1913 United States Senate special election in Maryland

A Special Election to the United States Senate was held in Maryland on November 4, 1913 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sen. Isidor Rayner (a Democrat). The election was the second Senate election (after a June 1913 late election in Georgia[1][2]) held under the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which required direct election of senators, but it was the first in which the election was contested by multiple parties.[3][1]

Maryland special election
November 4, 1913
Turnout198,205
 
Nominee Blair Lee Thomas Parran Sr.
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 112,485 73,300
Percentage 56.75% 36.98%
U.S. senator before election

William P. Jackson
Republican

 Elected U.S. senator

Blair Lee
Democratic

Elections in Maryland
Government

Blair Lee I, a Democrat and former state senator, became the second U.S. Senator directly elected by the people of a state under the Constitution's provisions (although other states had previously elected senators indirectly through party primaries and popular elections, which were then ratified by the state legislature).[4] The election led to a controversy when the incumbent who had been appointed to fill Rayner's seat, Republican William P. Jackson, refused to give up his seat to Lee. Jackson claimed that "since he had been appointed under the original constitutional provision, he was entitled to hold his seat until the regularly scheduled adjournment date of the Maryland state assembly."[5] The Senate considered Jackson's challenge but eventually rejected it and seated Lee.

Results
1913 Maryland U.S. Senate special election[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Blair Lee 112,485 56.75% n/a
Republican Thomas Parran Sr. 73,300 36.98% n/a
Progressive George Wellington 7,033 3.55% n/a
Socialist Robert Fields 2,982 1.5% n/a
Prohibition Finley Hendrickson 2,405 1.21% n/a
Turnout 198,205

References
  1. Cleveland, John Fitch; Ottarson, F. J.; Schem, Alexander Jacob; McPherson, Edward; Rhoades, Henry Eckford (1914). The Tribune Almanac and Political Register. Tribune Association. p. 458. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  2. "Landmark Legislation: The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution". www.senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  3. United States Congress (1917). "Official Congressional Directory, Volume 64, Issue 2, Part 2; Volume 65". U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 42. Retrieved February 24, 2020 – via Google Books.
  4. "Direct Election of Senators". www.senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  5. "The Election Case of William P. Jackson v. Blair Lee of Maryland (1914)". www.senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
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