Incumbent mayor Percy J. Benbough stood for reelection to a second term.

Incumbent Mayor Percy J. Benbough stood for reelection to a second term.

Mayor Benbough had fallen out politically with the volunteer Civic Affairs Conference that had endorsed him in the previous election.

Because they had the two highest vote tallies, Benbough and Weinberger advanced to the runoff election.

On April 25, 1939, Benbough came in first place in the runoff election with 77.9 percent of the vote and was reelected to the office of the mayor.