Editing Carter Harrison III (section)

===First term (1875–1877)===
Due to his strong performance in his 1872 congressional campaign, in 1874 Harrison was again nominated in the 2nd congressional district by the Democratic Party for congress,<ref name="retrobio"/> and in a re-match against Ward won election [[44th United States Congress]] by a margin of only eight votes.<ref name="secondcongressionalitspoliticalstatus"/> The ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' would blame local Republicans' alignment with the Citizens Union ticket in the [[1873 Chicago mayoral election|1873]] local Chicago elections as detrimental to Ward's re-election, as in the eyes of many voters it had placed Republicans on the less popular side of the "beer question" (positioning them in support of enforcing Sunday temperance [[blue laws]] (laws banning the sale of alcohol on Sundays). Many voters who typically voted Republican had in 1873 voted for the People's Party instead of the Citizens Union ticket due to the "beer question"<ref name="secondcongressionalitspoliticalstatus"/> At the time he was elected, he had been out-of-country visiting Europe with his family (traveling to Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the [[Tyrol]]). After learning of his election, he returned to the United States to take office.<ref name="manofthepeople"/>

In 1875, during his first term in Congress, Harrison and his family again traveled to Europe. After accompanying his family through Northern Europe, Harrison returned to the United States while the rest of his family continued their trip. However, Harrison traveled to Europe again after his first wife died there.<ref name="manofthepeople"/>