1903 Chicago mayoral election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Chicago mayoral election of 1903, Democrat Carter Harrison Jr. was reelected to a fourth term, defeating Republican nominee Graeme Stewart.
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| Turnout | 84%  10 pp[1] | ||||||||||||||||
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The election took place on April 7.[2][3][4] Before the election, both Harrison and Stewart had received their party's nominations by acclamation at each party's municipal nominating convention.
1903 was shaping up to be a challenging reelection for incumbent Democrat Carter Harrison Jr.[5]
By 1903, the municipal reform movement in Chicago, which had been on the rise since the 1890s, had become a strong force in Chicago politics.[5]
By 1903, an anti-Harrison coalition had begun to arise in Chicago, consisting of members of union ( including in the Chicago Federation of Labor), former Harrison ally Robert "Bobby" Burke's followers, and remnants of what had been the once-strong Altgeld wing of the Democratic party.[5]
In 1903, the traction issue was a popular concern, particularly the issue of municipal ownership of streetcars.[5]
Incumbent mayor Carter Harrison Jr. was renominated by the Democratic Party.[5] Few others seemed interested in seeking the nomination.[5]
While there had been factional disputes within the party, most of the Democratic Party united behind Harrison as a nominee. A key exception to this was Harrison's once-ally Robert "Bobby" Burke, who remained opposed to Harrison.[5]
Harrison easily won the primaries to select delegates for the city's nominating convention, with his supporters being heavily selected as delegates.[5] A pro-Harrison delegate nominee even beat former Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Thomas Gahan, who had been seeking to run as a delegate aligned with then-Harrison rival Robert "Bobby" Burke.[5]
Without an opponent, Harrison was renominated at the convention by acclamation.[5] The convention, however, was noted as having been a rather unenthusiastic affair, appearing to signal more tepid or reluctant support of Harrison by his party.[5]
Businessman Greame Stewart won the Republican nomination.[6] He had previously served as a member of the executive committee of the 1900 Republican National Convention.[7] From 1882 through 1890 he was a member of the Chicago Board of Education, serving as the board's president from 1889 through 1890.[8] With an exceptional reputation for honesty and public service, Stewart had long been considered a potential candidate for mayor of Chicago.[5] Stewart was apealing to reform-minded voters dissatisfied with the Democratic political machine.[9]
Also seeking the mayoral nomination was former alderman John Maynard Harlan, who had previously run for mayor as an independent Republican in 1897[5] and had unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in 1901.[10]
In February, delegates favoring Stewart won the a 2–1 margin of victory in the Republican primaries over delegates supporting Harlan.[5]
At the city's Republican convention on March 7, Stewart was nominated in a single round of balloting.[11] Afterwards, resolutions were adopted to affirm Stewart's nomination by acclamation.[5][11]
| Republican convention nominating roll call[11] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Greame Stewart | 598 | 63.62 |
| John Maynard Harlan | 342 | 36.38 |
| Total | 940 | 100 |
| Ward | Stewart | Harlan | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | |
| 1st | 28 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 28 |
| 2nd | 37 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 37 |
| 3rd | 21 | 58.3 | 15 | 41.7 | 36 |
| 4th | 17 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 17 |
| 5th | 17 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 17 |
| 6th | 22 | 43.1 | 29 | 56.7 | 51 |
| 7th | 5 | 11.1 | 40 | 88.9 | 45 |
| 8th | 0 | 0.0 | 23 | 100 | 23 |
| 9th | 19 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 19 |
| 10th | 14 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 14 |
| 11th | 14 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 14 |
| 12th | 24 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 24 |
| 13th | 33 | 97.1 | 1 | 2.9 | 34 |
| 14th | 24 | 74.2 | 7 | 22.6 | 31 |
| 15th | 22 | 84.6 | 4 | 15.4 | 26 |
| 16th | 9 | 60.0 | 6 | 40.0 | 15 |
| 17th | 30 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 30 |
