2003 Chicago mayoral election

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Turnout	32.26%[1][2] 9.64pp
Candidate Richard M. Daley Paul Jakes Jr. Patricia McAllister Popular vote 363,553 64,941 27,350 Percentage 78.46% 14.02% 5.90%
Results by ward: Daley:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Mayor before election Richard M. Daley ElectedMayor Richard M. Daley

TheChicago mayoral election of 2003 saw incumbent MayorRichard M. Daley easily reelected against small and divided opposition, resulting in his best electoral showing of his career, winning by a landslide 64 point margin.

Incumbent mayorRichard M. Daley ran without significant challengers on the ballot. His challengers could have potentially been denied ballot access had Daley challenged them for collecting an insufficient number of valid signatures in their petitions (mayoral candidates were required by law to collect 25,000 in order to garner ballot access, and only Jakes came near that amount). In such an instance, Daley would have been unopposed on the ballot. However Daley did not challenge his opponents' ballot access.^[3]

• Richard M. Daley, incumbent mayor^[3]
• Paul Jakes Jr., minister^[3]
• Joseph McAfee, minister^[3]
• Patricia McAllister, businesswoman^[3][4]

• Robert Floid Plump, minister and musician^[3][5]

• James Meeks, state senator^[6]

On December 9, 2002, a spokesperson for Daley confirmed that Daley would be announcing his candidacy for re-election.^[7] Daley's candidacy was widely anticipated.^[7] A popular incumbent, Daley had won strong victories in the preceding four consecutive mayoral elections.^[7] He was anticipated to become the city's second-longest tenured mayor (after only his own father,Richard J. Daley –who served more than 22 years) when he surpassedEdward Joseph Kelly at the end of the term he was already elected to.^[8]

All three of Daley's opponents wereAfrican Americans.^{[9][4][10][11]} Both Jakes,^[10] and McAfee^[11] were clergy. McAllister was a businesswoman.^[4] A fourth African-American candidate, Robert Floid Plump (who theChicago Tribune reported to be a "self-describedSouth Side minister and musician"), withdrew in mid-January citing concern aboutsplitting the African-American vote.^[5] Also briefly challenging Daley, but withdrawing from the race before ballot petitions were to be submitted, had beenJames Meeks (also African-American).^[6]

All of Daley's opponents on the ballot had little electoral experience.^[9] They struggled in fundraising (each only raising several thousand dollars)^[12] and failed to receive backing from black leaders.^[9] They also lackedname recognition.^[9][7] Their prospects of unseating Daley were seen as dim.^[4] While the election was nonpartisan, all candidates running wereDemocrats.^[13]

As was the case in all of his reelection campaigns, Daley did not attend any debates.^[14]The last debate he had engaged in was during the1989 Democratic mayoral primary.^[3]

In the final weeks before the election, Daley's mother (former first lady of ChicagoEleanor "Sis" Daley) died, and the city saw fatal tragedy with theE2 nightclub stampede.^[12] After his mother's death, Daley ceased making campaign appearances, though he continued airing television advertisements.^[15]

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The election saw what was, up to that point, the lowest turnout in Chicago mayoral election history.^[9] Daley won a majority of the vote in each of the city's 50 wards.^[1]

Daley received his highest-ever vote share, surpassing the 71.91% he had received in the previous election. His 78.46% was the third-highest vote share in Chicago mayoral history, behind onlyJane Byrne's1979 share of 82.05% andJames H. Woodworth's1849 share of 80.02%. He surpassedhis own father's best result of 77.67%in 1975.

By winning his fifth mayoral election, Daley tiedCarter Harrison III andCarter Harrison IV for the second-most mayoral election victories in Chicago history. Daley would subsequently win an additional mayoral election in 2007, thereby surpassing both Harrisons and tying his own father's record for the most mayoral election victories.

• Mayoral elections in Chicago
• 2003 United States mayoral elections
• 2003 Illinois elections
• 2003 in Chicago
• Richard M. Daley
• Non-partisan mayoral elections in the United States

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