 Mackenzie King wanted Macdonald to stand for a vacant seat in Kingston, Ontario. It was a traditional Conservative riding that had been represented by Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister. In 1935 however, the riding had switched to the Liberals and King wanted to keep it. "I told Mr. King that I did not know Kingston at all, nor its problems, nor its people", Macdonald wrote later. When the Conservatives agreed not to run a candidate against him however, Macdonald had no choice but to stand for office in Kingston. He won the seat by acclamation on August 12, 1940.
