The 1914 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, 1914. These were the first regularly scheduled elections held following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, which required that all seats up for election be popularly elected, rather than chosen by their state legislatures. Thus, it was the first time that elections were generally scheduled on Election Day to coincide with the U.S. House elections. The 32 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections in 1914. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. These elections occurred in the middle of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's first term.
After a series of special elections, Democrats entered the election with a 53–42 majority, which they expanded to 56–39 after the elections.
This is one of five elections since 1914 in which the president's party gained Senate seats but lost House seats, something that would be repeated by Democrats in 1962 and 2022 and by Republicans in 1970 and 2018. This was the last time until 2022 that no incumbent senator lost reelection in a general election, although two lost in party primaries. This was also the first of three times in American history that the opposition party failed to flip any Senate seats, along with 1934 and 2022.[1]
Gains, losses, and holds
Retirements
Four Republicans and three Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election. One Democrat retired instead of seeking election to finish the unexpired term.
Democrat Joseph F. Johnston died August 8, 1913. Democrat Henry D. Clayton was appointed August 12, 1913, but his appointment was challenged and withdrawn. Democrat Franklin P. Glass was appointed November 17, 1913, but the Senate refused to seat him.[36]
Incumbent Democrat Marcus A. Smith was elected in 1912 with 50% of the vote and sought re-election. Although he easily defeated his primary challenger, he faced a large field of candidates in the general election. State Senator and trader Don Lorenzo Hubbell was the Republican nominee. Third-party candidates included Eugene W. Chafin of the Prohibition Party, who ran for president under the party's nomination, as well as Socialist Bert Davis and Progressive J. Bernard Nelson.
Smith received over half of the vote, defeating each candidate by a wide margin. He was elected to his second term.
Incumbent Democrat Duncan Fletcher was elected in a special election after being appointed when William Hall Milton retired after a year in office. He sought re-election to a full term, facing competition only in the primary.
There were two elections due to the February 14, 1914, death of Democrat Augustus Octavius Bacon. It was the first time that both of Georgia's Senate seats have been up for election at the same time.
Democratic appointee Johnson N. Camden was not a candidate for the next term, instead returning to agricultural activities on a farm.
In this race, two former governors of Kentucky fought for the seat. The Democratic nominee was John C. W. Beckham, who was sworn in after the assassination of William Goebel in 1900. The Republican nominee was Augustus E. Willson, who flipped the seat in 1907 after Beckham's term ended.
Beckham won the election, and would continue to serve until his re-election loss.
Initially, Harding was not interested in running for U.S. Senate, due to the divisive remnants of the 1912 elections between the conservative and progressive factions of the Republican party. Harry Daugherty, an Ohio political boss, was interested in running for the seat himself upon learning of incumbent Senator Theodore Burton's plans to retire upon the expiration of his term, but party leaders advised him not to run. Instead, Daugherty unsuccessfully attempted to stage a draft movement to convince Harding to run for the seat. After the death of Amos Kling, the father of Harding's wife Florence, she encouraged her husband to run. The precise reasoning for this is unknown, but some in Marion, the Hardings' home town, believe that Harding had agreed not to seek higher office as part of a reuniting "truce" between Florence and her father, or that Kling had convinced Harding that it would behoove him to further his business rather than run for public office.[39]
Although Daugherty claimed it was him who had convinced Harding to run for the Senate, Harding's friend and attorney Hoke Donithen, who eventually became Harding's campaign manager, may have played a role in his decision to run. Retiring Senator Theodore Burton also claimed credit, saying to his biographer that Daugherty did not agree to throw his support behind Harding until after learning he had backed him.[39]
The Republican primary was a three-way contest between Harding, former U.S. Senator and ex-mentor Joseph B. Foraker[40] and Ralph Cole. Rather than antagonizing his opponents, Harding notably tried to keep and make friends within the Republican party, to the frustration of those running against him. Ralph Cole, in his frustration, said, "If he is not going to fight someone, why did he enter the contest?"[39] Harding eventually defeated both of his opponents in the primary, garnering 88,540 votes. Foraker finished in second with 76,817 votes, ahead of Cole with 52,237.[39]
In the general election campaign, Harding faced Democratic nominee Timothy Hogan and Progressive candidate Arthur Garford. Hogan was subject to anti-Catholic sentiment among voters, which Harding himself did not exhibit during the course of the election. Harding's supporters accused Hogan of wanting to "deliver Ohio to the Pope."[41] Harding downplayed the issue of World War I, despite the fact that the election took place just after the outbreak of the war, due to the high German immigrant population. Harding ultimately won the election and subsequently became the first United States Senator from Ohio to be popularly elected, following the passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.[40]
Harding's victory in his bid for the Senate seat raised speculation that he would seek higher office, specifically the Presidency, although Harding himself did not show any interest in doing so at the time. He told family and friends after being elected to the Senate that he would return to his previous career in newspaper publishing at The Marion Daily Star after serving in the Senate.[39]
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