[3] While he had been long discussed as a potential mayoral candidate for almost two decades, in 1923, a combination of conditions and events catapulted William E. Dever to the nomination.

[3] Dever had also been championed as a potential candidate by a broad array of individuals, including the Municipal Voters' League's George Sikes, William L. O'Connell (a leader in the party's Harrison-Dunne bloc), and Progressive Republican Harold Ickes.

[3][4] It was believed that Dever could unite the Democratic Party and serve as a clean and honest leader of the city's government.

[3] Brennan, particularly impressed that Dever had backing from both members of the Harrison-Dunne faction and from reformers outside of the party, decided to take a closer look at him as a candidate.

[5] The public generally perceived that reformist citizens organizations had advocated Dever to the Democratic party leaders.

[6] Due to his poor health, there had been uncertainty as to whether two-term incumbent Republican William H. Thompson would run for reelection.

[8] He was also seen as more vulnerable to being unseated by a strong Democratic opponent, as Thompson had severed ties with a number of key political allies, including Robert E. Crowe and Frederick Lundin.

[8] One of the final factors in Thompson's decision not to seek reelection was a scandal involving campaign manager being implicated in shaking down vendors of school supplies for bribes and political contributions.

[9] Thompson had bled middle class support over rumors of corruption in his administration, and had bled support from working class votes over his backing at the time of Prohibition, which Chicago voters had made their opposition known by a margin in excess of eighty-points in a 1919 referendum on the matter.

[3] On March 18, 1923, Oscar Hewitt of the "Chicago Tribune" characterized the campaign one of the “mildest” [16] At the time of the election, Chicago was seen as a Republican-leaning city, especially due to the influx of black voters to the city as part of the Great Migration, a demographic largely voted for the Republican Party at the time.

[3][4] Dever, on the other hand, was far more enthusiastic on the issue, proclaiming that the most critical task for the victor of the election would be to resolve problems with the city's public transit.

[3][4] These problems included price increases and declining quality of service provided by the Chicago Surface Lines.

[3] A long time advocate for municipal ownership, Dever believed that it would be ideal for the city to buy-out the Chicago Surface Lines once their franchise expired in 1927.

[4] Running a tidy campaign, positioning himself as a nonpolitical businessman, Lueder focused on securing the support of the Republican Party's factions.

[3][21] However, in the final stretch of the campaign, a level of anti-Catholic sentiment was vocalized by select segments of Chicago's population that were unhappy at the prospect of Dever, as a Catholic, being mayor.

[3][4][21][19] At the same time, some made an effort at the close of the election to draw a link between the Ku Klux Klan and the Republican campaign.

[4] By the end of the race, gambling boss James Patrick O'Leary had assigned 1-7 betting odds in favor of a Dever victory.

These were not modern scientific polls, and many focused on specific sub-portions of the city's populace, rather than true representative samples.

[22] By March 18, the Tribune's analysis of its polling was that Dever began the general election campaign with an advantage over Lueder.

[4] His greatest share of votes was in the city's ten inner-city ethnic wards, located in traditional Democratic strongholds.