1967 Philadelphia mayoral election
November 7, 1967[1]
Turnout73%[2] Decrease 2 pp
 
Nominee James Tate Arlen Specter
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 353,326 342,398
Percentage 48.98% 47.47%
Mayor before election

James Tate
Democratic

 Elected Mayor

James Tate
Democratic

The 1967 Philadelphia mayoral election saw the reelection of James Tate, who narrowly defeated Republican challenger Arlen Specter in the general election. Specter would later be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, where he served until 2011.

In the Democratic primary, Tate successfully fended off a challenge by Alexander Hemphill, who had the backing of Philadelphia Democratic Party Chairman Francis R. Smith.

Primaries

Democratic

Chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic Party Francis R. Smith made an attempt to replace Tate on the ticket with City Controller Alexander Hemphill,[1] but Tate refused to drop out of the election and defeated Hemphill in the Democratic primary.[1]

Republican

Incumbent District Attorney of Philadelphia Arlen Specter won the Republican primary.[3]

General election

Campaign

At the opening of the general election campaign, Specter was viewed as the frontrunner.[1]

Tate faced the obstacle of a divided Democratic Party.[1]

Tate supported legislation also endorsed by Cardinal John Krol which would allow state funding of parochial and other private schools, while Specter did not take a stance of this issue.[1]

During the campaign, Tate received heavy media attention by being in Tel Aviv during the outbreak of the Six-Day War and being in Rome when Archbishop Krol was elevated to Cardinal.[1]

Tate benefited from positive regards for the city's ability to keep greater peace amid the long, hot summer of 1967 than many other major cities had been able to.[1]

Tate thought he needed to send a "law and order" message to secure reelection, and therefore appointed Frank Rizzo as Philadelphia Police Commissioner.[4][5] During the campaign, Tate was asked many times whether he planned to keep Rizzo in this position if reelected.[6]

Since Specter was a former liberal member of the Democratic party, he was able to receive the backing of much of Philadelphia's political establishment, as well as many liberal Democrats, such as the group Americans for Democratic Action.[1]

Specter presented himself as being able to usher in a continuance of the liberal reform policies of Tate's immediate two predecessors, Richardson Dilworth and Joseph S. Clark Jr.[1] Tate countered this by having Clark make appearances on the campaign trail with him.[1]

Polls anticipated a Specter victory.[1]

Results

Tate won reelection by a narrow margin.[1]

It is believed that Tate, the city's first Catholic mayor, received strong support from the Catholic electorate.[1] He performed well in Catholic wards of the city.[1] It is also believed that Tate benefited from strong turnout among labor voters.[1]

While Tate carried the city's African American wards, he received less support in these wards than was typical at the time for the Democratic Party.[1]

Specter, who would have become the city's first Jewish mayor had he won, carried the city's wards with a primarily Jewish population.[1]

Specter won a majority of the white vote.[7]

1967 Philadelphia mayoral election (general election)[8]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic James Tate (incumbent) 353,326 48.98%
Republican Arlen Specter 342,398 47.47%
Constitutionial Joseph J. Frieri 9,931 1.38%
Political Freedom Rights Cecil B. Moore 9,031 1.25%
Conservative Leonard L. Smalls 6,675 0.93%
Turnout 721,361 100.00

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Bigart, Homer (November 8, 1967). "Fate Beats Specter in Philadelphia Mayor's Race". The New York Times. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  2. ↑ Denvir, Daniel (May 22, 2015). "Voter Turnout in U.S. Mayoral Elections Is Pathetic, But It Wasn't Always This Way". City Lab. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  3. ↑ Elvin, Ron (October 15, 2012). "A Fighter To The End, Arlen Specter Seemed To Thrive On Controversy". NPR.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  4. ↑ Finkel, Ken (September 10, 2018). "The Rise of Rizzo". www.phillyhistory.org. PhillyHistory. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  5. ↑ Baltzell, E. Digby (2017). The Protestant Establishment Revisited. Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-351-47595-2. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  6. ↑ Nutter, Michael A. (2018). Mayor: The Best Job in Politics. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8122-5002-2. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  7. ↑ Keiser, Richard A. (1997). Subordination or Empowerment?: African-American Leadership and the Struggle for Urban Political Power. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-19-536049-3. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Mayors of the City of Philadelphia 1691-2000". City of Philadelphia. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
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