Political Career in Idaho
In 1897, Alexander was elected mayor of Boise. He chose not to run for reelection in 1899, but was elected again in 1901. During his terms as mayor, Boise's volunteer fire department was reorganized into a professional body, anti-gambling ordinances were passed and other city improvements were made.
In 1908, Alexander was declared the Democratic nominee for governor in a bitterly contested nomination process which required intervention by the Idaho Supreme Court. However, he was defeated in the general election by Republican nominee James H. Brady. Alexander was offered the nomination again in 1910, but declined due to poor health.
In 1914, Alexander entered the gubernatorial race on a platform strongly supporting prohibition and limited government spending. Alexander won the general election against Republican incumbent John M. Haines thanks, in part, to a misappropriation scandal in the state treasurer's office that dogged the Republican ticket. He thus became the first observant Jew to be elected governor of a U. S. state. Washington Montgomery Bartlett, governor of California in 1887, was Jewish through his mother but did not follow that religion.
Alexander was reelected in 1916, over his Republican opponent D. W. Davis by only 572 votes, the closest gubernatorial election in Idaho history.
Read more about this topic: Moses Alexander
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