Seattle Voters Break the Boss's Grip
An Olympia editor tells Republican boss John H. McGraw that Seattle's election was a rebuke to machine politics, not a Democratic triumph.
To John H. McGraw and henchmen: We are talking to you. Listen! You organized the overwhelming defeat of the Republicans of Seattle yesterday. You had not sense enough to see that the people of Seattle, as well as the state, are sick of the political methods you and your friend Metcalf inaugurated in the lobby of the Olympia Hotel a year ago. You carried those ring methods into the Seattle Republican city convention; you alienated men who had fought and bled for the Republican party; you brought a disreputable “bummer” element prominently into the party, forgetting that the voter was alone with his lead pencil when he exercised the right to reject the ring candidates you had foisted upon him. It was not strictly a Democratic victory yesterday. Seattle is a staunch Republican city. Hundreds of Republicans voted the opposition ticket because they are sick and tired of “boss” rule in the councils of the party. Retire, Mr. McGraw, as a counsellor of the Republican party. You have done damage enough.
“The voter was alone with his lead pencil when he exercised the right to reject the ring candidates you had foisted upon him.”
The 1892 editorial is an early Washington example of voters punishing a party machine for putting insiders ahead of the rank and file. The complaint—that a small clique rigged conventions and alienated ordinary members—could be written about any modern primary fight. It also shows how quickly a local paper turned a municipal election into a referendum on who really controls a party.
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