Before 1961, mayoral elections were partisan. Starting in 1961, they have been nonpartisan.
Terms had, originally, been for a length of a single year,[1] but were later extended to two years. Starting with the 2011 mayoral election, terms were extended further to four years.
The 1951 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 1951. It saw incumbent mayor Daniel B. Brunton reelected to a fourth term.
The 1953 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1953. It saw incumbent mayor Daniel B. Brunton reelected to a fifth term.
The primaries marked the first instance in which the city of Springfield used voting machines in all of its precincts.[7] Turnout for the primaries was over 20%.[7]
Incumbent mayor Daniel B. Brunton ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. More than 7,000 voters cast votes in the non-competitive Democratic primary.[7]
In the Republican primary, Wendell P. Chamberlain (a Massachusetts state representative) defeated four candidates for the nomination. His competitors were ward 1 alderman Normand J. Beaudry, assessor Vernon E. Bradley (who had previously been the Republican nominee for mayor in 1951), ward 4 alderman and Springfield Board of Alderman president Henry Clay, and former school board member Theodore Wiel.[7]
1953 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Republican primary results[7] October 6, 1953
In the Democratic primary, incumbent Daniel B. Brunton faced Hampden County registrar of deeds John P. Lynch and Springfield superintendent of streets James J. Sullivan.[8]
1955 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Democratic primary results[9] October 11, 1955
In the Republican primary, businessman and Springfield Fire Commission member Leon H. Hutchins defeated Board of Assessors member William G. Macauley.[8][9][10]
1955 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Republican primary results[9] October 11, 1955
The 1957 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 5, 1957. It saw incumbent mayor Daniel B. Brunton unseated, losing renomination in the Democratic primary to Thomas J. O'Connor, who went on to win the general election.
O'Connor became the youngest mayor in the city's history.[11]
The 1959 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1959. It saw the reelection of incumbent mayor Thomas J. O'Connor.
This was Springfield's final partisan mayoral election, as voters also voted to approve a move to nonpartisan elections.[14][15] The measure that did so also switched from a weak mayor form of government to a strong mayor form.[15]
In a rematch of the 1957 Democratic primary, incumbent mayor Thomas J. O'Connor was challenged by former mayor Daniel B. Brunton. O'Connor handily defeated O'Connor, leading him in all 66 of the city's 68 voting precincts.[16]
Results
1959 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral Democratic primary results[16] October 6, 1959
The 1961 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 7, 1961, and was preceded by a primary on October 10. It saw Charles Ryan defeat incumbent mayor Thomas J. O'Connor. It was the city's first nonpartisan mayoral election
The 1960 reassessment of all real estate in Springfield led to a furor when one-third of the city's homeowners received increases in their property tax over the previous year.[21] On October 11, 1960, 4,500 residents attended a meeting at Springfield Auditorium where members of the Board of Assessors attempted to explain the tax increase. Each member was booed off the stage before they could speak. O'Connor, who had no role in the property reassessment, failed to quiet the crowd and police were called in.[22] O'Connor planned to cut 578 jobs from the 1961 budget to reduce the city's taxes, but reversed this decision due to a lack of public support.[23]
O'Connor's general election defeat was considered an upset.[18]
Two weeks after O'Connor's loss, the city's percentage assessment system, which had been a major issue during the campaign, was declared unconstitutional by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[24]
The 1963 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 1963, and was preceded by a primary on October 8. It saw incumbent mayor Charles Ryan reelected.
Incumbent mayor Charles Ryan and registrar of deeds John P. Lynch were considered the two major contenders. A third candidate in the primary, Arthur R. Caney, was regarded as a political unknown.[26] Ryan and Lynch were the two who advanced to the general election.[26]
Both Lynch and Ryan identified as Democrats.[27] Ryan's campaign was managed by his brother, Donald Ryan.[27]
The campaign turned tense when, eight days before the general election, Lynch accused Ryan of being an advocate of busing, bringing a racially-charged issue into the mix.[27] The day before the election, in a television appearance, Ryan alleged that bussing had already started, and that Ryan had approved it.[27] On the day of the election, the Springfield Union ran two full-paged advertisements which showed black children departing school buses at Memorial School in the fashionable, and largely white, East Forest Park neighborhood. The ads, again claimed that Ryan had begun busing in the city.[27] Ryan responded by making a series of radio appearances on Election Day. In one he claimed that the photos actually were showing black children that had been transported to the school, not for the sake of racial integration, but due to overcrowding at schools in parts of the cities that were predominantly black.[27] He also came out against using bussing to resolve de facto segregation.[27]
The 1965 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 2, 1965, and was preceded by a primary on October 4. It saw the reelection of Charles Ryan to a third term.
