1849 Chicago mayoral election

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1849, incumbent James H. Woodworth was reelected in a landslide.
This election made Woodworth the first Chicago mayor to be successfully reelected to a second consecutive term. Woodworth was also only the third mayor to be elected to a second term, after only Benjamin Wright Raymond and Augustus Garrett.

Campaign

The election is notable for the lack of political party involvement. With the major national political parties disintegrating over the national debate surrounding slavery, the 1849 mayoral campaign lacked party conventions to nominate candidates. Instead, candidates were self-nominated. There was also a lack of party-organized efforts to support any candidate.

Results

With 80.02% of the vote, Hutchinson received the highest vote share than any Chicago mayoral candidate had ever received. This has only once been exceeded in Chicago mayoral elections,.