Beginning shortly after the city's incorporation as a city in 1846, elections have been held in the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. The following article provides information on the elections for mayor in the city during the 20th century.
The city of Manchester, New Hampshire, held its first mayoral election in 1846.[1][2]
Throughout the 20th century, and still today, regularly-scheduled elections are for two-year terms. This had been the case since the 1880 election.[citation needed]
The city's mayoral elections are currently are nonpartisan, a change which was adopted before the 1997 election. While, prior to 1997, elections had long been partisan, there had been stretches previous to 1999 in which the city's mayoral elections had been nonpartisan, including the stretch of four elections held from 1953 through 1959.[3]
The 1902 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the election of Democratic candidate Eugene Elliott Reed, who defeated Republican candidate Walter M. Fulton, Independent Citizens candidate Murdock A. Weathers and Socialist candidate John E. Mansfield.[4]
The 1904 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the reelection of Eugene Elliott Reed, who defeated Charles J. Brygger and James E. Reed.[4]
The 1906 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the reelection of Democratic incumbent Eugene Elliott Reed to a third consecutive term. Reed defeated Republican candidate Charles E. Cox and Socialist candidate Samuel F. Claflin.[4]
The 1914 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held on December 8, 1914,[6] to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the election of RepublicanHarry W. Spaulding, who defeated Democratic incumbent Charles C. Hayes and Socialist candidate William J. Ryan.[5][4] Sapulding won by a margin of 386 votes.[6] The election was considered one of the most hotly contested elections in years.[6]
In the coinciding Board of Aldermen election, the Republican Party won full control of the board, winning seven of the board's nine seats.[6]
The 1915 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held on November 2, 1915,[7] to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the reelection of Republican candidate Harry W. Spaulding, who defeated Democratic candidate Charles C. Hayes (himself a former mayor) and Socialist candidate James E. Dorren.[5][4] Spaulding's margin of victory was significantly greater than his margin of victory in the previous 1914 mayoral election.[8]
In the coinciding Board of Aldermen election, the Republican Party won ten of the thirteen seats on the board.[8][9] Also, notably, the Republican incumbent was elected the city's overseer of the poor against a Democratic challenger in that office's coinciding election.[8]
1915 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election results[5][7]
In the municipal elections held in the city on November 6, Democrats won overall control of the city's government for the first time in 42 years.[10] Democrats nearly swept all of the city's elections, winning not just the mayoralty, but also control of all of the city's commissions and public service boards, as well as the offices of auditor, collector, city clerk, engineer, messenger, physician, sealer, solicitor, superintendent of buildings, treasurer, and weigher. Democrats also won numerous municipal clerkships.[11]
1917 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election results[11]
In the Democratic primary, held on October 23, 1921, incumbent mayor Moise Verrette won renomination over challenger Charles D. Ward by a large margin. More than 3,300 votes were cast in the primary.[12]
The 1923 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held on November 1, 1923,[15] to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the reelection of Republican incumbent George E. Trudel, who defeated Democratic challenger John L. Barry.[4] The campaign was described by the Groton Times as one of the city's "most stirring" election campaigns in years.[15]
Democratic nominee John L. Barry was a former Manchester alderman, and had been Trudel's opponent in the previous 1921 election. While he again lost to Trudel, Barry did managed to cut Trudel's margin of victory by nearly half compared to the previous election.[16]
In the coinciding Board of Aldermen election, Republicans retained their control of the board.[15] The Republicans also nearly swept the races for citywide offices, with the exception of charity commissioner (which saw a Democratic incumbent reelected).
1923 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election results[16]
In the coinciding Board of Aldermen election, Republicans retained their majority of the board,[17] with Republicans winning eight seats and Democrats winning five.[18]
Republican nominee Andrew E. Moreau defeated Democratic nominee Timothy F. Conner and independent candidate Adolph Wagner (the latter of whom had, before becoming an independent candidate, unsuccessfully run for the Republican nomination).[4] Wagner won a strong plurality of the vote.[21]
The campaign was later described by the Groton Times as, "one of the most stirring" three-way races "in recent years".[21]
When it was a two-candidate campaign between Moreau and Conner, the general election had originally been seen as a likely victory for Moreau. However, upon the entrance of alderman Adolph Wagner as an independent candidate, the race began to be considered a tossup between Moreau and Conner.[17]
In the coinciding municipal elections, the Republican nominee won a surprise victory in the race for commissioner of charities, and the Republican Party also increased its majority on the Board of Aldermen by a single seat (now holding nine of the board's ten seats) by unseating a ten-year incumbent.[23]
1927 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election[22]
In the city's coinciding Board of Aldermen election, the Republicans won nine of the board's thirteen seats, the same exact majority they had held before the election.[24]
1929 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election[24]
Coinciding elections in the city, as well as much of the region, saw significant wins for Democrats, proving to be a regional wave election.[26] This included Democrats gaining the majority of the city's Board of Aldermen.[25] Also, a coinciding referendum saw the voters approve limited hours of sports and amusements to take place on Sundays, partially rolling-back the city's blue laws.[25][27]
On the eve of the election, the Portsmouth Herald described the campaign as having been "lively", and wrote that the result was expected to be very close.[30]
In the coinciding municipal elections, the Democratic Party won a majority of eleven of the thirteen seats on the city's Board of Aldermen (with Republicans winning the remaining two), and the Democratic incumbent commissioner of charities won reelection over their Republican opponent by a landslide 7,055 vote margin.[29]
The 1935 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held on November 5, 1935,[31] to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the reelection of Democratic incumbent Damase Caron to a third consecutive term. Caron defeated former postmaster Joseph H. Geisel, the Republican nominee, by a margin of roughly 3,300 votes. This was considered a landslide victory. At the time, this margin of victory was the greatest any Democrat had ever won in a Manchester mayoral election.[32]
In the coinciding municipal elections, the Democratic Party won a majority of ten of the thirteen seats on the city's Board of Aldermen.[32]
The 1937 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held on November 3, 1937,[33] to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the reelection of Democratic incumbent Damase Caron to a fourth consecutive term. Caron defeated Republican nominee Gerard A. Hamel.[33] He won by a vote margin even greater than his previous win, thus, setting a new record for the greatest margin of victory any Democrat had won in terms of vote numbers for a Manchester mayoral election.[32][33]
In the previous two years, Caron had helped lead the city through turbulent times, being credited with helping to diversify its economy with smaller industrial operations in the aftermath of the bankruptcy of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, a major employer in the city.[33][34]
1937 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election[33]
The 1939 Manchester, New Hampshire, mayoral election was held on November 7, 1939, to elect the mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire. It saw the reelection of Democratic incumbent Damase Caron to a fifth consecutive term. Caron defeated Caron defeated Republican nominee Wilfred A. LaFlamme.[35] Caron was the first mayor of the city to win a fifth consecutive term.[5][4] Caron won by a 903-vote margin of victory, which was significantly smaller than the margins he had won his previous four elections by.
In the initial vote count, Caron won by a 1,009 vote margin of victory. However, on November 22, the city's Board of Aldermen approved a petition by the Republican City Committee to recount the vote in the city's ninth ward, where a discrepancy had the mayoral vote totals exceed the number of ballots cast by 74. The results of this recount were announced on November 29, and saw Caron's margin of victory decreased to 903 votes.[35][36]
In the initial count, LaFlamme had a lead of 638 votes.[37] After a recount of the city's municipal elections was held, LaFlamme's final margin of victory over Caron was 618 votes.
After the coinciding Board of Aldermen election, control of the board belonged to the Democrats. The election also coincided with a school board election.[40]
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