Political Career
In 1904, Morrow was appointed city attorney for Somerset, serving until 1908. President William Howard Taft appointed him U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky in 1910. He continued in this position until he was removed from office by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913.
Morrow's first political experience was working in his uncle William O. Bradley's gubernatorial campaign in 1895. In 1899, Republican gubernatorial candidate William S. Taylor offered to make Morrow his Secretary of State in exchange for Bradley's support in the election; Bradley refused. Despite the encouragement of friends, Morrow declined to run for governor in 1911.
In 1912, Morrow was chosen as the Republican candidate for the Senate seat of Thomas Paynter. Paynter had decided not to seek re-election, and the Democrats nominated Ollie M. James of Crittenden County. The General Assembly was heavily Democratic and united behind James. On a joint ballot, James defeated Morrow by a vote of 105–28. Due to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment the next year, this was the last time the Kentucky legislature would elect a senator.
At the state Republican convention in Lexington on June 15, 1915, Morrow was chosen as the Republican candidate for governor over Latt F. McLaughlin. His Democratic opponent was his close friend, Augustus O. Stanley. Morrow charged previous Democratic administrations with corruption and called for the election of a Republican because "You cannot clean house with a dirty broom." Both men ran on progressive platforms, and the election went in Stanley's favor by only 471 votes. Although it was the closest gubernatorial vote in the state's history, Morrow refused to challenge the results, which greatly increased his popularity. His decision was influenced by the fact that a challenge would be decided by the General Assembly, which had a Democratic majority in both houses.
Read more about this topic: Edwin P. Morrow
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