The Chicago mayoral election of 1883 was held on Tuesday April 3, saw incumbent Carter Harrison III defeat Republican Eugene Cary by a double-digit margin.
By winning the 1883 election, Harrison became the second mayor in Chicago history to be elected to a third term (after only Francis Cornwall Sherman), and the first to be elected to a third consecutive term.
By the day of the election, Harrison was already the second-longest serving mayor in the city's history, and was only roughly a month shy of surpassing Monroe Heath as the longest serving mayor.
Harrison's 15% margin of victory was the greatest in all of his campaigns for mayor.Carter Harrison I: Policial Leader (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1928) pg. 288
Harrison's opponent, Eugene Cary, was a past member of the Chicago Common Council. He had also previously been county judge and city attorney in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and had also served as a member of the Tennessee Senate.
Campaign A key issue of the election was the "high licenses" for liquor sales in the city.Labor and Urban Politics: Class Conflict and the Origins of Modern Liberalism in Chicago, 1864-97 Front Cover Richard Schneirov University of Illinois Press, 1998 (page 166-67) Cary favored the high license.
During the campaign, many reformers, newspapers, and business interests coalesced their support behind a Citizen's Ticket that supported Republican nominee Eugene Cary for mayor.Grafters and Goo Goos: Corruption and Reform in Chicago by James L. Merriner
Results
64% of the city's German population voted for Harrison.
Multiple publications indicate a widespread belief existed that Cary had received a majority of votes lawfully cast, but votes from a ballot box in at least one precinct favoring Cary were not included in the count certified by election officials.
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