1967 Gary, Indiana, mayoral election

none January 2025 June 2023 1967 Gary, Indiana, mayoral election presidential no 1963 1971 November 7, 1967 120px Richard G. Hatcher Democratic Party (United States) 39,940 51.42% 120px Joseph B. Radigan Republican Party (United States) 37,729 48.58% Mayor A. Martin Katz Democratic Party (United States) Richard G. Hatcher Democratic Party (United States) The 1967 Gary, Indiana, mayoral election, held on November 7, saw the election of Richard G. Hatcher. This was, along with the coinciding election in Cleveland, Ohio, the first election of an African American as mayor of an American city with a population over 100,000.Morial Marc H. 50 Years Of Black Mayors https://www.huffpost.com/entry/50-years-of-black-mayors_b_596fc9abe4b0d72667b05e19 HuffPost May 9, 2019 July 31, 2017 Hatcher would also become the first African-American mayor in the state of Indiana.Lyons Craig 1967 Gary election a 'history maker' with Richard Hatcher as Indiana's first African-American mayor https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-richard-hatcher-profile-st-1029-20171028-story.html Chicago Tribune May 9, 2019 October 28, 2017 Nominations Primaries were held on May 2. Democratic primary Hatcher unseated incumbent mayor A. Martin Katz in the Democratic Party primary. 1967 Gary mayoral Democratic primaryhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=835729 RaceID=835729 Our Campaigns May 9, 2019 Democratic Party (United States) Richard G. Hatcher 18,227 39.26% Democratic Party (United States) A. Martin Katz (incumbent) 16,107 34.69% Democratic Party (United States) Bernard Konrady 12,092 26.05% 46,426 Republican primary May 2019 General election Usually, in the heavily-Democratic city, winning the Democratic nomination was tantamount to election.Delaney Paul Mayor Hatcher Renominated in Gary https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/07/archives/mayor-hatcher-renominated-in-gary.html New York Times September 24, 2019 May 7, 1975 However the race was much closer in 1967 due to intense racial politics and the local Democratic political machine's anger over a non-machine reformer such as Hatcher having won the nomination. Although Republicans had given up on seriously contesting elections in Gary in the 1940s, it was believed that white voters in Gary had shown a willingness to abandon the Democratic Party if they believed that Democratic politicians were too accommodating to black voters when George Wallace performed well there in the 1964 Democratic presidential primary (in which the segregationist Wallace had challenged incumbent Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson after Johnson ushered the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964); hence, with Richard Hatcher as the Democratic nominee for mayor, the general election was bitterly fought between Hatcher and the Republican nominee Joseph B. Radigan.Keiser Richard A. Subordination or Empowerment?: African-American Leadership and the Struggle for Urban Political Power 1997 81 9780195360493 https://books.google.com/books?id=rRGSXb-DbN0C&q=1967+gary+election&pg=PA81 December 8, 2019 Due to the intense racial divide and the desire of white ethnic Democrats to maintain their grip on power over the city's Democratic machine and patronage system, prominent Democrats in the county machine (including the chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party) endorsed Republican Joe Radigan and worked to purge black voters from voter registration rolls and replace them with non-existent white voters, smashed voting machines in black-majority precincts, and employing white police officers to intimidate black voters from entering voting stations.Catlin Robert A. Racial Politics And Urban Planning: Gary, Indiana, 1980-1989 October 17, 2014 9780813156958 https://books.google.com/books?id=LLoeBgAAQBAJ&q=Joseph+Radigan+gary+indiana&pg=PA112 December 8, 2019 While Black Americans made up 53% of Gary's population, white residents had an edge in voter registration. Hatcher was able to overcome this and win the election by over 2,000 votes by winning 96% of the black vote in addition to 12% of the white vote.May 2020 1967 Gary mayoral election (general election)https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=423407 RaceID=423407 Our Campaigns May 9, 2019 Democratic Party (United States) Richard G. Hatcher 39,940 51.42% Republican Party (United States) Joseph B. Radigan 37,729 48.58% 77,669 100.00% References 2 Gary 1967 Gary mayoral Gary, Indiana Category:November 1967 in the United States Category:History of Gary, Indiana