Split With Populists
Historian Gene Clanton described Lease's political career as being defined by three characteristics: an exaggerated sense of self-importance, an intense hatred for the Democrats, and a shallow understanding of the actual problems plaguing Kansas. Lease began drifting away from the Populist Party after Populist Governor Lewelling was elected into office. By November 1893, she was reported to have openly criticized the Lewelling administration, only to deny it in an interview several days later.
Yet it would seem that the first interview reflected her true feelings. By December 1893, Lewelling attempted to have her removed from the board of charities, a position which he had appointed her to originally. Yet she claimed that the attempt to have her removed stemmed from her determination to have women's suffrage and temperance as her main focus at the Populist Party's next state convention. Her public outrage at the attempt to remove her prompted even other Populist parties to distance themselves from her. Governor Lewelling's secretary Osborn was quoted saying "I am no longer surprised at anything she says. The woman is crazy."
By 1896, Lease had become alienated from the Populist Party, and historian Gene Clanton cites her split with the Populist Party as being a major contributor to the Populist party's defeat in 1894.
Yet this was not the end of her political career. She once again came into the spotlight when Theodore Roosevelt was elected into office. Lease felt that her work and efforts with the Populist Party had finally been rewarded: "In these later years I have seen, with gratification, that my work in the good old Populist days was not in vain. The Progressive party has adopted our platform, clause for clause, plank by plank."
Read more about this topic: Mary Elizabeth Lease
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