Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06
MRS. McCORMICK'S SENATE
RACE is UNPRECEDENTED
Daughter and Widow of Senators
May Be First Woman Elected
to Chamber.

geSt that such women as have held high
ONCE have done so chiefly as the bene-
ficiarieS Of sentimental chivalry. That
quality can hardly be said to have been
introduced into the world as a conse-
Quence of woman suffrage. What would
be interesting to know is just what has
been introduced into American politics
as a consequence Of the nineteenth
amendment.
What the present article aims pri-
marily to deal with, however, is not
woman suffrage or its consequences
but the political year 1880 and its
meaning and probable consequences. OF
those consequences the chief is whether
the Senate and House, as a result Of
this political year, will be more Repub-
lican or less Republican than the two
chambers now are. The likely answer,
for reasons to be explained, is that both
chambers will be less Republican, more
Democratic
After the Illinois primary on the COM
ing Tuesday, the next succeeding pri-
mary involving a Senator will be in
Alabama on May 10. which will concern
itself with the succession to the pic
turesque Heflin-whether Hefin, after
this year, will continue to adorn and
instruct the Senate. After that will
come during May, three other primaries
oregon, Grundy of Pennsylvania and
McMasters of South Dakota. In June
North Carolina will hold primaries in
volving the seat of the venerable Sim
mons. Other primaries Tin a few cases
State conventions instead of primarieS)
will involve the succession to Senators
Thomas j. Walsh of Montana, Arthur
Capper and Henry j. Allen of Kansas,
Carter Glass of Virginia, Pat Harrison
of Mississippi, George w. Norris Of Me-
braska, Coleman L. Blease of South
Carolina, James Couzens of Michigan,
William E. Borah of Idaho and others
to the number of IS in all.
Some Elections Practically Settled.
Thereafter, after the primaries are
all over, will come, in November, the
general election between Republicans
and Democrats. In several States the
primaries will already have determined,
in effect, the senatorial seat. For there
are several States in the South where
the man who wins the Democratic
primary is certain to win the election,
and a smaller number of States in the
North in which the man who wins the
Republican primary is certain to win
the election.
The sum Of all will determine
whether, after this year, the Senate will
who now sit in that body and more or
less than the Sc Republicans. (There
is one Senator officially designated as
Farmer-Labor.)
The same primaries and elections
will determine the analogous question
as to the Lower House, where the pro.
portions are now 263 Republicans, 1874
Democrats, Farm-Labor and z
vacancies. The present article, how
-
The Senate has SO members, each
holding ofice for a term of six years.
The terms of e-third, 80, expire every
even numbered year. In addition there
are always few Senators filling the
unexpired terms of predecessors who
died or otherwise retired. In the pres
ent year there are three of these; con-
sequently the number of Senators to be
elected during the political year OF 1880
is IS. The central question IS how
many of these IS will be Republicans
and how many Democrats.
The answer to this question is de-
termined or influenced by all of the
conditions that compose politics;
whether the people are contented with
conditions as they are, the attitude OF
the public on various issues such as
prohibition and the tariff, the feeling
If the country about the party in power.
the prices of crops in agricultural States
and so on.
Breaks" Are Eccentric.
In addition to these conditions there
is another very potent in elections,
that politicians call "the breaks" The
breaks" are eccentric. Sometimes they
favor one party. sometimes the other.
This year one of the breaks favors the
Democrats strongly. In the geographic
distribution of the seats that are to be
filled considerable proportion are in
the Democratic solid South That break
obviously favors the Democrats.
Democrats Have Advantage.
Of the IS seats to be filled, IS are
now held by Democrats, % by Repub-
licans. Those figures, in themselves,
compose a break favoring the Demo-
Gratis, because plainly it is easier for one
party to keep its grip upon 13 seats
than for the other to keep its grip upon
% seats. Further than this, of the Is
seats now held by Democrats and to be
filled this year, 10 are in Southern
States, States which have practically
never, in any normal elections since the
Civil War, elected anybody other than
a Democrat. The advantage of the
Democrats is apparent from considering
the list of Is Democrats whose seats be-
come vacant and who come up for re-
election this year Cor In the case Of
few not running for reelection, whose
successors must be elected:
BleaSe .................So South Carolina
| Bratton ................N New Mexico
Brock ................. Tennessee
Glass ................... Virginia
| harris .....'.'.'"'''.'.' :Geois la
| harrison ...ss...s."s..... .MlSSlSSlppI
derln ........s......s""" AldpdLnd
| RanSdell ...............'... .LoulSlaIa
Robinson ............... Arkansas
Sheppard ..................:. 80: .IeXaS
Simmons North Carolina
Steck ..........................I Iowa
| Walsh .................. Montana
OF these 10 States are In the Solid
| South and are ss sure to elect Demo-
crat as the sun is to shine-they have
never done anything else since the Civil
War, except occasionally under ali