The Chicago mayoral election of 1991 resulted in the re-election of incumbent Democrat Richard M. Daley to his first full four-year term. Daley had previously been elected to serve the remainder of Harold Washington's unexpired term in a special election held following Washington's death in office.

Daley won by a landslide 44 point margin. His most significant opponent in general election was Harold Washington Party nominee R. Eugene Pincham. Other candidates were Republican candidate George Gottlieb and Socialist Workers Party nominee James Warren, both of whom performed poorly in the vote count.

The Democratic Party, Republican Party, and the Harold Washington Party all held primary elections for their nominations. Daley easily won the Democratic primary, receiving more than 63.01% of the vote and placing more than thirty-points ahead of the runner-up, then-Cook County commissioner Danny K. Davis. Former mayor Jane Byrne made a distant third-place finish in the Democratic primary, receiving less than 5.90% of the vote. In the Republican primary, which saw participation by a dismal 10,204 voters, George S. Gotlieb, a police sergeant, defeated candidate Alfred Walter Balciunas and radio executive Pervis Spann by a large double-digit margin. James R. Hutchison won the Harold Washington Party primary as a write-in candidate as a formality to secure the party ballot status in the general election. Afterwards, he stepped aside to allow the party's vice chairman, Illinois Appellate Court Judge Pincham, to become the party's nominee

Democratic primary Richard M. Daley, incumbent mayor since 1989 Jane Byrne, former mayor (1979–1983) Danny Davis, member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners

Declined to run The following individuals received speculation as prospective candidates, but did not run: Eugene Sawyer, former mayor (1987–1989)

Campaigning Daley handily won the Democratic nomination, fending off challenges from then-county commissioner Danny K. Davis and former mayor Jane Byrne.

Daley announced on December 10, 1990, that he would seek reelection. The following day Daley held a fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Chicago which raised more than a million dollars for his campaign. This, when added to his existing campaign funds, meant that by the third day of his candidacy he already had 2 million dollars in funding. Neither of his competitors could come anywhere remotely near him in fundraising. Daley –who had won a special election in 1989– was the strong frontrunner for the 1991 Democratic nomination. A poll conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times in November 1990 showed that 58% of Chicagoan's had positive views of his performance as mayor. A Southtown Economist poll conducted after his campaign announcement showed him with a 61% approval rating, and also showed him to be polling at a 2 to 1 margin over his closest challenger, Danny Davis. Daley benefited from a variety of factors, including solid voting blocs supporting his candidacy, his strong managerial style as mayor, and lack of public interest in local politics amid the Gulf War, which assisted Daley's hopes to have a low-profile campaign.

Davis and Byrne hoped they would be able to debate Daley. However, Daley declined to participate in any debates.

Davis had been selected as a "consensus" black candidate at a closed-door meeting held November 19, 1990 at the Hyde Park Hilton between 126 of Chicago's African-American leaders. They voted 66–60 to support Davis over a prospective run by former mayor Eugene Sawyer. While Davis had planned to campaign in all areas of the city, his funds were too limited to support a citywide campaign, requiring him to focus on select neighborhoods. Late in the primary, Tyrone Crider, the national executive director of Operation PUSH, characterized the Davis campaign as a "slow movement" because it had "failed to take the time necessary to meet and consult with the [black] religious and business community." Both Crider and PUSH founder Jesse Jackson became upset when Davis disparaged a number of black ministers that had supported Daley as being "Uncle Toms".

Byrne's campaign was hampered by her inability to raise funds. Her campaign was considered to be rather weak, and received no support from any significant community or business leaders. During her run, she argued that Chicago's, "deserved better leadership in City Hall". She attempted to provoke Daley into publicly feuding with her, but he did not take her bait. Chicago Sun-Times writer Steve Neal referred to Byrne as the Norma Desmond of Chicago politics, meaning that she was delusional in her belief that she could stage a comeback. In her 1991 campaign, Byrne was observed to be most comfortable when campaigning in the African-American community.

Perennial candidate Sheila A. Jones had also run in the previous two elections' Democratic primaries. She was a supporter of the LaRouche movement.

Daley was endorsed in the primary by the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune.

Results

Black turnout was lower in the 1991 primary than it had been in the 1989 primary. Daley's share among black voters was ultimately higher than analysts had anticipated, with Daley securing double-digit support.

Due to the contest being overshadowed by the Gulf War, and due to voter apathy towards the election as a result of Daley's overwhelming lead in the polls, turnout was considered low, at under 48%. This was believed to have been among the lowest turnouts in fifty years for a mayoral primary in Chicago.

