Washington State's 1910 Political Shake-up
A wave of progressive 'Insurgent' Republicans swept the primaries in 1910, routing the party establishment and shaking the confidence of federal power brokers.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Well, the first spasm is over. Washington insurgented a bit, too. Quite a distance beyond the swaddling clothes stage, insurgency is donning long pants. Up to this writing, the standpatters have found that the Pacific Coast is not doing a Rip Van Winkle stunt. The magnificent vote piled up for Miles Poindexter for U.S. Senator was a surprise to his most ardent supporters. Even though his nomination had been conceded by many, no one expected a landslide of such magnitude. The poor showing made by Judge Burke was the surprise of the day to friend and foe alike. Insurgent candidates for congress were nominated in the second and third districts, but in the first the outcome is uncertain at this writing. Wm. E. Humphrey seems to have a shade, but it is not at all certain he will receive 40 per cent of first choice votes. In the county, Mrs. Lizzie Jones ran like a prairie fire. If women ever get to voting and running for office generally, oh my!
“If women ever get to voting and running for office generally, oh my!”
The 1910 'Insurgent' movement was a precursor to the progressive shifts that would reshape American labor and land-use politics. Mentioning Lizzie Jones's success highlights the tension in a state that had granted and then revoked women's suffrage, underscoring the ongoing struggle for civic inclusion.
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