1961 New York City mayoral election

The New York City mayoral election of 1961 occurred on Tuesday, November 7, 1961. Incumbent Democratic Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. won a decisive re-election victory for a third term in office. Wagner defeated the Republican nominee, state Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz, and the Citizens Party nominee, New York City Comptroller Lawrence E. Gerosa. Wagner received 51.03% of the vote to Lefkowitz's 34.46%, a Democratic victory margin of 16.57%.

Gerosa, running with the short-lived "pro-taxpayer" Citizens Party, billed himself as the "real Democrat" in the race, and took many Democratic votes, finishing relatively strongly for a third party candidate.

Wagner won decisive majorities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, and won a plurality in Queens. Lefkowitz eked out a narrow 1-point plurality win in Staten Island.

Wagner was also the nominee of the Liberal Party, and additionally ran on the Brotherhood ballot line. Lefkowitz also ran on the Nonpartisan and Civic Action ballot lines, while Gerosa also ran on the Independent ballot line.

After being supported by the Tammany Hall machine in his 1953 and 1957 elections, Wagner broke with Tammany Hall in 1961, defeating the Democratic Party power brokers' chosen candidate, Arthur Levitt, in the Democratic primary and then going on to win a third term in the general election. Wagner's victory thus ultimately signified the decline of the power of political machines in New York City.

Wagner was sworn into his third and final term in January 1962.

Democratic
Incumbent Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. had strong ties to the Tammany Hall organization, which had been headed by Carmine DeSapio since 1949. By 1960, Wagner realized that maintaining these ties with Tammany Hall was a potential liability. In January 1961, tensions with DeSapio and Tammany Hall came to a head when Manhattan Borough president Hulan Jack was automatically removed from his position after being convicted of having a friend attempt to curry favor by paying for a renovation to Jack's apartment. The vacant Borough president post was to be filled by a vote of Manhattan's six City Council members but historically, the selection was made by Tammany Hall and the councilmen followed Tammany Hall's lead. Rather than cooperate with DeSapio to select a new Borough president, Wagner refused to speak with DeSapio in hopes of forcing DeSapio to make a selection of a candidate, which would allow Wagner to select a different candidate and signal his independence from Tammany Hall. Wagner's choice was state Supreme Court Justice Edward R. Dudley while DeSapio selected an old opponent, Assemblyman Lloyd Dickens. Dudley was ultimately elected by a vote of Manhattan's six Councilmen, but only after two of the pro-Tammany Councilmen had been called into meetings with Louis Kaplan, the city Commissioner of Investigation, who leveraged his powers to ensure the two Councilmen voted for the Mayor's candidate.

The final break occurred in early February when Wagner publicly called for DeSapio to stand down from his position as the New York County Democratic Party. In addition to the Liberals, Wagner sought the support of reformist Democrats. In January, 1961, Wagner spoke with former Governor and Senator Herbert H. Lehman and other high-ranking members of the reformist Committee for Democratic Voters (CDV) After meeting, it became clear that Lehman would support Wagner against Tammany.

In March, Wagner received the results of a poll from Louis Harris showing his support among different ethnic groups in the city. Polling showed Wagner to be personally popular African-Americans and Puerto Ricans, who made up about 20% of New York's total population. Both groups would be solid in support of Wagner both in the primary and against the Republicans in the general election. Jews were also strong in their support of Wagner, with the poll indicating 70% would back Wagner against the Republicans, though only 56% would vote Democratic against a Jewish Republican nominee. African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Jews were deemed by Harris to be essential to Wagner's campaign. Wagner's position was much more tenuous among Catholic Irish and Italian voters, who were generally against the Mayor and would be hard to capture.

Wagner announced that he would run for reelection on June 22, 1961.

On June 30, two days after the Liberals voted to endorse Wagner, Tammany selected State Comptroller Arthur Levitt Sr., who was the only Democrat to win statewide in a heavily Republican year. The Jewish Levitt was selected in hopes of winning back Jewish voters from Wagner's side. Levitt was an unlikely choice, having stated in late summer that he expected Wagner to be the nominee, but a concerted push by Tamanny made Levitt give in and agree to challenge Wagner.

Liberal
Republicans, including Bernard Newman, were interested in running a fusion campaign with the Liberals, similar to how Fiorello La Guardia ran with the American Labor Party's nomination. Jacob Javits was seen as the most likely candidate for a fusion ticket and Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon attempted to convince him to run. However, Javits declined to run in May.

Wagner courted the Liberal Party. The Liberals won few elections outright but were able to provide votes to allow Kennedy to carry New York for President in 1960 and still had an automatic line on the ballot. Just before February, Wagner was assured by Liberal leader Alex Rose that even if he lost the Democratic nomination, he would receive the Liberal nomination and have a chance to win the general election.

Stuart Scheftel, a former Republican who was now chair of the Liberal Party Commission At Large, announced his candidacy on May 3. Scheftel centered his campaign around opposition to a Democratic mayor, saying "I am convinced no Democrat can ever be a good Mayor because of his relations with political machines." and claimed that under Wagner's administration, "crookery" had reached levels unseen in previous administrations. Scheftel held no elected office at the time of his announcement, but had previously run as a Republican for Congress in the 14th district and later chaired the Draft Eisenhower for President Committee in 1948. Scheftel stated he would withdraw from the race for Adolf A. Berle, Stanley M. Isaacs, or Jacob Javits, but not Lefkowitz.

The Liberal Policy Committee recommended endorsing Wagner. Leona Finestone, vice-chair of the party in Manhattan, put forward Scheftel's name for the nomination. Scheftel attempted to have a secret ballot held and argued that union delegates were not able to vote freely unless it was secret. The convention voted to endorse Wagner with 378 votes against Scheftel's 28 votes. Scheftel made allegations that delegates, many of whom were union members, were intimidated by the presence of union leaders seated on a dais during the convention, with the leaders able to see how delegates voted because votes were conducted by the raising of hands. After his defeat, Scheftel vowed to continue his campaign and he sought to make the ballot for the September 7th primary. Because of a mistake while collecting signatures to make the ballot, Scheftel withdrew from the race in the early August, criticizing all candidates in the race.

Berle and Ben Davidson served on the steering committee of Wagner's campaign while Rose was one of his close advisers.

Other
The Brotherhood Party, originally called the Freedom Party, was founded by the New York City Central Labor Council. It gave its nomination to Wagner. The party planned on remaining active, but did not participate in any other election.

Results
Lefkowitz would have won the election if he received the Liberal nomination and the same number of votes. Wagner gave patronage positions to Liberals following his victory.