Daley set a new record for the largest margin of victory in a Democratic primary, surpassing the previous record (set by his father in 1975). Daley's performance in the primary was perceived as placing him an unbeatable position to win the general election, with Chicago being an overwhelmingly Democratic city, and the Democratic nomination being widely considered as tantamount to election. Even though he was likely to face a third-party African-American opponent, this was not seen as enough to prevent his victory (especially considering that, as a candidate, Davis had not been able to pose much of a challenge to Daley in the primary).

Results by ward Daley won a majority of the vote in 31 wards and Davis won a majority of the vote in the remaining 19 wards.

Results by ward Ward Richard M. Daley Danny K. Davis Jane M. Byrne Sheila A. Jones Total Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes 01 7,912 65.2% 3,366 27.8% 794 6.5% 55 0.5% 12,127 02 1,471 15.9% 6,950 75.3% 737 8.0% 74 0.8% 9,232 03 982 13.8% 5,484 77.0% 605 8.5% 49 0.7% 7,120 04 2,438 24.0% 7,126 70.0% 554 5.4% 58 0.6% 10,176 05 3,059 25.6% 8,319 69.7% 511 4.3% 50 0.4% 11,939 06 2,052 12.2% 13,917 82.5% 845 5.0% 58 0.3% 16,872 07 2,331 26.3% 5,922 66.9% 560 6.3% 36 0.4% 8,849 08 1,872 12.4% 12,465 82.6% 666 4.4% 87 0.6% 15,090 09 1,384 13.4% 8,269 80.3% 580 5.6% 59 0.6% 10,292 10 9,548 60.3% 4,043 25.5% 2,179 13.8% 56 0.4% 15,826 11 15,914 92.6% 875 5.1% 391 2.3% 10 0.1% 17,190 12 12,477 90.0% 729 5.3% 636 4.6% 25 0.2% 13,867 13 26,094 94.9% 226 0.8% 1,142 4.2% 20 0.1% 27,482 14 11,017 87.8% 973 7.8% 537 4.3% 25 0.2% 12,552 15 3,159 32.1% 6,031 61.3% 600 6.1% 49 0.5% 9,839 16 1,216 13.1% 7,233 77.8% 758 8.2% 91 1.0% 9,298 17 1,104 10.6% 8,599 82.6% 644 6.2% 58 0.6% 10,405 18 12,519 62.4% 6,455 32.2% 1,028 5.1% 49 0.2% 20,051 19 19,947 84.3% 2,492 10.5% 1,179 5.0% 32 0.1% 23,650 20 1,108 12.7% 6,980 79.7% 583 6.7% 85 1.0% 8,756 21 1,580 10.5% 12,638 84.1% 748 5.0% 64 0.4% 15,030 22 3,862 76.8% 685 13.6% 451 9.0% 29 0.6% 5,027 23 22,539 94.5% 170 0.7% 1,117 4.7% 25 0.1% 23,851 24 951 9.9% 7,948 83.2% 591 6.2% 68 0.7% 9,558 25 5,065 78.0% 901 13.9% 499 7.7% 25 0.4% 6,490 26 5,506 73.4% 1,306 17.4% 661 8.8% 33 0.4% 7,506 27 1,920 26.3% 4,782 65.4% 550 7.5% 59 0.8% 7,311 28 761 9.6% 6,716 84.5% 426 5.4% 45 0.6% 7,948 29 1,445 14.5% 7,858 78.8% 580 5.8% 85 0.9% 9,968 30 10,826 82.0% 1,592 12.1% 765 5.8% 24 0.2% 13,207 31 5,120 65.3% 1,865 23.8% 823 10.5% 30 0.4% 7,838 32 8,934 83.9% 994 9.3% 689 6.5% 28 0.3% 10,645 33 10,865 86.6% 789 6.3% 852 6.8% 39 0.3% 12,545 34 1,703 13.3% 10,339 80.9% 674 5.3% 64 0.5% 12,780 35 11,660 90.1% 437 3.4% 825 6.4% 23 0.2% 12,945 36 17,827 90.6% 676 3.4% 1,133 5.8% 35 0.2% 19,671 37 1,040 11.8% 7,214 82.0% 500 5.7% 42 0.5% 8,796 38 18,535 93.3% 226 1.1% 1,094 5.5% 18 0.1% 19,873 39 12,826 91.2% 427 3.0% 785 5.6% 28 0.2% 14,066 40 9,562 88.2% 653 6.0% 605 5.6% 24 0.2% 10,844 41 19,634 90.2% 323 1.5% 1,793 8.2% 23 0.1% 21,773 42 8,563 74.9% 2,026 17.7% 804 7.0% 36 0.3% 11,429 43 12,556 86.4% 1,316 9.1% 632 4.3% 33 0.2% 14,537 44 10,376 82.7% 1,539 12.3% 614 4.9% 21 0.2% 12,550 45 18,464 92.7% 302 1.5% 1,122 5.6% 26 0.1% 19,914 46 9,009 71.4% 2,699 21.4% 857 6.8% 52 0.4% 12,617 47 11,423 87.7% 915 7.0% 672 5.2% 20 0.2% 13,030 48 7,491 73.1% 2,111 20.6% 617 6.0% 33 0.3% 10,252 49 6,912 68.8% 2,509 25.0% 573 5.7% 55 0.5% 10,049 50 13,859 89.3% 998 6.4% 635 4.1% 33 0.2% 15,525 Totals 408,418 63.0% 199,408 30.8% 38,216 5.9% 2,146 0.3% 648,188

