1918 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

none March 2026 September 2023 1918 United States Senate election in Massachusetts Massachusetts 1908 presidential no 1913 United States Senate election in Massachusetts 1913 1924 United States Senate election in Massachusetts 1924 November 5, 1918 File:David I. Walsh (3x4 cropped).jpg 150x150px David I. Walsh Democratic Party (United States) 207,478 49.66% File:John Wingate Weeks, Bain bw photo portrait (3x4 cropped).jpg John W. Weeks Republican Party (United States) 188,287 45.06% File:Thomas William Lawson (3x4 cropped).jpg Thomas W. Lawson Independent (politician) 21,985 5.26% 300px County results 300px| Municipality results 1 300px Walsh: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80%Weeks: #ffc8cd 30–40% #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% #c21b18 80–90% #a80000 >90%Tie: #d2b1d9 40–50% Senator John W. Weeks Republican Party (United States) David I. Walsh Democratic Party (United States) The United States Senate election of 1918 in Massachusetts was held on November 5. Incumbent Republican Senator John W. Weeks ran for a second term in office but was defeated by Democratic former Governor David I. Walsh. Primaries were held September 24. Both Walsh and Weeks were unopposed after their respective opponents, former Boston mayor John F. Fitzgerald and Governor Samuel W. McCall, withdrew from the race. Walsh became the first U.S. Senator from Massachusetts elected to a full term as a member of the modern Democratic Party. (A previous Democratic U.S. Senator, Robert Rantoul Jr., served only one month in 1851 after winning a special election.) This was the only senate seat that Democrats flipped during this cycle, and it was the first time that this seat had been won by a non-Republican since 1855. Background American entry into World War I Presidency of Woodrow Wilson The election was held mid-way through President Woodrow Wilson's second term in office. Following the sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania and two years of debate, the United States entered World War I with a declaration of war on Germany on April 6, 1917, and spent much of 1917 and 1918 building up a sufficient fighting force to contribute to the Allied effort in Europe. Senator John Wingate Weeks had been a leading conservative critic of the Wilson administration and a candidate for president in 1916, though his appeal was limited to New England.Coolidge: An American Enigma Sobel Robert https://archive.org/details/coolidgeamerican0000sobe_o7u2 6 Oct 2022 1998 109–115 He failed to win the Republican nomination when the national convention settled on Charles Evans Hughes, who lost narrowly to Wilson. Weeks kept up his criticism of Wilson as American war involvement grew, calling Secretary of War Newton Baker a "pacifist by nature" and publicly calling the president's management of materiel and domestic coal into question.WEEKS DECLARES SEC BAKER A PACIFIST 16 Feb 1918 https://www.newspapers.com/image/431133784/ The Boston Globe subscription 6 Oct 2022 11 Republican primary Candidates John W. Weeks, incumbent Senator Withdrew Samuel W. McCall, Governor of Massachusetts, former U.S. Representative, and candidate for Senate in 1913 Campaign Early in the campaign,October 2022 progressives hoped that Governor Samuel W. McCall would seek a rematch of the 1913 race, when he lost a protracted battle for the Republican nomination to Weeks on the thirty-first ballot.REPUBLICANS READY TO ELECT MR. WEEKS BAY STATE SENATOR The Christian Science Monitor January 14, 1913 1 That election, which was decided by a caucus of the Republican state legislators, was held before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the direct primary system in Massachusetts, both progressive reforms which ostensibly gave McCall a comparative advantage. Weeks's anemic showing in the presidential campaign also hinted that he could be vulnerable. McCall formally announced his intent to seek the Senate seat in August, criticizing Weeks as one of a class of Senators who represented capital over the interests of the people. His campaign also accused Weeks of vote buying for hosting dinners for various ethnic societies. McCall's campaign also argued that among the ethnic minorities, the Polish community of Massachusetts would support McCall.At the time, as a result of World War I, Poland was a renewed state and the Polish–Soviet War was developing, heightening Polish concerns in politics.Lines for Campaign of Gov. McCall Forming 10 Aug 1918 https://www.newspapers.com/image/840195901/ The Greenfield Recorder 7 subscription 6 Oct 2022 The governor's campaign was aggressive but surprisingly brief; he withdrew by the end of the month, shocking observers.A "BOLT FROM THE BLUE" https://www.newspapers.com/image/603368987 29 Aug 1918 8 Fall River Evening News subscription 6 Oct 2022 His decision was made upon determination that the conservative W. Murray Crane wing of the party remained loyal to Weeks and would ensure his re-nomination. Results Senator Weeks was unopposed for re-nomination. 