Complex sentence: Stevenson was encouraged to run for president in 1976 by Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, declined and was one of the finalists for vice president at the Democratic Convention that year.
Split into simpler sentences: Stevenson was encouraged to run for president in 1976 by Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago. He declined to run, and was one of the finalists for vice president at the Democratic Convention that year.