S. President John F. Kennedy as the United States ambassador to the Organization of American States between 1961 and 1963.
Victor Hugo Schiro, was an American politician who served on the New Orleans City Council and as Mayor from 1961 to 1970.
Joachim Octave Fernández, Sr., was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives for Louisiana's 1st congressional district. Like all other members of his state's congressional delegation at the time of his tenure, Fernández was a Democrat.
The 1944 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held in two rounds on January 18 and February 29, 1944. Like most Southern states between the Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement, Louisiana's Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in terms of electoral support. This meant that the two Democratic Party primaries held on these dates were the real contest over who would be governor. The 1944 election saw the reformer ‘anti-Long’ faction retain power for another four years under Jimmie Davis.
The first round of the New Orleans mayoral election of 2006 took place on April 22, 2006; a runoff between incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu took place on May 20, resulting in reelection for Mayor Nagin. The Mayor of New Orleans is the top official in New Orleans' mayor-council system of government.
Robert Sidney Maestri was mayor of New Orleans from 1936 to 1946 and a key ally of Huey P. Long, Jr., and Earl Kemp Long.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1958, held in February, resulted in the re-election of deLesseps Morrison to his fourth consecutive term as mayor of New Orleans. Morrison was able to defeat the Regular Democratic Organization candidate - former State Representative Claude W. Duke - soundly, winning 90,802 of the 157,320 votes cast in the election compared to Duke's 43,231 votes. State Representative Fred C. Donaldson ran a distant third with 18,999 votes; no runoff was required. Morrison had proven able to consistently defeat the once powerful RDO machine, but since mayors were only allowed two consecutive terms under the new city charter of 1954, this would be Morrison's last term in office.
The 1956 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on January 17, 1956. Incumbent Governor Robert F. Kennon was ineligible to run for a second term in office. Earl K. Long won the Democratic primary, which was tantamount to election, securing his second full term as Governor of Louisiana. He received over 50% of the vote, defeating his opponents so soundly that no runoff vote was needed. His closest competitor was New Orleans mayor deLesseps Story Morrison.
The 1964 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on March 3, 1964. Democrat John McKeithen won a highly-competitive primary and dispatched Republican Charlton Lyons in the general election, though Lyons made a historically good showing for a Louisiana Republican up to this point.
The 1960 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on April 19, 1960.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1950 was held on January 24, 1950. It resulted in the re-election of deLesseps Morrison to his second term as Mayor of New Orleans.
The New Orleans mayoral election of 1934 was held on January 23, 1934. It resulted in the re-election of T. Semmes Walmsley as Mayor of New Orleans.
Thomas Semmes Walmsley was the mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from July 1929 to June 1936. He is best known for his intense rivalry, reconciliation, and then resumption of hostilities with Governor Huey Pierce Long, Jr.
The 1940 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held in two rounds on January 16 and February 20, 1940. Like most Southern states between the Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement, Louisiana's Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in terms of electoral support. This meant that the two Democratic Party primaries held on these dates were the real contest over who would be governor. The election resulted in the narrow defeat of Earl K. Long and the election of Sam H. Jones as governor of Louisiana on a reform platform.
Andrew James McShane was mayor of New Orleans from 1920 to 1925.
Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock, a conservative Democrat from Franklin in St. Mary Parish, was the only three-term lieutenant governor in 20th century Louisiana history. He served from 1960 to 1972. Aycock failed in his only bid for governor in the 1971 Democratic primary. Few lieutenant governors in Louisiana have been elected directly to the governorship; former Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette, is a prominent exception.
The 1948 Louisiana gubernatorial election was decided by a Democratic primary held in two rounds on January 20 and February 24, 1948, which was tantamount to election. The 1948 election saw the defeat of Louisiana's reformer "anti-Long" faction and the election of Earl Kemp Long to his first full term as governor.
The Regular Democratic Organization (RDO), or Old Regulars, or the New Orleans Ring, is a conservative political organization based in New Orleans. It has existed for 130 years and as of 2017 is still active. The symbol of the RDO is the rooster. For many years the organization's headquarters was at the Choctaw Club.
The 1951 Philadelphia municipal election held on Tuesday November 6, was the first election under the city's new charter, which had been approved by the voters in April, and the first Democratic victory in the city in more than a half-century. The positions contested were those of mayor and district attorney, and all seventeen city council seats. There was also a referendum on whether to consolidate the city and county governments. Citywide, the Democrats took majorities of over 100,000 votes, breaking a 67-year Republican hold on city government. Joseph S. Clark Jr. and Richardson Dilworth, two of the main movers for the charter reform, were elected mayor and district attorney, respectively. Led by local party chairman James A. Finnegan, the Democrats also took fourteen of seventeen city council seats, and all of the citywide offices on the ballot. A referendum on city-county consolidation passed by a wide margin. The election marked the beginning of Democratic dominance of Philadelphia city politics, which continues today.
The 1972 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 9, 1972.