1918 Republican U.S. Senate primaryOffice of the Secretary of Commonwealth of Massachusetts Number of assessed polls, registered voters and persons who voted in each voting precinct in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the state, city and town elections 1918 https://archive.org/stream/numberofassessed1918mass#page/36/mode/2up Republican Party (United States) John W. Weeks (incumbent) 77,659 99.90% Write-in All others 79 0.10% 77,738 100.00% Democratic primary Candidates David I. Walsh, former Governor of Massachusetts Withdrew John F. Fitzgerald, former Mayor of Boston and U.S. Representative (ran for U.S. House, endorsed Walsh)David I. Walsh to Run for Senate The Christian Science Monitor 30 Jul 1918 5 Results Walsh was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. 1918 Democratic U.S. Senate primaryOffice of the Secretary of Commonwealth of Massachusetts Number of assessed polls, registered voters and persons who voted in each voting precinct in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the state, city and town elections 1918 https://archive.org/stream/numberofassessed1918mass#page/152/mode/2up Democratic Party (United States) David I. Walsh 46,356 99.98% Write-in All others 10 0.02% 46,366 100.00% General election Candidates Thomas W. Lawson, businessman and author (Independent) David I. Walsh, former Governor of Massachusetts (Democratic) John W. Weeks, incumbent Senator since 1913 (Republican) Campaign Walsh formally accepted the Democratic nomination at the state convention in Worcester on October 23. He pledged to "endeavor with all the ability and strength which I possess to assist... President Wilson in the... solution of those great problems... when peace shall come." He promised "unwavering support to President Wilson and his world work" and vowed to leave "nothing undone to help lighten the burdens ... of him whom Providence has chosen to direct us in these momentous times."Flannagan 1968 483 Days later, Weeks responded to the implicit criticism that he had obstructed the war effort: "I do not know of a man in the Senate who wants to do anything that might in any way interfere with the war's progress, but while conceding that government by dictation is necessary, I am not ready to abnegate my right to form my own judgments."https://www.newspapers.com/image/430836245/ Weeks and Coolidge Heard at Luncheon 25 Oct 1918 subscription 6 Oct 2022 9 Despite abandoning his challenge, Governor McCall refused to campaign for Weeks in the general election; in addition to dividing the Republican vote, McCall thereby deprived Weeks, considered a drab speaker, of his widely regarded oratory talent. Results General election Office of the Secretary of State of Massachusetts Number of assessed polls, registered voters and persons who voted in each voting precinct in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the state, city and town elections 1918 https://archive.org/stream/numberofassessed1918mass#page/298/mode/2up Democratic Party (US) David I. Walsh 207,478 49.66% Republican Party (US) John W. Weeks (incumbent) 188,287 45.06% Independent (politician) Thomas W. Lawson 21,985 5.26% Write-in All others 92 0.02% 417,842 100.00% Walsh defeated Weeks by nearly 20,000 votes, making him the only candidate to be elected on the Democratic Party ticket in the state. Walsh's victory was credited to his progressive record as governor, his ability as an orator, and his Catholicism, as well as the personal support of President Wilson in contrast to Weeks's strident opposition. Walsh was the lone gain for the Democratic Party in the 1918 Senate elections.Flannagan 1968 484 Observers also credited the result to the active campaign against Weeks by advocates of a federal amendment to guarantee women's suffrage.Ray 1919 81 See also 1918 United States Senate elections 1918 Massachusetts Question 1 Notes References Bibliography The Disillusionment of a Progressive: U. S. Senator David I. Walsh and the League of Nations Issue, 1918-1920 The New England Quarterly 41 4 1968 483–504 Flannagan John H. Jr. 10.2307/363908 363908 https://www.jstor.org/stable/363908 subscription The November Elections The American Political Science Review 13 1 1919 Ray P. Orman 78–85 American Political Science Association 10.2307/1945797 1945797 147182447 The Life of John W. Weeks Washburn Charles G. Charles G. Washburn Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Co. 1928 Massachusetts 1918 Category:1918 Massachusetts elections