In the Chicago mayoral election of 1923, Democrat William E. Dever defeated Republican Arthur C. Lueder and Socialist William A. Cunnea. Elections were held on April 3, the same day as aldermanic runoffs.

To win their party's nominations, Dever went unopposed in the Democratic primary election, while Lueder handily defeated three opponents in the Republican Party's primary.

Nominations

Democratic primary Ahead of 1923, the Democratic Party had long been divided.The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition by Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli SIU Press, Jan 10, 2013 Carter Harrison IV and Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne had once each led factions which held equal prominence to a faction led by Roger Charles Sullivan. However, by the end of the 1910s, Sullivan's wing of the Chicago Democratic Party had dwarfed theirs. By then, the blocs of Harrison and Dunne had effectively united as well. When Sullivan died in 1920, George Brennan became the party leader. He sought to unify the Democratic Party factions.

While he had been long discussed as a potential mayoral candidate for almost two decades, in 1923, a combination of conditions and events catapulted William E. Dever to the nomination. In December 1922, a number of influential Chicago advocates for clean government had held a forum led by Mrs. Kellog Fairbank and Reverend Graham Taylor at the City Club of Chicago about the pending mayoral election which Clarence Darrow attended. This led to the establishment of the Non-Partisan Citizens Mayoral Committee led by Mrs. Kellog Fairbank, which sought to lobby both parties to put forth truthful alternatives to the corrupt and demagogic mayor Thompson. They decided that they would analyze prospective candidates and compile a shortlist of candidates they would be willing to back. Brennan, who was unable to narrow out the field of prospective candidates to personally back, took an interest in these efforts, seeing them as an opportunity to help inform him in narrowing out the field. The committee ultimately put forth a shortlist of seven prospective candidates they backed, including Judge William E. Dever. Dever had also been championed as a potential candidate by a broad array of individuals, including the Municipal Voters' League's George Sikes, William L. O'Connell (a leader in the party's Harrison-Dunne bloc), and Progressive Republican Harold Ickes. It was believed that Dever could unite the Democratic Party and serve as a clean and honest leader of the city's government. Brennan, particularly impressed that Dever had backing from both members of the Harrison-Dunne faction and from reformers outside of the party, decided to take a closer look at him as a candidate. Upon meeting with him, he found comradery and a positive working dynamic with Dever. He struck an arrangement under which, if elected mayor, he would allow Dever independence, but expected that Dever would, in turn, agree not utilize his patronage powers to build a political machine usurping Brennan's leadership of the party. After finding no opposition to Dever as a candidate from within the party leadership, he announced the next day that Dever was the party-backed candidate for mayor.

Before Dever had become the consensus candidate, among the individuals speculated as prospective candidates by the press was Anton Cermak.

Brennan worked to ensure that Dever was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Despite Brennan pushing forth Dever's candidacy, the public generally did not view Dever to be a "machine" candidate. The public generally perceived that reformist citizens organizations had advocated Dever to the Democratic party leaders.

The Democratic primary was regarded as having had a large turnout, considering that there were uncontested races for mayor, City Treasurer and City Clerk.

Results by wardWard Dever Dever % 1st 5,475 100% 2nd 1,218 100% 3rd 1,949 100% 4th 1,983 100% 5th 2,034 100% 6th 2,160 100% 7th 3,471 100% 8th 3,184 100% 9th 2,030 100% 10th 1,911 100% 11th 5,873 100% 12th 3,909 100% 13th 2,695 100% 14th 7,636 100% 15th 5,260 100% 16th 5,215 100% 17th 3,117 100% 18th 4,659 100% 19th 3,155 100% 20th 3,921 100% 21st 3,454 100% 22nd 3,431 100% 23rd 4,029 100% 24th 2,195 100% 25th 3,053 100% 26th 3,989 100% 27th 3,733 100% 28th 3,833 100% 29th 6,927 100% 30th 8,584 100% 31st 2,625 100% 32nd 3,401 100% 33rd 4,222 100% 34th 3,103 100% 35th 1,527 100% 36th 1,440 100% 37th 3,295 100% 38th 3,304 100% 39th 4,154 100% 40th 2,062 100% 41st 1,991 100% 42nd 3,054 100% 43rd 1,723 100% 44th 1,942 100% 45th 3,222 100% 46th 1,601 100% 47th 1,998 100% 48th 1,662 100% 49th 3,140 100% 50th 1,789 100%Total165,338100

Republican primary Due to his poor health, there had been uncertainty as to whether two-term incumbent Republican William H. Thompson would run for reelection. He was also seen as more vulnerable to being unseated by a strong Democratic opponent, as Thompson had severed ties with a number of key political allies, including Robert E. Crowe and Frederick Lundin. One of the final factors in Thompson's decision not to seek reelection was a scandal involving campaign manager being implicated in shaking down vendors of school supplies for bribes and political contributions. Thompson had bled middle class support over rumors of corruption in his administration, and had bled support from working class votes over his backing at the time of Prohibition, which Chicago voters had made their opposition known by a margin in excess of eighty-points in a 1919 referendum on the matter. Uneager to joust with Dever, nearly a week after Dever became the presumptive Democratic candidate, Thompson announced his decision not to run with only a month before the Republican primary. This created an open race for the nomination.

