Ben Walsh is Second Syracuse Mayor in History to Win Without a Major-Party Line

 

By Michelle Breidenbach

Ben Walsh, who has never enrolled in a political party, is only the second candidate in Syracuse history to win the mayor's race without support from the official Democratic or Republican parties.

Walsh hails from a family of Republicans, but he ran on the Reform and Independence party lines in Tuesday's election.

The only other time a minor-party candidate became mayor was in 1913.

That year, Louis Will won the mayor's race as a Progressive Party candidate. He beat Democrat James Dolan (by 502 votes) and Republican Eugene Mack (by 399 votes).

The Progressive Party movement was tied to Teddy Roosevelt, who ran on that ticket for president and lost in 1912. The so-called "Bull Moose Party" energized support for local candidates like Will, according to Dennis Connors, curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Association.

Electing a mayor from outside the two main parties is rare in the United States.

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Source: syracuse.com (via The Empire Report)