On This Election Day: June 17
June 17, 1912: Maine holds its first direct primary election, making it part of the trend of states adopting primaries in the early 20th century
This is the ninth in a series of posts I plan to publish nearly every Tuesday. Each takes a look at an election that occurred on the same date in the near or distant past. This week, Maine holds its first direct primary in 1912, part of the growing use of primary elections to determine party nominations.
Today, all 50 states use some sort of initial or “primary” vote to determine which candidates will participate in the general election. Most states hold traditional party primaries, in which voters who associate with that party vote to select the nominee. Some other variations exist, such as the top-two primary used in California and Washington, or the top-four primary now utilized in Alaska.
This was not always the case. States adopted the use of primary elections over time, mostly during the Progressive Era of the early 1900s. The traditional narrative contends that progressive reformers promoted primaries as a means to weaken the political machines and bosses that dominated the old-style convention system for nominating candidates. The reality, as Shigeo Hirano and James M. Snyder Jr. note in their masterly Primary Elections in the United States, was more complex. Some less-reformist but charismatic politicians viewed primaries as useful because they could appeal to the masses over party bosses. But some party bosses actually supported primaries to stabilize and reinforce their party coalitions to head off the development of breakaway movements, either to third parties or to the other major party. Party leaders also increasingly viewed conventions as unwieldy and overly laden with claims of fraud and bribery. Plus, primary elections were popular with the public, so traditional party elites could win points by backing their implementation.
One state that adopted primaries in this period was Maine. In September 1911, Maine voters approved a new law brought about by the state’s recently-established initiative system that required the use of primary elections by parties to nominate candidates for state and county offices. On Monday, June 17, 1912, the Pine Tree State held its first direct primary. That made Maine one of 44 states that held its first primary election for a statewide office, or gave parties the option to use a direct primary to nominate candidates, between 1896 and 1916.
Maine’s primary ballot featured votes for U.S. Senate, U.S. House (the state had four districts at the time), governor, auditor, state legislative seats, and local county and judicial posts. The inclusion of the U.S. Senate might seem surprising because the 17th Amendment mandating the popular election of U.S. senators was not ratified until 1913. However, many states had already begun to use primary elections to nominate Senate candidates even though state legislatures still formally elected senators until the ratification of the 17th Amendment.
And the Republican primary for U.S. Senate was the headline contest in Maine’s 1912 primary. At this time, Maine was traditionally heavily Republican, but the party’s struggles in the 1910 midterm election had briefly given Democrats full control of state government. In August 1911, longtime Republican Sen. William Frye passed away, opening up a Senate seat. Democratic Gov. Frederick Plaisted appointed Obadiah Gardner to fill the vacancy, and the Democratic-held legislature subsequently elected Gardner to fill the remainder of the seat’s term to March 1913. But if Republicans won back the state legislature in the 1912 election, the GOP nominee would be all-but-assured of defeating Gardner to win the next term in that Senate seat.
In the GOP primary for Senate, former Rep. Edwin Burleigh faced off against attorney Herbert Heath and former Maine Supreme Court Justice Frederick Powers. Burleigh had previously represented Maine’s 3rd Congressional District for many years before narrowly losing reelection in the 1910 Democratic wave. Heath was a well-known attorney and orator. For his part, Powers had served as the GOP’s nominee for Senate in 1910-11, but the newly Democratic-controlled legislature chose Democrat Charles Johnson over him. On primary day, Burleigh won with 49%, running ahead of Heath (30%) and Powers (20%).
In Maine’s state elections held in September 1912 — general elections for state and congressional office occurred in September until 1960 — Republicans reclaimed control of state government, positioning them to win back Gardner’s Senate seat. In January 1913, the legislature elected Burleigh over Gardner. Burleigh’s win proved to be one of the few bright spots for Republicans in the 1912 election. That year, Republicans split split between President William Taft and former President Teddy Roosevelt, who ran as a third-party candidate. This allowed Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency and generally boosted Democratic performance in down-ballot races, too.