Wyoming elects Nellie Tayloe Ross governor; the widow who said no never campaigned
Wyoming's Democratic governor, William B. Ross, had died in office on October 2, 1924, and the state needed someone to finish his term. On November 4, voters in a special election chose his widow, Nellie Tayloe Ross, over Republican nominee E. J. Sullivan, 43,323 votes to 35,275. She had told a party committee she would not accept the nomination, and she never campaigned. Ross became the first woman elected governor in the United States, and she took office on January 5, 1925.
Ross's election made a woman governor by popular vote for the first time. In Cheyenne she backed Prohibition and urged Wyoming to ratify the pending federal child labor amendment, tying a state house to two of the era's national fights. Her loss in 1926 showed how brief the opening could be.
QWhy did E. J. Sullivan need several rounds of balloting to win the Republican nomination when Ross's nomination took only one vote?
The Republican emergency convention on October 14, 1924, could not settle on a nominee at once. Delegates went through several rounds of balloting before E. J. Sullivan emerged as the party's candidate. The Democrats in Cheyenne met the same day, but adjourned for several hours when Charles D. Carey hesitated to accept the nomination. The other Democratic candidates withdrew, and Nellie Tayloe Ross was nominated unanimously. The two conventions started from the same vacancy and the same short deadline. One came out of the day with a divided process and the other with a single name. Sullivan then faced a Democratic nominee who had no rival inside her own party.
QWhat did Wyoming's attorney general rule on October 9, 1924, about how candidates could get on the ballot?
The opinion, issued October 9, answered a request Frank Lucas had made on October 6. It said candidates could reach the ballot in either of two ways: by petition, as independents, or by nomination at party conventions. That ruling opened the door to the emergency conventions both parties had scheduled for October 14, only five days later. From William B. Ross's death on October 2 to the November 4 vote was 33 days. Within that span, the state had to get a legal opinion, hold two conventions, and send nominees to the voters.
QHow close to the filing deadline did Nellie Tayloe Ross actually commit to running?
Ross's yes came late. After she told the Democratic committee she would not accept, she committed just before the filing deadline. The window between her refusal and her commitment was short enough that the party's other candidates had already withdrawn by the time she agreed. Her own account does not describe a campaign of persuasion by argument. She said she was overwhelmed by the loyalty of the friends around her and was committed before she had fully decided. The deadline left the Democrats little room to find another nominee if she had held to her first answer.
