The1897 United States Senate election in Idaho was held over the course of 23 ballots from January 12 to January 28, 1897, by theIdaho Legislature to elect aU.S. Senator (Class 3) to represent the State ofIdaho in theUnited States Senate.
Over the course of 23 ballots held from January 12 to January 28, 1897, 36 individuals received votes to be senator. The election required extensive balloting due to the failure of the Populist and Democratic caucuses to unite behind a candidate, despite Democrats generally voting for candidates who were members of the Populist Party.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
The Populist caucus united behind six different candidates over the course of balloting, with their chosen candidate receiving between 24 and 33 of the required 36 votes on the first 22 ballots:
Abraham J. Crook (Pop), 1892 Populist nominee for governor, was the chosen candidate on the 4th and 5th ballots
Texas Angel (Pop), attorney, was the chosen candidate on the 6th ballot
Frank Walton (Pop), editor of thePocatello Advance, was the chosen candidate on the 9th, 10th, and 11th ballots
James W. Ballantine (Pop), senator fromBlaine County and 1894 Populist nominee for governor, was the chosen candidate on the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th ballots
From the 6th through the 22nd ballots, between 12 and 17 Democrats united behind one of three Populist candidates. On the 23rd ballot, a large enough faction of Democrats united with the Populists to elect Heitfeld as senator. The caucus's three candidates were:
Thomas F. Nelson (Pop), senator fromLatah County, was the chosen candidate on the 6th, 8th, 10th, and 14th through 22nd ballots
Candidates are listed in descending order of the maximum number of votes that they received. The necessary threshold for victory was 36 votes, except on the 6th ballot, when one legislator did not vote, lowering the threshold to 35 votes.
_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)