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Maryland special election

←  1910 November 4, 1913 1916 →
 
Nominee Blair Lee Thomas Parran Sr.
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 112,485 73,300
Percentage 56.75% 36.98%

County results
Parran:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Lee:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election

William P. Jackson
Republican

Elected U.S. senator

Blair Lee
Democratic

A Special Election to the United States Senate was held in Maryland on November 4, 1913, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sen. Isidor Rayner (a Democrat). The election was the second Senate election (after a June 1913 late election in Georgia [1] [2]) held under the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which required direct popular election of senators, but was the first contested by multiple parties. [3] [1]

Blair Lee I, a Democrat and former state senator, became the second U.S. Senator directly elected by the people of a state under the Constitution's provisions (although other states had previously elected senators indirectly through party primaries and popular elections, which were then ratified by the state legislature). [4] The election led to a controversy when the incumbent who had been appointed to fill Rayner's seat, Republican William P. Jackson, refused to give up his seat to Lee. Jackson claimed that "since he had been appointed under the original constitutional provision, he was entitled to hold his seat until the regularly scheduled adjournment date of the Maryland state assembly." [5] The Senate considered Jackson's challenge but eventually rejected it and seated Lee.

Results

1913 Maryland U.S. Senate special election [3] [6] [7]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Blair Lee I 112,485 56.75%
Republican Thomas Parran Sr. 73,300 36.98%
Progressive George Wellington 7,033 3.55%
Socialist Robert Fields 2,982 1.5%
Prohibition Finley Hendrickson 2,405 1.21%
Total votes 198,205 100.00%
Democratic hold

Results by county

County Blair Lee

Democratic

Thomas Parran Sr.

Republican

Other Total

Votes

Cast

# # # #
Allegany 3332 2914 2423 8669
Anne Arundel 3378 2230 156 5764
Baltimore (City) 48658 24028 5553 78239
Baltimore (County) 11963 6465 840 19268
Calvert 658 1189 46 1893
Caroline 1875 1593 117 3585
Carroll 3536 3180 213 6929
Cecil 2208 1748 108 4064
Charles 1017 1349 88 2454
Dorchester 2658 2454 101 5213
Frederick 5163 4633 509 10305
Garrett 918 1365 244 2527
Harford 3060 1920 199 5179
Howard 1713 1079 95 2887
Kent 1790 1355 111 3256
Montgomery 3494 2520 175 6189
Prince George's 2563 1783 148 4494
Queen Anne's 1890 1377 88 3355
St. Mary's 957 929 81 1967
Somerset 1707 1750 133 3590
Talbot 1824 1427 153 3404
Washington 425 3764 490 4679
Wicomico 2718 1902 292 4912
Worcester 1160 336 57 1553
Total 112485 73300 6090 198,205

References

  1. ^ a b Cleveland, John Fitch; Ottarson, F. J.; Schem, Alexander Jacob; McPherson, Edward; Rhoades, Henry Eckford (1914). The Tribune Almanac and Political Register. Tribune Association. p. 458. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  2. ^ "Landmark Legislation: The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution". www.senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  3. ^ a b United States Congress (1917). "Official Congressional Directory, Volume 64, Issue 2, Part 2; Volume 65". U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 42. Retrieved February 24, 2020 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Direct Election of Senators". www.senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  5. ^ "The Election Case of William P. Jackson v. Blair Lee of Maryland (1914)". www.senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  6. ^ "Archives of Maryland, Volume 0124, Page 239 - Maryland Manual, 1913-14". msa.maryland.gov. Maryland State Archives. n.d. p. 239. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  7. ^ "Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Nov 04, 1913". www.ourcampaigns.com. Our Campaigns. n.d. Retrieved April 12, 2023.