The Chicago mayoral election of 1971, held on April 6, 1971, was a contest between incumbent Democrat

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Chicago from 1955 and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee from 1953 until his death. He has been cal ...

and Republican Richard E. Friedman. Daley won by a landslide 40% margin, and it was his fifth consecutive mayoral win, the longest serving mayor of Chicago until that time.

Background

This was the final Chicago mayoral election held before the ratification of the

Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen yea ...

, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Daley was "lavishly endorsed" by many of the city's businessmen and civic leaders, including many who usually contribute to and vote for Republicans. The Republican Party had hoped that Friedman who be a reformist able to build a coalition of Republicans and independents to mount a strong challenge to Daley, but he was the "decided underdog." Chicago has not elected a Republican as mayor since

William Hale Thompson William Hale Thompson (May 14, 1869 – March 19, 1944) was an American politician who served as mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931. Known as "Big Bill", Reynolds, Paul (November 29, 2009)"US-UK 'Special Relationshi ...

won in 1927, before his Republican challenger, Friedman, was born. In the days ahead of voting on April 6, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described Chicago's public health facilities as "among the worst in the nation," with the infant mortality rate among the highest.New York Times, Mayor Daley Heads for His Fourth Re‐election, March 28, 1971
/ref> In a sign of accelerating "white flight" to the suburbs, the city's white population had decreased by up to 50,000 each year prior. Daley's critics pointed to low‐income housing policies that confined Black Chicagoans in two underserved, poor areas, and Friedman focused his campaign attack on Daley's low-income housing policy. One in eight city residents was on welfare at the time. But, as ''The New York Times'' noted, "unless a voter is black, poor, rebellious, or involved in some contretemps with a Democratic precinct leader, his dissatisfaction with Mr. Daley is likely to be minute."

Nominations

On their party's primary ballots on February 23, 1971, both candidates ran unopposed.

Democratic primary

In December 1970, Daley, then 68 years old, announced he would seek a fifth term after much speculation by the public. In a press conference announcing his reelection campaign, Daley remarked: "This election won't be won by speeches. It will have to be won by hard, hard work." He won the Democratic primary on February 23, 1971 with about 375,000 votes, his lowest tally since 1959, but a figure nine times that of Friedman's primary tally.

Republican primary

Richard Friedman, a 41-year-old independent Democrat running as a Republican, was an attorney and former executive director of the watchdog organization, Better Government Association. Friedman was endorsed by the

Rev. Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

General election and results

Daley's 740,137 votes more than doubled his opponent's 318,059, and Daley won in all but two of the city's 50

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

. Friedman carried the wards of Hyde Park and Armitage Street. The total votes were some 11,000 fewer than the previous mayoral race.

References

Mayoral elections in Chicago

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20th century in Chicago Mayoral election, 1971 Richard J. Daley Chicago mayoral election {{Illinois-election-stub