The 1914 New York state election was held on November 3, 1914, to elect the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, the lieutenant governor, the Secretary of State, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state engineer, a U.S. Senator and a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate, and delegates-at-large to the

New York State Constitutional Convention The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

of 1915.

History

This was the first time that U.S. Senators from New York were elected by general ballot. Until 1911, the U.S. Senators had been elected by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

, but the lengthy stalemate between

Tammany Tamanend (historically also known as Taminent, Tammany, Saint Tammany or King Tammany, "the Affable," ) (–) was the Chief of Chiefs and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley signing the Peace Treaty with ...

and a faction led by State Senator

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, who was decided to impede the election of William F. Sheehan or any other crony of Tammany boss Charles F. Murphy, led to a constitutional amendment. Since 1914, the U.S. Senators have been elected with the state officers on the state ticket, and selected in the party primaries. The

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

state convention met on July 5 at

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

. They nominated Charles Edward Russell for U.S. Senator; Gustave Adolph Strebel for governor; Stephen J. Mahoney, of Buffalo, for lieutenant governor; Mrs. Florence C. Kitchelt, of

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, for secretary of state; Charles W. Noonan, of

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, for comptroller; James C. Sheehan, of Albany, for treasurer; Frederick O. Haller, of Buffalo, for attorney general; Prof.

Vladimir Karapetoff Vladimir Karapetoff (January 8, 1876 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – January 11, 1948) was a Russian-American electrical engineer, inventor, professor, and author. Life He was the son of Nikita Ivanovich Karapetov and Anna Joakimovna Kara ...

, of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, for state engineer; and

Louis B. Boudin Louis B. Boudin (December 15, 1874 – May 29, 1952) was a Russian-born American theoretician (Marxism), Marxist theoretician, writer, politician, and lawyer. He is best remembered as the author of a two volume history of the Supreme Court of the ...

for the Court of Appeals. The

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

State Committee met on August 15 at Syracuse, New York, and voted to nominate Ex-Governor William Sulzer for governor instead of the previously selected Charles E. Welch, who then ran for lieutenant governor. This was the first state election at which the parties with "party status" - at this time, the Democratic, Republican and Progressive parties - were required to hold primary elections to nominate candidates for state offices. The primaries were held on September 28.

Republican primary

Democratic primary

Progressive primary

The other Progressive candidates were nominated unopposed. The Socialist Labor ticket was filed with the Secretary of State on October 9, 1914. They nominated a full ticket. Ex-Governor Sulzer's aim was to defeat Glynn whom he considered a back-stabber. For this purpose he organized the American Party, and accepted the nomination by the Prohibition Party. He also sought the nomination of the Progressive Party, but was defeated in their primary. The American Party Executive Committee also endorsed a full slate (Prohibitionists Welch and Clements; Progressives Call and Colby; Democrat Seabury; Charles Horowitz for comptroller; Charles Podsenick for attorney general; and Robert Butler for State Engineer) for the other offices, but did not file a petition to nominate them, so they did not appear on the ballot in the American column.

Result

Almost the whole Republican ticket was elected; only Justice Seabury managed to defeat the Republican candidate Emory A. Chase. The incumbents Glynn, May, Sohmer, Parsons, Call and Bensel were defeated. The Republican, Democratic, Independence League, Progressive, Socialist and Prohibition parties maintained automatic

ballot access Elections in the United States refers to the rules and procedures regulating the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. As the nation's election process is decentralized b ...

(necessary 10,000 votes for governor), the American Party attained it, and the Socialist Labor Party did not re-attain it. 34 Republicans and 17 Democrats were elected to a two-year term (1915–16) in the New York State Senate. 100 Republicans, 49 Democrats and one ProgressiveThe Progressive member was

Hamilton Fish III Hamilton Fish III (born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish and also known as Hamilton Fish Jr.; December 7, 1888 – January 18, 1991) was an American soldier and politician from New York State. Born into a family long active in the state, he served in t ...

who had run also on the Democratic ticket in his district. were elected for the session of 1915 to the New York State Assembly. Obs.: *The vote for governor defines the ballot access. *Numbers are total votes on all tickets for candidates who ran on more than one ticket, except for governor. *Glynn also polled 3,764 votes; and Sulzer 1,426; in the "no-party column," a blank space provided for

write-in candidates A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

Notes

Sources

*Petitions for tickets
''PETITIONS FILED IN ALBANY''
in NYT on September 9, 1914 *The primary ballots
''HENNESSY'S NAME LEADS''
in NYT on September 15, 1914 *Result (parcial) of Primaries
''VOTE FOR GOVERNOR AND SENATOR''
in NYT on September 29, 1914 *The tickets, and sketches of candidates for Governor and Senator
''FULL TICKETS OF THE PARTIES''
in NYT on October 25, 1914 *Result (final) of Primaries
''PRIMARY CALLED OUT HALF STATE VOTE''
in NYT on October 9, 1914 *Result
''WHITMAN WON BY 145,432''
in NYT on December 5, 1914 Vote totals from New York Red Book 1915