Michael Kieran Reilly (July 15, 1869 – October 14, 1944) was an Irish American lawyer and Democratic politician from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

At the time, the 6th congressional district comprised Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Washington, and Dodge counties, in eastern Wisconsin.

The district had been safely Democratic in each of the elections under this map configuration, but in 1910 the incumbent representative, Charles H. Weisse, announced he would run for U.S. Senate rather than seeking re-election to the House.

[6] Reilly faced a difficult primary against former state senator Michael E. Burke, who was then the incumbent mayor of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

The ideological rift exposed in the primary continued to haunt Davidson in the general election, as his longtime ally, the Oshkosh Northwestern abandoned him and endorsed Reilly as a more progressive choice.

[17] But Reilly remained staunchly anti-war, even after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, which he referred to as the greatest crisis for the country since the American Civil War.

[18] On a more local level, Reilly outraged some of his Democratic allies by recommending his wife's sister's husband for a postmaster position at Fond du Lac, rather than the local party's consensus pick, L. A. Lange, the owner and publisher of Fond du Lac's major newspaper, the Reporter.

[19] By the Spring of 1916, Reilly was facing a primary challenge from former Fond du Lac mayor Frank J. Wolff.

Wolff was immediately endorsed by Reilly's 1910 primary opponent, former Fond du Lac mayor Everett W.

His allies strongly encouraged him to run again in 1918; he declined to enter the race but remained active speaking and campaigning for the Democratic ticket.

At the 1922 Democratic state convention, he nominated Wisconsin League of Women Voters president Jessie Jack Hooper as candidate for U.S. Senate.

[31] Despite that statement, later that month his name was announced as a candidate for Congress again in the 6th congressional district as part of a statewide slate endorsed by the Democratic state convention.

He often admonished citizens to remain informed on the issues of the day, vote in all elections, and volunteer for service in the armed forces.

[43] A convention of Democrats in the 6th district blessed Reilly's candidacy, but also endorsed two other candidates, Dr. Clarendon J. Coombs and Morley G.

[45] The Republican nominee was Philip Lehner, a progressive attorney from Green Lake County who had twice previously run for the nomination unsuccessfully.

Reilly on the other hand was an unapologetic enemy of the Prohibition amendment; he had voted against it in Congress, and promised to seek its repeal if elected again.

He pledged to cooperate with the Republican majority on any legislation to relieve the unemployment crisis caused by the start of the Great Depression.

[55] During this short term, Reilly also became one of the early advocates for censorship of the motion picture industry, saying "movies have done more to demoralize our people, young and old, than any other factor in our modern life.

Political press in Wisconsin largely expected that the Republican Legislature would shift the districts to pit Reilly, the sole Democrat, in an incumbent-vs-incumbent matchup.

[60] The changes actually had the effect of strengthening Reilly's chances of re-election with the addition of consistently Democratic-leaning Ozaukee and Washington counties.

Reilly also provided his vote for the federal pension-slashing Economy Act of March 20, 1933, despite the opposition of many in the Democratic caucus—the bill was so unpopular, Reilly felt the need to explain his vote to his constituents, writing, "President Roosevelt is the economic doctor in charge of our sick industrial world; he is the only hope of this country today; and if his economy and emergency legislative program fails, I tremble to think of our country's political and economic future.

He disapproved of several of Reilly's votes on legislation impacting veterans, and vocally supported a more aggressive redistribution of wealth.

[71] Reilly later signed the discharge petition to bring the Frazier–Lemke bill to the floor, but said he still planned to vote against it, leading to attacks from both sides.

[73] Reilly avoided a primary challenge in 1936 but faced another perilous three-way general election against Republican Frank Bateman Keefe, a popular attorney from Oshkosh, and Progressive state representative Adam F. Poltl, also at that time the mayor of Hartford, Wisconsin.

Keefe ran an energetic and aggressive campaign against the Roosevelt agenda, accusing him of wasteful spending and challenging Reilly on the effect of the administrations anti-tariff policies on Wisconsin farmers.

[76] After nearly losing his seat in 1936, Wisconsin newspapers and political prognosticators predicted Reilly would not survive the mid-term election of 1938.

After losing the Democratic nomination to Reilly, Willihnganz agreed to run in the general election under the Union Party banner.

Keefe also adopted populist positions, such as endorsing the Townsend plan for old-age pensions, which Reilly had previously rejected.

It was a disastrous mid-term for the Democrats and Reilly was soundly defeated in his election; Keefe received an outright majority with 53.6% of the vote.

[81] After losing his seat in Congress, Reilly did not run for office again, but remained an active public speaker on behalf of the Democratic Party and Roosevelt.