The leading candidates for the Election of 1920 for United States Senate in Connecticut were Republican Frank B. Brandegee and Democrat Augustine Lonergan. Socialist, Prohibition, Farmer-Labors, and Socialist-Labor party candidates were also in the running, but on a comparably smaller scale, gaining less than 4% of the Connecticut votes. One of the major issues at the time of this election was Prohibition. Emil L. G. Hohenthal was the Prohibition Party candidate for Senate, advertised as “the only dry candidate.” This did not seem to collectively matter significantly to Connecticut, though with Hohenthal’s votes only winning 0.8% of the state.
After switching his position on women’s suffrage from open opposition to defense of states’ rights, Brandegee was ultimately reelected after a successful campaign countering his opposing parties. His campaign platform included (1) his opposition to the Treaty of Versailles, (2) appealing to the Irish population, particularly of New Haven and Danbury, and (3) quieting his formerly open opposition to women’s suffrage.
On the national level, the presidential campaign was underway between James M. Cox and Warren G. Harding. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Cox’s vice presidential candidate at the time. He visited Danbury before Election Day to campaign in Connecticut for Cox.
