1929 New York City mayoral election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1929 New York City mayoral election was held on November 5 in concert with other municipal elections.[1] Democratic incumbent Jimmy Walker defeated Republican challenger Fiorello H. La Guardia in what was considered "a Crushing Defeat to [the] City G.O.P. [delivered]" by Tammany Hall.[2] Socialist candidate Norman Thomas also ran, as did Socialist Labor candidate Olive M. Johnson and former Police Commissioner Richard Edward Enright for the Square Deal Party.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||
November 5, 1929
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 Results by Assembly district Walker: 40â50% 50â60% 60â70% 70â80% 80â90% | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Republican primary
Candidates
- Fiorello LaGuardia, U.S. Representative from East Harlem
- William M. Bennett, former State Senator from Manhattan and perennial candidate
La Guardia gave his acceptance speech at the Mecca Temple.[3]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Fiorello LaGuardia | 62,894 | 78.62% | |
| Republican | William M. Bennett | 17,100 | 21.38% | |
| Total votes | 79,994 | 100.00% | ||
General election
Results
Walker won with a plurality of 497,165 votes, which had been the largest ever recorded for a mayoral candidate up to that time.[2] This record would stand for more than five years, being surpassed when the 1935 Chicago mayoral election was won by a plurality of 631,579.[5]
Walker won the absolute majority of votes in all five boroughs. The results were part of a larger Democratic landslide in which Democrats won the position of President of the Board of Aldermen, Comptroller, all positions in Brooklyn, and all Borough Presidencies except Queens, and gained 2 seats in the Assembly and 3 in the Board of Aldermen from Republicans.[2] Thomas's results were the highest recorded by the Socialist party to that date.[2]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Jimmy Walker (inc.) | 867,522 | 60.70% | |
| Republican | Fiorello LaGuardia | 367,675 | 25.73% | |
| Socialist | Norman Thomas | 175,697 | 12.29% | |
| Socialist Labor | Olive M. Johnson | 6,401 | 0.45% | |
| Communist | William Weinstone | 5,805 | 0.41% | |
| Square Deal | Richard Enright | 5,695 | 0.40% | |
| Commonwealth Land | Lawrence W. Tracy | 320 | 0.02% | |
| Total votes | 1,429,115 | 100.00% | ||
Aftermath
Despite his success, Walker would be embroiled in scandal in 1932 and forced to resign.[7]