Jonathan P. Dolliver's death on 10/15/1910 set off a protracted struggle to fill the vacancy which contributed to the division in the Republican Party.
Dolliver had been a leader of the "insurgent" Republicans, who opposed President Taft's policies. Dolliver led the insurgents to control of the state Republican Party at the 1910 state convention [NYT 7/3/1910], which passed a resolution calling on Taft to eliminate party strife by removing the "stand patter" Republicans from his Cabinet.
Gov. B.F. Carroll, who was a "stand patter" Republican, appointed Lafayette Young to fill the vacancy. Young was the editor of the Des Moines Capital and an opponent of Sens. Cummins and Dolliver. Young had placed Theodore Roosevelt in nomination for Vice President at the Republican National Convention of 1900 but had moved to the right in the following decade. [NYT 11/13/1910]
Young still had to be confirmed by the Iowa legislature. On 12/16/1910, V.A. Young of Waterloo entered the race as Lafayette Young's first declared opponent [NYT 12/17/1910]. On 12/23/1910, Sen. Young called for a statewide primary on to decide who the Republican nominee would be. With his opposition divided, he would have been able to win with a plurality; the legislature did not issue the call for the primary [NYT 12/24/1910]. The New York Times added two more opponents on New Year's Day of 1911: A.B. Funk, editor of the Spirit Lake Beacon (a Cummins supporter), and ex-Gov. Warren Garst of Coon Rapids.
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[More...]Jonathan P. Dolliver's death on 10/15/1910 set off a protracted struggle to fill the vacancy which contributed to the division in the Republican Party.
Dolliver had been a leader of the "insurgent" Republicans, who opposed President Taft's policies. Dolliver led the insurgents to control of the state Republican Party at the 1910 state convention [NYT 7/3/1910], which passed a resolution calling on Taft to eliminate party strife by removing the "stand patter" Republicans from his Cabinet.
Gov. B.F. Carroll, who was a "stand patter" Republican, appointed Lafayette Young to fill the vacancy. Young was the editor of the Des Moines Capital and an opponent of Sens. Cummins and Dolliver. Young had placed Theodore Roosevelt in nomination for Vice President at the Republican National Convention of 1900 but had moved to the right in the following decade. [NYT 11/13/1910]
Young still had to be confirmed by the Iowa legislature. On 12/16/1910, V.A. Young of Waterloo entered the race as Lafayette Young's first declared opponent [NYT 12/17/1910]. On 12/23/1910, Sen. Young called for a statewide primary on to decide who the Republican nominee would be. With his opposition divided, he would have been able to win with a plurality; the legislature did not issue the call for the primary [NYT 12/24/1910]. The New York Times added two more opponents on New Year's Day of 1911: A.B. Funk, editor of the Spirit Lake Beacon (a Cummins supporter), and ex-Gov. Warren Garst of Coon Rapids.
Balloting began on 1/19/1911, and a deadlock was immediately apparent. On the first ballot, with 80 necessary to a choice, Democratic nominee Claude Porter led with 53, followed by Sen. Young with 33 votes, Kenyon with 25, Funk with 22, and many scattering [NYT 1/21/1911]. Ballot after ballot were taken in the following days. On the 25th, the count stood Porter (D) - 52, Kenyon 35, Funk 34, and Young 33 [NYT 1/26/1911].
Gradually, the trailing Republican nominees dropped out - concentrating the insurgent vote with Kenyon and the stand patter vote with Young. On 1/31/1911, the vote stood Kenyon 66, Porter (D) 47, Young 36, and 9 scattering or absent. Following this ballot, the Democrats discussed whether to meddle with the Republican nominees to effect a choice of the easier to defeat in the following election. [NYT 2/1/1911]. Sen. Young withdrew after the 21st ballot, and the stand patters supported Horace E. Deemer after that time. [NYT 4/13/1911]
Kenyon was elected on the 67th ballot, which took place on 4/12/1911. On the first ballot of the day, Kenyon supporters packed the galleries. He placed first with 76 votes to 51 for Porter and 28 for Deemer. With legislative adjournment imminent, a second ballot was taken. Two legislators switched to Kenyon, giving him the required 78 votes for a majority. After all shifts in the ballot were tallied, Kenyon had 85 votes to 51 for Porter and 19 for Deemer. The insurgents had won a major victory in a battleground state.
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85 (36.02%)