The Boston mayoral election of 1897 occurred on Tuesday, December 21, 1897. In a rematch of the previous election,
Democratic candidate and incumbent
Mayor of BostonJosiah Quincy defeated
Republican candidate and former mayor
Edwin Upton Curtis, and two other contenders, to win re-election to a second term.[1]
Inaugural exercises were held on Monday, January 3, 1898.[2]
Candidates
Edwin Upton Curtis (Republican), former Mayor of Boston (1895), and City Clerk of Boston (1889–1890)
Thomas Riley (Bryan Democrat), attorney—the Bryan Democrats had split away from Democrats in Boston who had "repudiated the Chicago platform"[4] (a reference to the
1896 Democratic National Convention and presidential nominee
William Jennings Bryan)