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 County results Barkley: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Ernst: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Kentucky |
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The 1926 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 2, 1926. Republican Senator Richard P. Ernst ran for re-election to a second term in office but was defeated by Democratic U.S. Representative Alben W. Barkley, who would go on to serve for twenty-two years before ascending to become Vice President of the United States.
Barkley announced his campaign on April 26 with the support of organized labor in the state; because of his role in crafting the Railway Labor Act, the Associated Railway Labor Organizations endorsed him in advance. [1] Since his failed 1923 gubernatorial campaign, he had distanced himself from political boss Percy Haly and promised that he would not push a national ban on parimutuel betting if elected. [2] Consequently, he had no opposition in the primary. [3] Congressman (and future Chief Justice of the United States) Fred M. Vinson managed his general election campaign. [2]
President Calvin Coolidge supported Ernst, and Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover campaigned in the state on his behalf. [4] Ernst had opposed a bonus for veterans of World War I, an unpopular position in Kentucky, and at 68 years old, his age worked against him. [2] [5] Barkley contrasted his impoverished upbringing with Ernst's affluent lifestyle as a corporate attorney and attacked him for supporting Michigan senator Truman Handy Newberry, who had resigned due to allegations of election fraud. [4] Republican voters were angered that Ernst did not support Republican Congressman John W. Langley when Langley was charged with illegally aiding a large bootlegging operation in Louisville. [5] Ernst tried to resurrect the issues of Barkley's support for the coal tax and opposition to parimutuel betting. [2]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Alben W. Barkley | 286,997 | 51.84% | ||
| Republican | Richard P. Ernst (incumbent) | 266,657 | 48.16% | ||
| Majority | 20,340 | 3.68% | |||
| Total votes | 553,654 | 100.00% | |||
| Democratic gain from Republican | |||||
Alben William Barkley was an American lawyer and politician from Kentucky who served as the 35th vice president of the United States from 1949 to 1953 under President Harry S. Truman. In 1905, he was elected to local offices and in 1912 as a U.S. representative. Serving in both houses of Congress, he was a liberal Democrat, supporting President Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom domestic agenda and foreign policy.
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. His grandson, Ben Chandler, later served as congressman for Kentucky's Sixth District.
John Sherman Cooper was an American politician, jurist, and diplomat from the United States. He served three non-consecutive, partial terms in the United States Senate before being elected to two full terms in 1960 and 1966, representing Kentucky. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to India from 1955 to 1956 and U.S. Ambassador to East Germany from 1974 to 1976. He was the first Republican to be popularly elected to more than one term as a senator from Kentucky and, in both 1960 and 1966, he set records for the largest victory margin for a Kentucky senatorial candidate from either party.
Edward Thompson Breathitt Jr. was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A member of one of the state's political families, he was the 51st Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1963 to 1967. After serving in World War II and graduating from the University of Kentucky, Breathitt worked on the presidential campaign of Adlai Stevenson, the senatorial campaign of Alben Barkley, and the gubernatorial campaign of Bert T. Combs. When Combs won the governorship in 1959, he appointed Breathitt as personnel commissioner, where he wrote legislation establishing the first merit system for state employees. He continued to hold appointive offices throughout Combs' tenure, and in 1962, Combs endorsed Breathitt to succeed him as governor.
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was an American attorney and politician who served as the 35th governor of Kentucky and a United States senator from Kentucky. He was the state's first popularly-elected senator after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.
Earle Chester Clements was a Kentucky politician. He represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and was its 47th Governor, serving from 1947 to 1950, after serving in the state Senate. For 25 years, he was the leader of a faction of the state's Democratic Party that stood in opposition to the faction led by two-time governor and senator A. B. "Happy" Chandler.
Lawrence Winchester Wetherby was an American politician who served as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Kentucky. He was the first of only two governors in state history born in Jefferson County, despite the fact that Louisville is the state's most populous city. The second governor born in Jefferson County is the incumbent governor, Andy Beshear.
