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 County results Municipality resultsCoolidge: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Butler: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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TheUnited States Senate election of 1930 in Massachusetts was held on November 4, 1930. IncumbentRepublican SenatorFrederick H. Gillett did not run for re-election. In the open race to succeed him,Democratic Mayor of FitchburgMarcus A. Coolidge defeated former U.S. SenatorWilliam M. Butler.
Citing old age, SenatorFrederick Gillett announced his retirement in December 1929. Alvan Fuller and Calvin Coolidge were speculated as potential candidates, andEben S. Draper Jr. announced his plans to run for the open seat.[2]
Alvan Fuller announced his intention to run on February 18, in response to a call by Joseph Simon, chairman of the Salem Republican Committee.[3] Fuller entered on the heels of his opposition to any pre-primary convention, accusing the Republican State Committee of being a "corrupt outfit" which was headed for defeat in November. He also declared his opposition to RepublicansWilliam Scott Vare andHiram Bingham III, who had both been censured by the Senate.[4]
Former SenatorWilliam Morgan Butler was made his campaign formal on March 13, running as an unreserved "bone-dry" supporter of prohibition.[5]
In March, the divide between Butler and Draper over the prohibition of alcohol took shape. Draper announced his unequivocal opposition to prohibition, including the repeal of theEighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, on March 26.[6] Butler soon criticized Draper for changing his position and failing to uphold the Constitution.[7] As the campaign went on, Butler de-emphasized his position on prohibition, instead focusing on his support for business in the wake of the1929 stock market crash.[1]
In the campaign's final week, Constance Williams, the daughter of the late SenatorHenry Cabot Lodge, accused Butler of politically abusing her late father in his final years. After Butler publicly claimed to have been friendly with Senator Lodge and declared himself Lodge's ideal successor, Williams publicly denounced Butler's candidacy and claimed Butler held a long grudge against her father stemming from his defeat of Butler's preferred candidate,William W. Crapo, inthe 1893 Senate election.[8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | William M. Butler | 163,336 | 47.61% | |
| Republican | Eben S. Draper Jr. | 156,745 | 45.69% | |
| Republican | Andrew J. Gillis | 22,996 | 6.70% | |
| Total votes | 343,077 | 100.00% | ||
Despite the late attack against him and the general sentiment for prohibition repeal in the state,[1] Butler narrowly defeated Draper by just under 6,600 votes.
Draper got a much smaller than expected margin in the cities, winning Boston by only 200 votes.[1] Draper's loss was also attributed to the spoiler effect, with Newburyport mayor Andrew Gillis pulling 20,000 wet votes away.[1]
Roland D. Sawyer entered the race as a wet candidate on March 25.[6][10] The next two candidates to formally announce,Marcus A. Coolidge andJoseph F. O'Connell, joined the campaign on May 11. Coolidge ran as a wet, while O'Connell said he would announce his platform at a later date, expressing confidence that Democrats would carry the state in November.[11]
Coolidge faced some difficulty winning over the party's Catholic base; he was a Protestant who had supportedWilliam Gibbs McAdoo overAl Smith for president in 1924, though he had actively campaigned for Smith in 1928.[11] Coolidge overcame this deficiency by tying his campaign to that of the aging Irish Catholic iconJohn F. Fitzgerald for Governor, but he suffered a major setback when Fitzgerald withdrew due to illness. The paper Coolidge-Fitzgerald ticket was buoyed when Boston mayorJames Michael Curley declared that Fitzgerald's Protestant opponent was anti-Irish.[1]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marcus A. Coolidge | 81,451 | 40.71% | |
| Democratic | Joseph F. O'Connell | 54,829 | 27.41% | |
| Democratic | Thomas C. O'Brien | 45,272 | 22.63% | |
| Democratic | Eugene Foss | 12,824 | 6.41% | |
| Democratic | Peter J. Joyce | 5,680 | 2.84% | |
| Total votes | 200,056 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marcus A. Coolidge | 651,939 | 54.01% |  5.40 | |
| Republican | William M. Butler | 539,226 | 44.67% |  5.59 | |
| Socialist | Sylvester J. McBride | 7,244 | 0.60% | N/A | |
| Socialist Labor | Oscar Kinsalas | 4,640 | 0.38% | N/A | |
| Communist | Max Lerner | 3,962 | 0.34% | 0.80 | |
| Total votes | 1,207,011 | 100.00% | |||
