Upton Sinclair as Governor of California?

Zioneer

Banned
So I was reading up about a book I read for school a few weeks ago, The Jungle. I looked up Upton Sinclair on Wikipedia, and I notice that he ran for political office several times on the Socialist ticket, most successfully in the 1934 California gubernational race. He got a respectable 879,000 votes, but didn't even come close to winning.

So what if he did win? What would have to change for him to win? What would he likely do as governor? How would he implement his EPIC (End Poverty In California) plan? Finally, what if he didn't win, but won more votes than before; would this energize the Socialist Party enough for it to win victories elsewhere?
 
To get Upton Sinclair to win in 1934?

Well a big player in California politics in that time was William Randolph Hearst. He basically was in charge of the attack on Sinclair. All though out his newspapers screamed of the evils of communism and socialism, and how Sinclair's plan would doom the state.

To remove Hearst from California politics is difficult. It should say something that Hearst a life-long Democrat attacked Sinclair, the democratic candidate. I always have this TL idea batting around in my head where Hearst is named VP in 1932. Hence his interest now focused nationally, now has to let California governor's race slide. However without Hearst the race becomes a toss-up and not a guaranteed Sinclair victory.
 

Zioneer

Banned
So Hearst is the biggest obstacle to Sinclair winning. What happens if he either dies, or like you said, is made VP by Roosevelt or whomever?
 
So Hearst is the biggest obstacle to Sinclair winning. What happens if he either dies, or like you said, is made VP by Roosevelt or whomever?

Well Hearst dying wouldn't do much, nor would VP. It would simply reduce Sinclairs chances to a 50 50 shot.

If you really want Sinclair as governor, you have to eliminate the third party, or discredit Merriam.


You can:
* Stop Merriam from being the candidate. This can be accomplished by the previous governor not dying. Have Sinclair make a big storm about anti-lynching and you have a good chance.
* Get rid of Haight. The man would never have endorsed either Merriam or Sinclair.

The problem is that Sinclair generally didn't have a shot. You would need to get rid of Haight, Hearst, and Merriam to have had a shot
 
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