Republican primary George S. Gotlieb defeated Alfred Walter Balciunas and WVON executive Pervis Spann in the Republican primary . Gotlieb, a police sergeant, was not well-known. Gottlieb was endorsed in the primary by the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune.

Brette X. New had also been running initially, but withdrew.

Results

Results by ward Results by ward Ward George S. Gottlieb Alfred Walter Balciunas Pervis Spann Total Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes 1 136 49.6% 76 27.7% 62 22.6% 274 2 20 9.7% 23 11.2% 163 79.1% 206 3 15 16.0% 15 16.0% 64 68.1% 94 4 28 27.5% 14 13.7% 60 58.8% 102 5 38 32.8% 24 20.7% 54 46.6% 116 6 25 17.7% 15 10.6% 101 71.6% 141 7 14 21.2% 15 22.7% 37 56.1% 66 8 14 12.0% 12 10.3% 91 77.8% 117 9 19 21.8% 13 14.9% 55 63.2% 87 10 216 46.7% 189 40.8% 58 12.5% 463 11 66 40.5% 69 42.3% 28 17.2% 163 12 74 38.3% 100 51.8% 19 9.8% 193 13 95 36.5% 147 56.5% 18 6.9% 260 14 44 26.0% 101 59.8% 24 14.2% 169 15 13 15.7% 31 37.3% 39 47.0% 83 16 5 6.7% 13 17.3% 57 76.0% 75 17 19 17.8% 13 12.1% 75 70.1% 107 18 60 31.9% 70 37.2% 58 30.9% 188 19 198 62.1% 88 27.6% 33 10.3% 319 20 17 15.3% 21 18.9% 73 65.8% 111 21 18 15.1% 9 7.6% 92 77.3% 119 22 39 47.0% 33 39.8% 11 13.3% 83 23 109 40.8% 131 49.1% 27 10.1% 267 24 24 26.1% 15 16.3% 53 57.6% 92 25 33 40.2% 35 42.7% 14 17.1% 82 26 50 44.6% 35 31.2% 27 24.1% 112 27 38 39.6% 22 22.9% 36 37.5% 96 28 17 23.6% 16 22.2% 39 54.2% 72 29 22 28.9% 17 22.4% 37 48.7% 76 30 126 58.6% 67 31.2% 22 10.2% 215 31 54 37.5% 58 40.3% 32 22.2% 144 32 77 48.4% 59 37.1% 23 14.5% 159 33 76 46.1% 62 37.6% 27 16.4% 165 34 10 9.7% 16 15.5% 77 74.8% 103 35 209 68.1% 65 21.2% 33 10.7% 307 36 194 62.2% 92 29.5% 26 8.3% 312 37 27 33.8% 13 16.2% 40 50.0% 80 38 241 64.8% 105 28.2% 26 7.0% 372 39 150 59.3% 75 29.6% 28 11.1% 253 40 141 57.6% 80 32.7% 24 9.8% 245 41 372 67.8% 122 22.2% 55 10.0% 549 42 237 56.4% 115 27.4% 68 16.2% 420 43 253 63.9% 90 22.7% 53 13.4% 396 44 206 62.6% 80 24.3% 43 13.1% 329 45 284 73.0% 74 19.0% 31 8.0% 389 46 184 55.8% 106 32.1% 40 12.1% 330 47 143 60.1% 68 28.6% 27 11.3% 238 48 214 55.4% 117 30.3% 55 14.2% 386 49 121 53.1% 71 31.1% 36 15.8% 228 50 157 62.5% 64 25.5% 30 12.0% 251 Totals 4,942 48.4% 2,961 29.0% 2,301 22.5% 10,204

Harold Washington Party primary James R. Hutchinson, who won the party primary, withdrew after winning, stepping aside for R. Eugene Pincham to assume the nomination. Hutchison was the vice-chairman of the Harold Washington Party.