1990 United States Senate election in Montana
The 1990 United States Senate election in Montana took place on November 6, 1990. Incumbent United States Senator Max Baucus, who was first elected in 1978 and was re-elected in 1984, ran for re-election. After winning the Democratic primary, he moved on to the general election, where he was opposed by Allen Kolstad, the Lieutenant Governor of Montana and the Republican nominee. Baucus ultimately ended up defeating Kolstad in a landslide, winning his third term with ease.
John E. Erickson (Montana politician)
On March 13, 1933, Erickson resigned as governor whereupon Frank Cooney, formerly Erickson's lieutenant governor and now the acting governor, appointed Erickson to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas J. Walsh. Although on the face of it, this appears to have been a rather brazen attempt on Erickson's part to establish himself in the senate, Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler tells a different story in his autobiography. Apparently Montana's Democratic National Committeeman, J. Bruce Kremer, was certain to be appointed to Walsh's seat. Walsh very much disliked Kremer and worried that Kremer would succeed him if he (Walsh) accepted Franklin D. Roosevelt's appointment to his cabinet, as Attorney General. After Walsh's untimely demise, his daughter Genevieve Gudger asked Senator Wheeler if he would intercede with Governor Erickson to stop Kremer's appointment. As Wheeler also disliked Kremer, he agreed to do so. In Wheeler's telling it was he who talked a reluctant Erickson into getting himself appointed. In the special election to fill the remainder of the vacancy, Erickson ran for election to the senate seat, but finished third in the primary, behind James E. Murray, who went on to win the special election in November, and James F. O'Connor. He continued to serve in the Senate through November 6, 1934, the day that Murray was elected, at which point he resigned in favor of Murray, in order to give Murray seniority rights over other freshman senators, who didn't start their terms until 1935. Following his return from the Senate, he practiced law in Helena, Montana, until his death.