A Politician is Born
Daniel Dunn also turned his attention to politics. He entered the political scene as a Democrat in a predominantly Republican town. His first experience in the political arena was from 1890 to 1900 as the registrar of voters for the city. Next, he served as town auditor for one term. Then in 1902, Dunn was the representative from the town of Windham to the general assembly; he held this post for five terms, then he made bigger plans. Dunn grew up from humble beginnings as a first generation American, he was active with the working-class community, and his political philosophy followed a similar path. Dunn ran as a mayoral candidate, “for the people,” and using that platform he won the Willimantic Mayoral race in 1905. He won six consecutive terms and was mayor for twelve years, from 1905 until 1917. Most surprisingly Dunn was elected in a town where a majority of elected officials were Republican which again speaks to how connected he was to the working-class and Irish communities who supported him. Dunn promised in his race to support the community and make it as best a place to live as possible. A report by the Hartford Courant highlighted this fact with the headline, “Old Baseball Manager Will be Mayor for All- Daniel P. Dunn Wants Willimantic to Prosper.” From 1913 to 1915 Dunn was also State Comptroller under Governor Simeon Baldwin. True to his roots when Dunn became State Comptroller, he was able to help pass some labor reforms such as instituting an eight-hour workday for railroad telegraphers. Dunn’s mayoral career was wrapped up in 1917 when he was beaten by Republican Charles A. Gates in Willimantic’s mayoral election. That year the Republicans swept the whole ticket and Dunn lost by 438 votes. Upon his loss Dunn was quoted by a Courant reporter as having said, “Such things have happened to many good men before, but in the face of it, my friends will find in me a good loser. The coming administration can rely upon me to assist them at any time in working for the best interests of the city.”
Dunn’s success at becoming mayor of Willimantic and staying mayor for five terms was due in large part to the Irish community’s support. Dunn was well connected in Willimantic and a member of many Irish organizations and St. Joseph’s Church. At the time of his election in 1905 the Irish were one of the largest immigrant groups in the city. In 1900, 728 people counted by the census were born in Ireland, that would have been 8.14% of the population. In 1910, there were 394 people in the census who listed their birthplace as Ireland, 3.15% of the population. While these numbers might not seem like a large majority, they are not including first, second, and third generation Irish in the city. The Irish had been in America for several generations by the time Dunn was elected and would not have been as easily distinguishable on the census as the Ireland-born. Nevertheless, the Irish tended to vote as a block and they showed up to back one of their own, Dunn, a first generation Irish American.
After all of his local offices, Dunn was nominated for congress in 1918. In 1920, he went to San Francisco for the Democratic National Convention. These were his last honors in politics, though The Chronicle says he was frequently sought for advice.