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 County results Brookhart: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Porter: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1926 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 2, 1926, alongside a concurrentspecial election to the same seat.
Incumbent SenatorAlbert B. Cummins ran for re-election to a fourth term in office but was defeated in the Republican primary by former SenatorSmith W. Brookhart, who had been removed from office by a vote of the Senate in 1924.
After his primary loss, Senator Cummins died on July 30. Republicans nominatedDavid W. Stewart, a Sioux City attorney and Cummins supporter, to run for the unexpired term ending in March 1927. Stewart was then appointed to the seat by GovernorJohn Hammill and ran unopposed in the special election, which was held concurrently with the regular election.
Smith W. Brookhart was elected to the Senate in 1922, winning a special election to succeedWilliam S. Kenyon.[1] After joining the Senate, Brookhart's radicalism isolated him from both parties.[2] His indifference to PresidentCalvin Coolidge in the 1924 presidential election also upset conservatives.[3] In 1924, he ran re-election to a full term, and it initially appeared he had narrowly defeated Democratic nomineeDaniel Steck despite the defection of many conservative Republicans. However, Steck challenged the result in the U.S. Senate and, during a lengthy process, theIowa Republican Party sided with Steck. Brookhart was removed from office on April 12, 1926, and replaced with Steck by a vote of 45–41. A dozen Senate Republicans voted with Democrats to unseat Brookhart.[3]
Iowa's other Senator,Albert B. Cummins, was a respected political veteran and took no position in the contested 1924 election, at least in part because he believed Brookhart would challenge him if unseated.[4] Though he was a leading American progressive in his early political career, Cummins's politics had gradually become more conservative followingWorld War I.
As Brookhart was narrowly unseated on April 12, just two months before the primary, he had little time to return to Iowa and mount a campaign.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Smith W. Brookhart | 208,894 | 50.66% | |
| Republican | Albert B. Cummins (incumbent) | 137,367 | 33.31% | |
| Republican | Howard J. Clark | 54,392 | 13.19% | |
| Republican | Dan B. Reardon | 6,037 | 1.46% | |
| Republican | L.E. Eickelberg | 5,643 | 1.37% | |
| Total votes | 412,333 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Claude Porter | 28,077 | 48.85% | |
| Democratic | James C. Murtaugh | 12,881 | 22.41% | |
| Democratic | J. R. Files | 11,922 | 20.74% | |
| Democratic | George Finch | 4,601 | 8.00% | |
| Total votes | 57,481 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | David W. Stewart (Incumbent) | 336,410 | 100.00% | |
| Total votes | 336,410 | 100.00% | ||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Smith W. Brookhart | 323,409 | 56.61% | ||
| Democratic | Claude Porter | 247,869 | 43.39% | ||
| Total votes | 571,278 | 100.00% | |||
