Although Hearst had no wish to run on the League's ticket himself, feeling that a resounding loss would cripple his ambition to one day be elected
President of the United States, he announced his candidacy for mayor after failing to recruit attorney
Charles Evans Hughes or Judge
Samuel Seabury for the job. His running mates were former State Senator
John Ford for New York City Comptroller, and
James Graham Phelps Stokes for President of the Board of Aldermen, who was a millionaire socialist writer, political activist, and philanthropist. During the course of the election, Hearst, despite the opposition of Tammany, both major parties, the local
Socialists, and every major newspaper other than his own, managed to create a
coalition of
trade unionists,
immigrants,
Progressive reformers, and disaffected Democrats and
Republicans. On
Election Day,
November 7, 1905, Hearst polled 224,929 votes, or 37.16%. However, Mayor McClellan polled 228,397 votes (37.74%), and was thus narrowly re-elected. After the election, well-substantiated accusations of
electoral fraud surfaced against McClellan and Tammany, but the results were not overturned. ==Other candidates of the party==