James B. Mc Creary - Service in Congress

Service in Congress

Following his term as governor, McCreary returned to his legal practice. In 1884, he sought election to Congress from Kentucky's Eighth District. His opponents for the Democratic nomination were Milton J. Durham and Philip B. Thompson, Jr., both of whom had held the district's seat previously. McCreary bested both men, and in the general election in November, defeated Republican James Sebastian by a margin of 2,146 votes. It was the largest margin of victory by a Democrat in the Eighth District.

During his tenure, McCreary represented Kentucky's agricultural interests, introducing a bill to create the United States Department of Agriculture. A bill containing most of the same provisions as the one McCreary authored was passed later in the session. He also proposed a successful amendment to the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act that excluded farm implements and machinery from the tariff. An advocate of free silver, he was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison to be a delegate to the International Monetary Conference held in Brussels, Belgium, in 1892. As chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, he authored a bill to establish a court that would settle disputed land claims stemming from the Gadsden Purchase and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. He advocated the creation of a railroad linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico. In 1890, he sponsored a bill authorizing the first Pan-American Conference and was an advocate of the Pan-American Medical Conference that met in Washington, D.C., in 1893. He authored a report declaring American hostility to European ownership of a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and sponsored legislation authorizing the U.S. president to retaliate against foreign vessels that harassed American fishing boats.

In 1890, McCreary's name was again placed in nomination for a U.S. Senate seat to succeed James B. Beck, who died in office. John G. Carlisle, J. Proctor Knott, William Lindsay, Laban T. Moore, and Evan E. Settle were also nominated by various factions of the Democratic Party; Republicans nominated Silas Adams. Carlisle was elected on the ninth ballot. McCreary continued his service in the House until 1896, when he was defeated in his bid for a seventh consecutive nomination for the seat. In that same year, his was among a myriad of names put forward for election to the Senate, but he never received more than 13 votes. Following these defeats, he resumed his law practice in Richmond.

McCreary campaigned for Democrat William Goebel during the controversial 1899 gubernatorial campaign. Between 1900 and 1912, he represented Kentucky at four consecutive Democratic National Conventions. Governor J. C. W. Beckham and his well-established political machine supported McCreary's nomination to the Senate in 1902. His opponent, incumbent William J. Deboe, had been elected as a compromise candidate six years earlier, becoming Kentucky's first-ever Republican senator. Deboe had done little to secure support from legislators since his election, however, and McCreary was easily elected by a vote of 95–30. Following his election to the Senate, McCreary supported Beckham's gubernatorial re-election bid in 1903. In a largely undistinguished term as a senator, he continued to advocate the free coinage of silver and tried to advance the state's agricultural interests.

McCreary's senate term was set to expire in 1908, the same year as Beckham's second term as governor. Desiring election to the Senate following his gubernatorial term, Beckham persuaded his Democratic allies to choose the party's nominees for governor and senator by a primary election held in 1906 – a year before the gubernatorial election and two years before the senatorial election. This ensured that the primary would occur during his term as governor, when he still wielded significant influence within the party. McCreary now allied himself with J. C. S. Blackburn, Henry Watterson, and other Beckham opponents, and sought to defend his seat in the primary. During the primary campaign, he pointed to his record of dealing with national issues, contrasting it with Beckham's youth and inexperience at the national level. Beckham countered by citing his strong stand in favor of Prohibition, as opposed to McCreary's more moderate position, and by touting his support of a primary election instead of a nominating convention, which he said gave the voters a choice in who would represent them in the Senate. Ultimately, Beckham prevailed in the primary by an 11,000-vote margin, rendering McCreary a lame duck with two years still left in his term.