1865 Chicago mayoral election explained

Election Name:1865 Chicago mayoral election
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Election Date:April 18, 1865
Previous Year:1863
Next Year:1867
Image1:File:JBrice (1).jpg
Nominee1:John Blake Rice
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:11,078
Percentage1:66.42%
Nominee2:Francis Cornwall Sherman
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:5,600
Percentage2:33.58%
Mayor
Before Election:Francis Cornwall Sherman
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:John Blake Rice
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1865, Republican John Blake Rice defeated Democratic incumbent Francis Cornwall Sherman by a landslide 33% margin of victory.

The election was held on April 18, only four days after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.[1]

Originally, Democrat Leonard Rothgerber had been one of the candidates running. However, in the aftermath of the assassination of the Republican president, the shaken public had come to coalesce in support of Republican mayoral candidate Rice. Sensing this, Democratic candidate Leonard Rothgerber withdrew from the race and declared that there was a need for the nation to stand united.[2] As a gesture of gratitude, Rice reimbursed Rothgerber's campaign expenses.[3]

While he remained on the ballot, Sherman also all-but-withdrew from the race as well in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination.[4]

Rice was a "Reform" Republican.[5]

This was the last of four mayoral elections that Chicago held during the course of the American Civil War.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Mayor John Blake Rice Biography.
  2. https://books.google.com/books?id=uZkGAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA129 Politics and Politicians of Chicago: Cook County, and Illinois. Memorial Volume, 1787-1887. A Complete Record of Municipal, County, State and National Politics from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. And an Account of the Haymarket Massacre of May 4, 1886, and the Anarchist Trials
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20150328073135/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-things-chicago-mayoral-elections-emanuel-garcia-perspec-0329-jm-20150327-story.html 10 things you might not know about Chicago mayoral elections
  4. https://books.google.com/books?id=jQlQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT30&lpg=PT30 Rogues, Rebels, And Rubber Stamps: The Politics Of The Chicago City Council, 1863 To The Present by Dick Simpson, Routledge, Mar 8, 2018 (page 30)
  5. Book: Shock Cities: The Environmental Transformation and Reform of Manchester and Chicago. 9780226670768. Platt. Harold L.. 2005-05-22.