The primary, held October 4, had been moved from its original date of October 5. Unusually, this made Election Day a Monday instead of a Tuesday. The change of date was made to avoid the election overlapping with the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.[28]
In the general election Ryan faced state representative and Springfield city councilor James Grimaldi. He faced several additional candidates in the primary.[29] In the primary, Charles E. Cobb was the first black candidate to run for mayor in the city's history.[29] Frances L. Shea was among the earliest women to run for Springfield's mayoralty.[29]
A major issue in the campaign was how to resolve inequality in the quality of the schools buildings serving the city's largely non-white neighborhoods compared those serving its largely-white neighborhoods.[28][29] Mayor Ryan proposed limited open enrollment, and hoped for the state to pay for the expense of busing. He felt that black groups had failed to assist in making open enrollment successful in the city. Grimaldi hoped to resolve these inequalities by replacing the city's older school buildings, many of which were located in largely black neighborhoods.[29] Rojer J. Lemelin pledged to follow state's racial imbalance law.[29] Charles E. Cobb argued that students at Buckingham Junior High School (a 63.2% non-white school) were 2.5 years behind students at junior high schools with predominantly white student bodies. He argued against open enrollment, saying that it asked, "the very people least able to pay" to personally finance their children's transportation.[29] Frances L. Shea promised to follow the state's racial imbalance law, but argued that, "all laws are flexible and we should make them fit our situation".[29]
While the election was officially nonpartisan, Freeman was a Republican and Grimaldi was a Democrat.[33][32] Freedman became the city's first Jewish mayor. If elected, Grimaldi would have been its first Italian mayor.[32]
The 1969 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 4, 1969, and was preceded by a primary held on October 7, 1969. It saw the reelection of Frank Harlan Freedman.
Democratic state representative James Grimaldi was a late entrant into the race.[35]
Frederick Hurst's performance in the primary was regarded to have been surprisingly poor. He was one of the earliest black candidates to run for mayor of Springfield.[35]
Freedman's reelection in the general election was aided by popular approval of how he had recently handled a public transit strike and welfare-related protests.[34]
The 1971 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 2, 1971, and was preceded by a primary on October 5, 1971. It saw the reelection of Frank Harlan Freedman to a third term.
The 1973 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral special election was held on January 30, 1973, to fill the vacancy left after Frank Harlan Freedman resigned as mayor in October 1972 to accept an appointment as a U.S. district court judge.[41] The election saw the election of William C. Sullivan.
Paul Mason was only the third black candidate to run for mayor in the city's history. He openly regarded his candidacy as more an effort to build up a following to help him run more successfully for the office two years later.[41]
The 1973 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 1973. It saw the reelection of incumbent William C. Sullivan (first elected earlier that year in a special election) to his first full term.
Because only two candidates ran, there was no need for a primary election.
The 1975 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 4, 1975, and was preceded by a primary on October 5, 1975. It saw the reelection of William C. Sullivan to a second full, and third overall, term.
The 1977 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 8, 1977, and was preceded by a primary on October 11. It saw the election of Theodore E. Dimauro. Incumbent mayor William C. Sullivan did not seek reelection.[19]
Theodore E. Dimauro, Springfield City Council president,[47] Springfield city councilor since 1970,[19] member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council since 1975,[47][48] former acting mayor (1972–1973), and former Springfield School Committee member[19]
Winston Gaskins
James L. Grimaldi, Massachusetts state representative since 1965, former Springfield city councilor; 1965, 1967, 1969 and 1971 mayoral candidate
Wallace Hindes (write-in)
William Kelly
John P. Lynch, Hampden County registrar of deeds since 1952,[19]1972 United States Senate candidate;[19] 1955, 1961 and 1963 mayoral candidate
Theodore E. Dimauro campaigned on revitalizing the city's downtown, and talked about pursuing further public-private partnerships to accomplish this.[47]
James L. Grimaldi, an experienced elected official (with 12 years experience on the Springfield City Council and 13 years experience in the Massachusetts House of Representatives) had long aspired to be Springfield's mayor, having run four times previously.[47] By 1977, Grimaldi was 66 years of age, and likely saw the election as his last chance to win the city's mayoralty.[47] He campaigned hard against Dimauro, accusing him of being a puppet for big business, of valuing the city's downtown at the expense of the remainder of the city, and criticizing him for his vote as a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council to confirm a black woman to be an associate justice of the Boston Municipal Court.[47]
With both Dimauro and Grimaldi being Italian-Americans, the general election matchup guaranteed that the city would elect its first mayor of Italian descent.[47]
The 1979 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 6, 1979, and was preceded by a primary on October 9, 1979. It saw the reelection of Theodore Dimauro to a second term.
The 1981 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1981, and was preceded by a primary on October 6, 1981. It saw the reelection of Theodore Dimauro to a third term.
The 1983 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral election was held on November 3, 1983, and was preceded by a primary on September 20, 1983. It saw the election of Richard Neal.
Facing a prospective challenge from city councilor Richard Neal, incumbent mayor Theodore Dimauro opted to instead retire.[55]
The 1989 Springfield, Massachusetts mayoral special election was held on April 25, 1989, and was preceded by a primary on March 21, 1989. It was held to fill the vacancy left after mayor Richard Neal resigned to become a U.S. congressman.[60] The election saw the election of the city's first female mayor Mary Hurley, who defeated acting mayor Vincent MiMonaco.[60]
In his brief period as acting mayor, DiMonaco had taken a tough stance on drugs, and expressed criticism of what he deemed to be "insufficient" financial support coming from the state and federal governments. He also, with 18 years experience on the City Council and prior experience on the Springfield School Committee, made an effort to portray himself as the more experienced candidate[61]
Hurley accused DiMonaco of "flip-flopping" on various issues, such as whether the National Guard should be used to fight against illegal drugs in the city, which he had previously advocated for, but since walked back his support for.[61]
DiMonaco accused Hurley of receiving the back of a Richard Neal-led political machine. Neal, however, remained publicly neutral in the election, and questioned DiMonaco's assertion that a political machine existed in the city.[62]
Hurley raised $240,000 for her campaign, almost five times as much as DiMonaco managed to raise for his.[60] This fundraising advantage enabled her to run a last-minute battery of television advertisements.[60]
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