1906 United States Senate election in Kentucky

1906 United States Senate election in Kentucky

←  1900 January 16, 1906 1912  →

Nominee Thomas H. Paynter William H. Cox Party Democratic Republican Senate ballot 22 (78.6%) 5 (17.9%) House ballot 57 (72.2%) 22 (27.8%)

Senate ballot House ballot Blue denotes members voting for Paynter and red denotes those voting for Cox. Orange denotes Cox himself, who voted for another Republican.

U.S. senator before election J. C. S. Blackburn Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Thomas H. Paynter Democratic

The 1906 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on January 16, 1906, after an initial election on January 9, 1906. Democratic candidate Thomas H. Paynter was elected by the Kentucky General Assembly to the United States Senate. The election was held twice due to ambiguity in the law setting the election date.

Democratic nomination

This newspaper article depicts the three professed candidates for the nomination: Blackburn, Paynter, and Haldeman.

The Democratic Party chose to select its candidate by legislative caucus. Incumbent senator J. C. S. Blackburn was defeated for renomination on January 2, 1906, by judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and former congressman Thomas H. Paynter.

Candidates

• J. C. S. Blackburn, U.S. senator (1885–1897, 1901–1907)
• William Birch Haldeman
• Thomas H. Paynter, judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals (1895–1906) and U.S. representative for Kentucky's 9th congressional district (1889–1895)

Results

Caucus vote of Democratic senators

Caucus vote of Democratic representatives

  Paynter

  Blackburn

  Haldeman

  Smith

  Republicans

Democratic caucus results ^{[1] [2]}

Candidate	Senate	House	Total	%
Thomas H. Paynter	17	42	59	56.2
J. C. S. Blackburn	10	24	34	32.4
William Birch Haldeman	3	7	10	9.5
David Highbaugh Smith [a]	1	1	2	1.9
Total votes	31	74	105	100.0

Republican nominatiom

The Republican Party chose to select its candidate by legislative caucus, with senator William H. Cox winning the nomination unanimously on January 3, 1906. ^[3]

Candidates

• William H. Cox, member of the Kentucky Senate (1900–1907)

Elections

First election

Senate

1906 United States Senate election in Kentucky (first Senate ballot) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas H. Paynter	31	83.8
	Republican	William H. Cox	5	13.5
	Republican	Curtis F. Burnam	1	2.7
Total votes			37	100.0

House of Representatives

1906 United States Senate election in Kentucky (first House ballot) ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas H. Paynter	70	73.7
	Republican	William H. Cox	25	26.3
Total votes			95	100.0

Second election

Senate

1906 United States Senate election in Kentucky (Senate) ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas H. Paynter	22	78.6
	Republican	William H. Cox	5	17.9
	Republican	Curtis F. Burnam	1	3.6
Total votes			28	100.0
	Democratic hold

House of Representatives

1906 United States Senate election in Kentucky (House of Representatives) ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Thomas H. Paynter	55	72.2
	Republican	William H. Cox	22	27.8
Total votes			79	100.0
	Democratic hold

See also

• 1906–07 United States Senate elections

Notes

1. Smith was not an announced candidate for the nomination.

References

1. "Paynter nominated on first ballot". The Courier-Journal . January 3, 1906. p. 1.
2. "Judge Paynter nominated on first ballot for United States Senator". The Kentucky Advocate. Danville, Kentucky. January 3, 1906. p. 1.
3. "W. H. Cox for Senator". The Lexington Leader . January 4, 1906. p. 1.
4. Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, p. 235.
5. Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, p. 291.

Sources

• "Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 1906". Journals of the Kentucky General Assembly. Frankfort, Kentucky – via HathiTrust.