The 1912 Colorado gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1912. Democratic

state Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

Elias M. Ammons Elias Milton Ammons (July 28, 1860 – May 20, 1925) served as the 19th Governor of Colorado from 1913 to 1915. Born in 1860 in Macon County, North Carolina, he is perhaps best remembered for ordering National Guard troops into Ludlow, Colorado ...

defeated the Progressive, Republican and Socialist candidates future

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Edward P. Costigan Edward Prentiss Costigan (July 1, 1874January 17, 1939) was a Democratic Party politician who represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 1931 to 1937. He was a founding member of the Progressive Party in Colorado in 1912. Early life a ...

, Clifford C. Parks and Charles A. Ashelstrom with 42.91% of the vote.

Background

In 1910, incumbent Democratic Governor

John F. Shafroth John Franklin Shafroth (June 9, 1854February 20, 1922) was an American politician who served as a representative, member of the United States Senate, and Governor of Colorado. Early life Born in Fayette, Missouri, he attended the common schoo ...

had won reelection by a 51-43 margin against Republican State Senator John B. Stephen. Shafroth two terms in office were defined by his push for progressive reforms. He successfully passed

direct primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

recall Recall may refer to: * Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop * Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure * ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning * Recall (memory) * ''Recall'' (Overwatch ...

home rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

and labor control laws against strong opposition of the Democratic machine in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and Colorado corporations. In 1912, Shafroth decided against running for another term. Instead, he successfully ran for United States Senator that year. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Republican party was divided into two main wings: the

progressives Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techno ...

(led by

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

) and the

conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

(led by

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

). The rift between the two wings had deepened during the Taft's service as 27th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

, prompting former President Roosevelt to run against the incumbent Taft for the Republican nomination in the

1912 United States Presidential Election The 1912 United States presidential election was the 32nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1912. Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and defeated former Pr ...

. Taft won the nomination at the

1912 Republican National Convention The 1912 Republican National Convention was held at the Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois, from June 18 to June 22, 1912. The party nominated President William H. Taft and Vice President James S. Sherman for re-election for the 1912 United St ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, causing Roosevelt to found the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Italy ...

and run as a third-party candidate. In many other national and state elections in the year 1912, candidates ran against the Democratic and Republican nominees under Roosevelt's "Progressive" or "Bull Mouse" Banner. In Colorado,

quickly emerged as the leader of the new Progressive Party and was chosen by the party to contest the gubernatorial race.

Democratic primary

State Senator Elias M. Ammons was able to win the Democratic primary on September 10, 1912 against former Attorney General Joseph H. Maupin and Colorado State Penitentiary Warden Thomas J. Tynan. Ammons had positioned himself as a moderate reformer, who strongly opposed Roosevelt's

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

policies.

Candidates

Nominated

, State Senator

Eliminated in the primary

* Joseph H. Maupin, former Attorney General (1890-1892) * Thomas J. Tynan, Colorado State Penitentiary Warden

Results

Republican primary

Former State Auditor Clifford C. Parks was able to win the Republican primary on September 10, 1912 against attorney Philip B. Stewart. The Republican primary was shaped by the divide between "regular" Republicans which supported President Taft and "progressive" Republicans which supported former President Roosevelt. In July 1912, the progressive candidate Stewart had been asked by fellow Roosevelt supporters to leave the Republican Party and join the Progressive Party. He declined and instead ran as a Roosevelt supporter in the Republican primary. Stewart lead the race in early returns which lead multiple newspaper to call him the apparent winner. After all votes were counted, Clifford C. Parks was declared as the winner. Philip Stewart did not support the Republican ticket in the general election, and ran as a Presidential elector for Teddy Roosevelt in the 1912 presidential election.

Candidates

Nominated

* Clifford C. Parks, former Auditor of the State (1894-1896)

Eliminated in the primary

* Philip B. Stewart, Attorney

Results

General Election

Results

Aftermath

Elias M. Ammons was sworn in as the 19th Governor of Colorado in Denver on January 14, 1913. In the 1912 Colorado House of Representatives and Colorado Senate elections the Democrats won a 48-17 and 24-11 majority in the 19th General Assembly, respectively. The Colorado State Government was therefore dominated by Democrats during Ammons' term from 1913-1915. Ammons and the Democrats' legislative proposals would be overshadowed by the

Colorado Coalfield War The Colorado Coalfield War was a major labor uprising in the Southern and Central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Striking began in late summer 1913, organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) agai ...

, which climaxed in the 1914 Ludlow Massacre. Ammons was the commander-in-chief of the

Colorado National Guard The Colorado National Guard consists of the Colorado Army National Guard and Colorado Air National Guard, forming the state of Colorado's component to the United States National Guard. Founded in 1860, the Colorado National Guard falls under t ...

, that caused the massacre by attacking the tent city called Ludlow Colony. The strike caused between 69 and 199 deaths. After the massacre, Governor Ammons was torn between the interests of the striking miners, which had political support by some Democrats like State Senator Helen Ring Robinson, and the mine owners under the leadership of

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

and decided to request the deployment of federal troops to calm the violent clashes. After massive criticism and nationwide outrage, Ammons decided to not run for reelection in the 1914 Colorado gubernatorial election and subsequently retired from public life.

References

{{Colorado elections 1912 Colorado elections

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...