Candidates

Bernard P. Barasa, judge of the Municipal Court of Chicago Edward R. Listinger, member of the Cook County Board of Review, Arthur C. Lueder, Chicago postmaster and businessman Arthur M. Millard, president of the Masonic Bureau of Service and Employment

Campaign Arthur C. Lueder was backed by the Brundage-McCormick/Tribune and Deneen blocs of the party. He was also backed by Robert E. Crowe. Lueder ran on a "ticket", mutually being endorsed by and endorsing city treasurer candidate John V. Healy and city clerk candidate William H. Cruden, neither of whom were opposed in their primaries.

Edward R. Litsinger was backed by the William Randolph Hearst and Frederick Lundin blocs of the party, and was also the candidate supported by the remaining members of Thompson's dwindling faction of the party.

Bernard P. Barasa ran on a pro-liquor platform amid prohibition.

Results Lueder won a greater margin of victory than even his own campaign had expected.

Socialist nomination William A. Cunnea was nominated by the Socialist Party. Cunnea had been a Democratic nominee for alderman in 1899, and had been the Socialist nominee for Cook County State's Attorney in 1912 and 1916. By profession, Cunnea was a labor lawyer.

General election Campaigning

Both major party candidates campaigned as reformers. On March 18, 1923, Oscar Hewitt of the "Chicago Tribune" characterized the campaign one of the “mildest”

At the time of the election, Chicago was seen as a Republican-leaning city, especially due to the influx of black voters to the city as part of the Great Migration, a demographic largely voted for the Republican Party at the time. Furthermore, the city had not voted Democratic in a presidential election over the previous three decades, with the Republican nominees carrying the city's vote in all but the 1912 presidential election when former Republican president Theodore Roosevelt carried the city on the third party Progressive Party ticket. However, factors harming the Republican Party's prospects included a divide among the party's ranks, the scandals that had tarnished Thompson's administration, and tax increases made during Thompson's mayoralty.

Dever was only the second resident of Edgewater to run for mayor, after only Nathaniel Sears, and consequentially would be the first Edgewater resident to serve as mayor. Dever had a strong reputation for honesty, and was seen to be smart and well-spoken. He was supported by many reformers and independents. Many went so far as to organize the Independent Dever League, a group created to act in support of Dever's campaign. Dever won strong backing from progressive independents.

The traction issue reemerged in this election. Lueder promised to "study" the possibility of municipal purchase of street railways. Dever, on the other hand, was far more enthusiastic on the issue, proclaiming that the most critical task for the victor of the election would be to resolve problems with the city's public transit. These problems included price increases and declining quality of service provided by the Chicago Surface Lines. A long time advocate for municipal ownership, Dever believed that it would be ideal for the city to buy-out the Chicago Surface Lines once their franchise expired in 1927. He also had hopes of possibly acquiring the Chicago Rapid Transit Company. Socialist Cunnea campaigned for a 5-cent fare.

Lueder offered a strong contrast to the incumbent Republican mayor, being dignified and soft-spoken, with a strong reputation of personal integrity. Thompson did not campaign at all on behalf of Republican candidate Lueder. Lueder had strong support from the business community. Running a tidy campaign, positioning himself as a nonpolitical businessman, Lueder focused on securing the support of the Republican Party's factions. He maintained his support from the Brundage-McCormick and Deneen factions and picked up the backing of key figures from the Thompson faction of the party despite Thompson's own refusal to back him.

Lueder attempted to portray himself as an expert administrator. Lueder argued that his experience in real estate and as postmaster had sufficiently prepared him for the administrative role of the mayoralty, asserting that it provided a more valuable experience than holding various minor elected posts. He stated, "I believe what the people want is a businessman for mayor. I believe that want a man who will devote his time to his duties as mayor of Chicago, and not building up a political machine.

Lueder refused to formally debate Dever, despite Dever's request for debates. However, on numerous occasions they spoke at the same events.

Eugene V. Debs actively campaigned for Socialist nominee William A. Cunnea.

The campaign was largely uneventful, with little tenuous debate or controversy arising. However, in the final stretch of the campaign, a level of anti-Catholic sentiment was vocalized by select segments of Chicago's population that were unhappy at the prospect of Dever, as a Catholic, being mayor. At the same time, some made an effort at the close of the election to draw a link between the Ku Klux Klan and the Republican campaign. Outside of this last minute heightening of discourse in select corners, the campaign proved to be relatively tame.

Endorsements

Polling Early into the race the candidates ran close in the polls. However, Dever took a strong lead in the race. By the end of the race, gambling boss James Patrick O'Leary had assigned 1-7 betting odds in favor of a Dever victory.

Chicago Tribune straw polls The Chicago Tribune conducted straw polls during a portion of the campaign. These were not modern scientific polls, and many focused on specific sub-portions of the city's populace, rather than true representative samples.

Tribune began conducting these polls on March 7, 1923, with the first being published the next day. By March 18, the Tribune's analysis of its polling was that Dever began the general election campaign with an advantage over Lueder.