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 County results Municipality resultsBrandegee: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100% Lonergan: 40–50% 50–60% 60-70% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1920 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 2, 1920.
Incumbent SenatorFrank B. Brandegee was re-elected to a second term in office over Democratic U.S. RepresentativeAugustine Lonergan.
For much of the campaign into September,Homer Stille Cummings appeared to be the likely Democratic nominee. He had the backing of PresidentWoodrow Wilson and Democratic presidential nomineeJames M. Cox. However, following the Republican landslide in Maine on September 13, Cummings demurred.[1]
At the convention, Cummings openly declared that he would decline to be a candidate, citing health reasons. Instead, the party turned to two-term U.S. RepresentativeAugustine Lonergan.[1] The party platform endorsed the Wilson administration, women's suffrage, health insurance reform, state civil service reform, and agricultural aid in the state.[2]
In advance of the campaign, Brandegee, worried about losing the new woman's vote, reversed his longtime opposition to women's suffrage. He argued for expedient ratification of theNineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, in order to forestall bitterness by women.[3] Nevertheless, he was opposed by the Connecticut Women's Suffrage Association,[4] who mounted an active and well-funded campaign against him.[5] Brandegee countered this campaign by stressing loyalty to the Republican Party and attributing his past votes as grounded in constitutionalism.[6]
Before and during the campaign, Brandegee was an "irreconcilable" opponent of theTreaty of Versailles.[7] In this fight, he had the strong support of the Connecticut Republican establishment, led byJ. Henry Roraback and GovernorMarcus Holcomb, as well as sections of the large Irish and Italian populations of the state, a usually Democratic bloc.[8] He drew condemnation from a number of pro-treaty intellectuals, led byIrving Fisher, who formed the "Republicans and Independents Who Oppose the Re-election of Brandegee," a group composed mostly of school teachers, many of whom were associated withYale University.[4] The nomination of Lonergan, however, dampened this movement; he was tepid in his enthusiasm for the League of Nations.[9]
Brandegee also praised state's rights, condemnedBolshevism and radicalism, and warned of the need for continued military preparedness.[10]
Prohibition was not made an issue in the campaign, as both candidates opposed theEighteenth Amendment.[9] Union support for Lonergan did not materialize, in part due to ongoing factionalism within the state's labor movement.[9]
Fellow SenatorsWilliam Borah,Medill McCormick,Hiram Johnson, andHenry Cabot Lodge all campaigned in Connecticut for Brandegee, along withNicholas Murray Butler. He was also endorsed byAlbert Beveridge andPhilander Knox.[11]
Lonergan received support fromFranklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic nominee for vice president, who visited the state on September 17.[12]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Frank B. Brandegee (incumbent) | 216,792 | 59.36% |  9.61 | |
| Democratic | Augustine Lonergan | 131,824 | 36.10% |  5.98 | |
| Socialist | Martin F. Plunkett | 10,118 | 2.77% | 0.49 | |
| Prohibition | Emil L. G. Hohenthal | 2,892 | 0.79% | 0.04 | |
| Farmer–Labor | Josephine B. Bennett | 2,076 | 0.57% | N/A | |
| Socialist Labor | Charles L. Backofen | 1,486 | 0.41% | 0.05 | |
| Total votes | 365,188 | 100.0% | |||
| Republicanhold | Swing | ||||
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