Daley and the Democratic Party establishment also feared that Kennelly might dismantle the city's patronage system.

[3] In addition, the ambitious Richard J. Daley had been elected the new Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party.

[5] Daley defeated incumbent mayor Martin H. Kennelly and State Representative Benjamin S. Adamowski in the Democratic primary.

[3][6][7] One reason for this was that Daley and others anticipated that likely Republican nominee Robert Merriam would be a strong candidate, and believed that Kennelly might be too weak to defeat him.

[6] Adamowski was then counting on the anti-machine vote compounded with his popularity among the city's sizable Polish electorate to possibly secure him a victory over Daley.

[6] In the backdrop, during the lead up to the primary election, was racial tensions at the Trumbull Park Homes, operated by the Chicago Housing Authority.

[6] Daley's campaign focused on coordinating efforts and assisting the ward organizations that would turn out voters on Election Day.

[6] Luncheons and rallies were held for precinct captains at the large downtown hotels and at numerous civic centers across the city.

[6] On Valentine's Day of 1955, Daley spoke before an audience of nearly 5,000 machine workers jammed into the Civic Opera House.

[6] Additionally, they were able to extract financial backing from companies that did business with the city and the county, which were concerned about securing their government contracts.

[6] To combat any anti-machine sentiments, Daley sought to associate himself with individuals that would give him an appearance of being a reform candidate.

[6] Daley tried to frame the division in the city as not being machine vs. reformers, but rather business elites vs. blue collar neighborhoods.

speaking before a largely white group of 7,500 United Packinghouse Workers of America Workers on February 17, 1955, Daley said that the Chicago Police Department should "not be used to advance the interests of any one group over another", which was a dog whistle for meaning that he did not support the role of police integrating Trumbull Park.

[6] Kennelly's camp was hoping for high turnout, especially since the primary fell on the bank and school holiday of Washington's Birthday.

Merriam was a land developer[8] who had been elected twice to the Chicago City Council as an independent Democrat, receiving sizable Republican support both times.

[6] He was also the chairman of the City Council's crime committee, and the host of the television show named Spotlight on Chicago, both of which had earned him anti-crime bonafides.

[6] While Merriam did receive the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune, the city's leading Republican newspaper was not enthusiastic about him, viewing him as a fake-Republican.

[6] It was reported that the Democratic machine had brokered a deal with the ailing Herald-American where their precinct captains would sell subscriptions to the newspapers in exchange for their endorsing Daley.

[3] However, Democratic machine operatives were able to convince Kennelly that Merriam had sought to have him indicted during earlier criminal investigations.

[6] In the heavily Democratic city of Chicago, Daley regularly reminded voters of his and Merriam's party affiliations during the campaign.

[6] Merriam sought to get those who voted for Kennelly and Adamowski in the party primaries to cross party-lines, trying to persuade them that his politics were a natural landing ground for supporters of the anti-machine candidates.

[6] For instance, in the city's working class white Bungalow Belt, it circulated letters claiming praise of Merriam from the made-up "American Negro Civic Association".

[6] Daley continued his strategy used in the primary of receiving the backing of reform Democrats to deflect criticisms of his machine involvement.

[6] In the general election he received the endorsement of 1952 Democratic presidential nominee and former Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson II.

[6] Daley's victory can be, in large part, credited to strong support from the city's African American voters.