The Nadir of the Democratic Party--Circa 1905?
IMO, Democrats were much worse off then than during the 1920's--if you look beyond presidential elections. They were practically a southern-accent regional party, except for some strength in New York City.
When the 60th Congress was elected in 1906, were there *any* Democratic US senators who did not speak with a drawl?
My guess is at most *two*--Henry M. Teller of Colorado (who spent his youth in Upstate New York) and *maybe* Francis G. Newlands of Nevada (he was born in Mississippi but raised in Illinois and Washington, DC).
Other than Teller and Newlands, *every* Democratic senator was from a southern or border state--two each from AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, and VA and one from MO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_United_States_Congress
That summarizes the status of the Democratic Party in the early twentieth century. (Actually, 1906 marked the beginnings of the Democrats' comeback in House elections, but they did not gain control of any additional legislatures to allow them to elect additional senators, while two western senators elected in 1900 were not re-elected. The 59th Congress, elected in 1904, was the low point of northern Democratic representation in the House. In it there was not a single Democratic Representative from Ohio and only one from Illinois and one from Pennsylvania... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_United_States_Congress)
As for governors, northern Democratic governors were so rare that when they were elected (like John A. Johnson of MN) they automatically were talked about as potential presidential nominees...
If there's a what-if here, it's whether there is any way things might have stayed that way. On the surface, 1908 may have looked almost as bad for the Democrats, with Bryan only carrying NE, NV, and CO outside the South and border states--but in Congress and the governorships, the Democrats continued the slow improvement that had started in 1906, electing governors in IN (Thomas Marshall) and OH (Judson Harmon) and slightly adding to their 1906 gains in the House.
IMO, Democrats were much worse off then than during the 1920's--if you look beyond presidential elections. They were practically a southern-accent regional party, except for some strength in New York City.
When the 60th Congress was elected in 1906, were there *any* Democratic US senators who did not speak with a drawl?
My guess is at most *two*--Henry M. Teller of Colorado (who spent his youth in Upstate New York) and *maybe* Francis G. Newlands of Nevada (he was born in Mississippi but raised in Illinois and Washington, DC).
Other than Teller and Newlands, *every* Democratic senator was from a southern or border state--two each from AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, and VA and one from MO. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_United_States_Congress
That summarizes the status of the Democratic Party in the early twentieth century. (Actually, 1906 marked the beginnings of the Democrats' comeback in House elections, but they did not gain control of any additional legislatures to allow them to elect additional senators, while two western senators elected in 1900 were not re-elected. The 59th Congress, elected in 1904, was the low point of northern Democratic representation in the House. In it there was not a single Democratic Representative from Ohio and only one from Illinois and one from Pennsylvania... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_United_States_Congress)
As for governors, northern Democratic governors were so rare that when they were elected (like John A. Johnson of MN) they automatically were talked about as potential presidential nominees...
If there's a what-if here, it's whether there is any way things might have stayed that way. On the surface, 1908 may have looked almost as bad for the Democrats, with Bryan only carrying NE, NV, and CO outside the South and border states--but in Congress and the governorships, the Democrats continued the slow improvement that had started in 1906, electing governors in IN (Thomas Marshall) and OH (Judson Harmon) and slightly adding to their 1906 gains in the House.
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