In the 1853 Chicago mayoral election, Charles McNeill Gray defeated Josiah L. James in a landslide, winning by a 54-point margin.
Incumbent mayor Walter S. Gurnee did not run for reelection.
The election was held on March 14.
Josiah L. James was a businessman in the lumber industry.
Gray was elected with 77.10% of the vote, at the time the second greatest vote share a mayoral candidate had received in Chicago (behind the 80.02% that James H. Woodworth received in 1849. No subsequent mayor would be elected with a larger percent of the vote until Richard J. Daley won 77.67% of the vote in 1975.