Jasper McLevy
Jasper McLevy was an American politician who served as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut from 19331957. He was a member of the Socialist Party, later leaving in protest to join the Social Democratic Federation.
Jasper McLevy was born to Scottish immigrants Hugh and Mary Stewart McLevy in Bridgeport on March 27, 1878. McLevy worked first as a roofer, learning the trade from his uncle after his own father died when he was 14. After reading Edward Bellamys futuristic, utopian novel Looking Backward, he became a socialist, and helped form the Bridgeport Socialist Party in the early 1900s. The 24yearold idealist first ran for the Connecticut General Assembly under the Socialist banner in 1902, collecting 215 votes. He ran anotherunsuccessful campaigns for local, city, state and federal offices over the following years, including nine tries at mayor, the last in 1931. In all these races he ran as a Socialist at a time when socialists were portrayed as anarchists and bombthrowers.
Source: Wikipedia