How 100 years of the Democratic rule has shaped the city of Albany
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Albany County Democratic boss Dan O'Connell, undated. (Bernie Kolenberg, Times Union archives/Courtesy William Kennedy)
ALBANY — One can argue whether the Albany Democratic machine was good or evil or how much of it remains today, but this much is indisputable: It has etched itself into American political history as one for the ages.
It has been 100 years since the O’Connell-Corning Democratic machine seized control of City Hall in 1921 by defeating the entrenched Barnes Republican machine. The Democrats have not relinquished power since.
Albany ranks first as the longest run of uninterrupted Democratic rule, longer than Boston (since 1930), Chicago (1931), St. Louis (1949), Philadelphia (1951), Buffalo (1962) or any other deep-blue city in the nation.