for the Democrats as Hemphill was elected by a thirteen-point margin. Other row offices The Republicans had also maintained their hold on the patronage-rich office of Register of Wills in 1953, electing attorney and former football star Robert C. Duffy, by a slim margin over the Democratic nominee, former Congressman Francis R. Smith. Duffy did not run for re-election, and the Republican nomination was contested between factions of the Republican party organization, a "regular" faction, led by Hamilton, former Sheriff Austin Meehan, and Board of Revision of Taxes President William F. Meade; and an insurgent faction led by ward leaders dissatisfied with the hierarchy's control over nominations. The establishment faction carried the day, winning the nomination for their man, Joseph P. Gorham. Democrats were more united on their choice, selecting Deputy State Insurance Commissioner Bernard J. Kelley in an uncontested primary. Kelley was victorious, reversing the Republicans' gains of four years earlier and winning by a fifteen-point margin. The story was similar in the special election for the clerk of the court of quarter sessions (a court whose jurisdiction is now exercised by the court of common pleas). In the race to replace Democrat Joseph A. Scanlon, who died earlier in the year, Democratic state representative Louis Amarando defeated Republican Herbert R. Cain, Jr., by a 58% to 42% margin. As Miller wrote the next day, the "victory also demonstrated the supremacy of the [Democratic] party in Philadelphia from an organizational standpoint". City Council special election Voters in the 1st district also voted for city council in 1957 in a special election called after the death of Councilman Thomas I. Guerin the year before. Democratic ward leaders in the district, which covered most of South Philadelphia, nominated Emanuel Weinberg, leader of the 39th ward and a former state Deputy Secretary of Insurance. The nomination was not without controversy: Governor George M. Leader had fired Weinberg along with several other political appointees who were found, as The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, to have "enjoyed immunity from supervision and control and were permitted to pursue their private enterprises in addition to their State duties." The nomination drew criticism from reform-minded Democrats, including Clark, who said the nomination showed "contempt for the independent vote." Weinberg's nomination also disappointed Guerin's widow, Mary C. Guerin, who ran as an independent. Guerin noted that Weinberg had been fired from his state job for good reason, saying "one