Keen Johnson was an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1939 to 1943; being the only journalist to have held that office. After serving in World War I, Johnson purchased and edited the Elizabethtown Mirror newspaper. He revived the struggling paper, sold it to a competitor and used the profits to obtain his journalism degree from the University of Kentucky in 1922. After graduation, he became editor of The Anderson News, and in 1925, he accepted an offer to co-publish and edit the Richmond Daily Register.
Augustus Owsley Stanley I was an American politician from Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th governor of Kentucky and also represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. From 1903 to 1915, Stanley represented Kentucky's 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation as a progressive reformer. Beginning in 1904, he called for an antitrust investigation of the American Tobacco Company, claiming they were a monopsony that drove down prices for the tobacco farmers of his district. As a result of his investigation, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the breakup of the American Tobacco Company in 1911. Stanley also chaired a committee that conducted an antitrust investigation of U.S. Steel, which brought him national acclaim. Many of his ideas were incorporated into the Clayton Antitrust Act.
Edwin Porch Morrow was an American politician, who served as the 40th Governor of Kentucky from 1919 to 1923. He was the only Republican elected to this office between 1907 and 1927. He championed the typical Republican causes of his day, namely equal rights for African-Americans and the use of force to quell violence. Morrow had been schooled in his party's principles by his father, Thomas Z. Morrow, who was its candidate for governor in 1883, and his uncle, William O. Bradley, who was elected governor in 1895. Both men were founding members of the Republican Party in Kentucky.
Flemon Davis "Flem" Sampson was the 42nd Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1927 to 1931. He graduated from Valparaiso University in 1894, and opened a law practice in Barbourville, Kentucky. He formed a political alliance with future Representatives Caleb Powers and John Robsion, both prominent Republicans in the eastern part of the state. By 1916, he was serving on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and had previously served as a county judge and circuit court judge. In 1923, he was elevated to chief justice of the Court of Appeals. He served until 1927, when he became the Republican gubernatorial nominee.
William Jason Fields was an American politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. Known as "Honest Bill from Olive Hill", he represented Kentucky's Ninth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1923, resigning to become the state's 41st governor.
James Dixon Black was an American attorney who was the 39th Governor of Kentucky, serving for seven months in 1919. He ascended to the office when Governor Augustus O. Stanley was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Augustus Everett Willson was an American politician and the 36th Governor of Kentucky. Orphaned at the age of twelve, Willson went to live with relatives in New England. This move exposed him to such authors as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, who were associates of his older brother, poet Forceythe Willson. He was also afforded the opportunity to attend Harvard University, where he earned an A.B. in 1869 and an A.M. in 1872. After graduation, he secured a position at the law firm of future Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan. Willson and Harlan became lifelong friends, and Willson's association with Harlan deepened his support of the Republican Party.
Thomas Stockdale Rhea (1871–1946) was a Democratic politician from the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. He served as Kentucky State Treasurer in 1912 and was state highway commissioner in the administration of Governor Ruby Laffoon. Known as "The Sage of Russellville" or "The Gray Fox", Rhea was a powerful Democratic political boss in the state. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1935, losing to A. B. "Happy" Chandler in the Democratic primary.
William O'Connell Bradley was an American politician from the state of Kentucky. He served as the 32nd Governor of Kentucky and was later elected by the state legislature as a U.S. senator from that state. The first Republican to serve as governor of Kentucky, Bradley became known as the father of the Republican Party in Kentucky.
The 1932 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 8, 1932. Democratic Senator and Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley was re-elected to a second term in office over Republican Maurice H. Thatcher.
The 1920 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 2, 1920. Democratic Senator J. C. W. Beckham ran for re-election to a second term in office but was defeated by Republican attorney Richard P. Ernst.
The 1938 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 8, 1938. Democratic Senator and Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley was re-elected to a third term in office over Republican John P. Haswell. The true challenge to Barkley came in the Democratic primary, where he faced Governor Happy Chandler.
The 1900 Kentucky gubernatorial special election was held on November 6, 1900.
