The Chicago mayoral election of 1881 was held on April 5, saw the incumbent mayor, Democrat Carter Harrison Sr., defeat Republican Candidate John M. Clark. Harrison won a majority of the vote with a nearly twelve point margin of victory.
The election took place on April 5.[1][2] Unlike in the previous mayoral election, the Socialist Labor Party's nominee did not have much of an impact.
Harrison's Republican opponent, John M. Clark was a Chicago alderman that had been elected to the Chicago City Council two years earlier.[3]
Harrison's sizable victory came despite the fact that Republicans had carried the city in the 1880 elections by a similar vote margin.[4]