| 18th | 20 | 100 | 0 | 0.0 | 20 |
| 19th | 19 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 20th | 38 | 92.7 | 3 | 7.3 | 41 |
| 21st | 36 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 23rd | 16 | 72.7 | 6 | 13.6 | 22 |
| 24th | 17 | 85 | 3 | 15 | 20 |
| 25th | 40 | 88.9 | 5 | 11.1 | 45 |
| 26th | 25 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 27th | 12 | 50.0 | 12 | 50.0 | 24 |
| 28th | 28 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| 29th | 4 | 33.3 | 8 | 66.6 | 12 |
| 30th | 8 | 36.4 | 14 | 63.6 | 22 |
| 31st | 32 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 32nd | 33 | 94.3 | 2 | 5.7 | 35 |
| 33rd | 22 | 73.3 | 8 | 26.7 | 30 |
| 34th | 15 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 35th | 8 | 40.0 | 12 | 60.0 | 20 |
The United Labor Party first nominated Clarence Darrow, who thereafter declined the nomination.[12] While the party had been formed in hopes of nominating Darrow, after he declined it moved on and nominated Daniel L. Cruise.[5][12]
Beginning at the start of 1903, there had been a strong push among members of the Chicago Federation of Labor and others to draft Darrow as an independent candidate for mayor.[5] After an active and organized effort to draft him, which even included a nominating convention-style pro-Darrow mass meeting held at the Auditorium Theatre on February 16, and active consideration of a prospective run on his part, it appeared in late February that Darrow might be preparing to enter the race.[5] However, on February 24, he made the surprise announcement that he would not be running.[5]
The Prohibition Party nominated Thomas L. Haines.
The Socialist Party nominated Charles L. Breckon.
The Socialist Labor Party nominated Henry Sale.
Both major parties were unified behind their candidates.[5]
The major party candidates not both only resided in the city's twenty-first ward, but each also resided in the exact same voting precinct.[13]
The traction issue became the primary issue of the election.[13] Both candidates supported ultimately supported ultimately having municipal ownership for the streetcar services.[13] Stewart advocated making immediate improvements to its conditions by accepting the best terms the streetcar companies were willing to offer.[13] Harrison advocated holding off on an agreement until the city received the terms it desired.[13]
Harrison worked to paint Stewart as a puppet of corporations and special interests, particularly the streetcar companies.[5]
Republicans worked to paint Harrison as an enabler of corruption.[5] They also worked to paint him as having made few substantive accomplishments in his tenure as mayor, and utilized the slogan "six years, nothing doing" against Harrison.[5]
Stewart's own platform promised reform.[8] In an attempt to make it appear that he was not a product of the political machine, Stewart attempted to convince the electorate that businessmen and not politicians had been the ones who had urged him to run.[8]
Late into the race, Clarence Darrow came forward as a campaign surrogate in support of Harrison, swaying a lot of labor voters in Harrison's favor.[5]
The result was considered to be a close one.[5][12]
While they lost the mayoralty, in the coinciding elections, Republicans were able to win the races for City Attorney and City Clerk (having won the latter race by a mere several hundred vote margin).[5]
In the coinciding Chicago City Council election, Republicans won a weakened majority. The City Council went from having 39 Republicans, 30 Democrats, and one independent before the 1903 election, to having 35 Republicans, 33 Democrats, and one independent afterwards.[13]
Democrat Ernest Hummel also won the coinciding election for City Treasurer.[13]
Stewart had overwhelmingly won the vote in first precinct of the twenty-first ward, where both he and Harrison resided.[13] Harrison had won this precinct in the previous election.[13]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Carter Harrison Jr. | 146,208 | 47.22 | |
| Republican | Graeme Stewart | 138.648 | 44.78 | |
| Socialist | Charles L. Breckon | 11,124 | 3.59 | |
| United Labor | Daniel L. Cruice | 9,947 | 3.21 | |
| Prohibition | Thomas L. Haines | 2,674 | 0.86 | |
| Socialist Labor | Henry Sale | 1,014 | 0.33 | |
| Turnout | 309,615 | 84 | ||
Harrison received 64.38% of the Polish-American vote, while Stewart received 31.51%.[14]
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