1913 United States Senate elections in Illinois

Two United States Senate elections (a regular and a special election) were held in Illinois on March 26, 1913. The two elections were interconnected through a compromise made to elect a Democrat in the regular election and a Republican in the special election.

These were the last elections to U.S. Senate from Illinois to take place by vote of state legislature, as the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution would make all subsequent U.S. Senate elections conducted by a popular vote.

The elections saw the election of Democrat J. Hamilton Lewis to a full term in the state's class 2 United States Senate seat in a regular election, and Republican Lawrence Y. Sherman to the state's class 3 United States Senate seat in a special election.

Background and procedure

At the time, since the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was yet to take effect, U.S. Senate seats were filled by votes of state legislatures.

In the

Progressive split.^{[citation needed]} But while the Democrats held a plurality of the Illinois General Assembly, they did not have a majority. The General Assembly took up the matter of electing the senators on February 1.^{[citation needed}

] The General Assembly therefore failed to elect until after the new congress began.

On March 26, in a compromise arranged by governor

Lawrence Y. Sherman to fill the two remaining years of a vacancy that had just recently opened. This broke a deadlock on the matter that had been in place since February 11.^[1]

Party primaries

Non-binding preference primaries were held April 9, 1912, which informed the legislature of the preferred candidate of the voters that participated in each party's primaries. They coincided with binding primaries held for other offices.^[2]

While the party was eligible to hold a primary, no Socialist primary was held for the office of U.S. Senator.^[2]

Democratic primary

Candidate

J. Hamilton Lewis, former at-large U.S. congressman from Washington

Result

Democratic primary^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	J. Hamilton Lewis	228,872	100
Total votes			228,872	100

Republican primary

Candidates

Shelby Moore Cullom, incumbent senator and former governor of Illinois

speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives

Illinois state senator^[3]

Result

Republican primary^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lawrence Y. Sherman	178,063	46.16
	Republican	Shelby Moore Cullom	129,375	33.54
	Republican	Hugh S. Magill	78,344	20.31
Total votes			385,782	100

Prohibition primary

Candidate

Alonzo Wilson, former member of the Illinois House of Representatives^[4]

Result

Prohibition primary^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Prohibition	Alonzo E. Wilson	3,786	100
Total votes			3,786	100

Regular election (class 2 seat)

On April 12, 1912, five-term Republican incumbent

1909 election to the Senate. After his defeat, Cullom withdrew his name from consideration by the General Assembly.^{[citation needed}

]

The

1877

and was the first non-Republican to have held this seat since 1883. [5]

Illinois legislative vote, class 2 (March 26, 1913)^[1]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes			%
Party		Candidate	State Senate	State House	Total votes	%
	Democratic	J. Hamilton Lewis	45	119	164	82.41
	Progressive	Frank H. Funk	2	20	22	11.06
	Republican	Lawrence Y. Sherman	0	9	9	4.52
	Socialist	Bernard Berlyn	0	4	4	2.01
	Democratic gain from Republican

Special election (class 3 seat)

In July 1912, the U.S. Senate invalidated

1909 election and declared the seat vacant.^[8] The Illinois Attorney General, William H. Stead determined that the General Assembly had failed to properly elect Lorimer in 1909 and so the governor could not appoint a replacement.^[9]

As a result, the General Assembly had a second Senate seat to fill.

Lawrence Y. Sherman, who had won the Republican advisory primary for Illinois’ regular senate election, was elected in the special election. Sherman defeated Democratic candidate Charles Boeschenstein, a newspaper publisher from Edwardsville and Democratic National Committeeman from Illinois.^[10]

Illinois special legislative vote, class 3 (March 26, 1913)^[11]^[6]
	Candidate	Votes	%
Republican	Lawrence Y. Sherman	143	73.33%
Democratic	Charles Boeschenstein	25	12.82%
Progressive	Frank H. Funk	22	11.28%
Socialist	McDonald	4	2.05%
Democratic	John Fitzpatrick	1	0.51%
Vacant

References

^ ^a ^b "ILLINOIS PICKS AS SENATORS, LEWIS AND L.Y. SHERMAN". Newspapers.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. March 26, 1913. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Illinois blue book, 1913-1914. Illinois Secretary of State. p. 460. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
^ "Candidate - Hugh S. Magill". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
^ Illinois Blue Book 1905-1906. p. 372. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
^ "LEWIS SHY NINE VOTES OF ELECTION". Newspapers.com. Woodford County Journal. March 27, 1913. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
^ ^a ^b United States Senators Chosen, 1913, p. 458.
^ Taylor, Julius F. "The Broad Ax". Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
^ "Lorimer ousted by decisive vote". The New York Times. July 14, 1912.
^ "Lorimer never elected". The New York Times. July 18, 1912.
^ Smith, George Washington (1927). History of Illinois and Her People. Vol. 4. American Historical Society Inc. p. 14. Retrieved December 26, 2023 – via Google Books.
^ "IL US Senate Special". Our Campaigns. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

Bibliography

"United States Senators Chosen, 1912". The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1913.
Hathi Trust Digital Library
.

[post-dispatch1-1] "ILLINOIS PICKS AS SENATORS, LEWIS AND L.Y. SHERMAN". Newspapers.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. March 26, 1913. Retrieved May 11, 2021.

[bluebook1913–1914-2] Illinois blue book, 1913-1914. Illinois Secretary of State. p. 460. Retrieved December 19, 2020.

[3] "Candidate - Hugh S. Magill". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 19, 2020.

[4] Illinois Blue Book 1905-1906. p. 372. Retrieved April 11, 2022.

[5] "LEWIS SHY NINE VOTES OF ELECTION". Newspapers.com. Woodford County Journal. March 27, 1913. Retrieved May 11, 2021.

[FOOTNOTEUnited_States_Senators_Chosen,_1913458-6] United States Senators Chosen, 1913, p. 458.

[ShermanPic-7] Taylor, Julius F. "The Broad Ax". Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

[8] "Lorimer ousted by decisive vote". The New York Times. July 14, 1912.

[9] "Lorimer never elected". The New York Times. July 18, 1912.

[10] Smith, George Washington (1927). History of Illinois and Her People. Vol. 4. American Historical Society Inc. p. 14. Retrieved December 26, 2023 – via Google Books.

[Illinois_legislature,_class_3-11] "IL US Senate Special". Our Campaigns. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

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v t e Elections in Illinois
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Special	2nd congressional, 1995 14th congressional, 2008 5th congressional, 2009 2nd congressional, 2013 18th congressional, 2015 Comptroller, 2016
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Lieutenant gubernatorial	1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968
Other state executive offices	Attorney General 2018 2022 Secretary of State 2022 Comptroller 2016
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State House	2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
State judicial	1936 1938 1940 1942 1948 1960 1962 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Ballot measures and referendums	State capitol referendum (1834) Cutback Amendment (1980) Crime Victim Rights Amendment (1992) Governor Recall Amendment (2010) Public Pension Amendment (2012) Marsy's Law (2014) Right to Vote Amendment (2014) Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment (2016) Fair Tax (2020) Right to Collective Bargaining Amendment (2022)
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Background and procedure

Party primaries

Democratic primary

Candidate

Result

Republican primary

Candidates

Result

Prohibition primary

Candidate

Result

Regular election (class 2 seat)

Special election (class 3 seat)

See also

References

Bibliography