1914 Election Cycle

Governor Adolph Eberhart lost the Republican primary to banker and former state legislator William Lee. All other incumbents running for reelection to statewide office were renominated.

In the general election, four-term Congressman Winfield Hammond flipped the Governor’s seat to the Democrats with a 3.7-point win over Lee. The Democratic hold on the seat would be short-lived, however as Hammond died less than a year into his term. Republican incumbents winning reelection – all by double-digits – were Lieutenant Governor J.A.A. Burnquist (who succeeded Hammond in December 1915), Secretary of State Julius Schmahl (to a record fifth term), Attorney General Lyndon Smith, Treasurer Walter Smith, Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner Ole P.B. Jacobson, and Clerk of the Supreme Court Irving Caswell (who ran unopposed). J.A.O. Preus, the GOP nominee for Auditor, was also elected.

All U.S. Representatives running for reelection were renominated but one was unseated in the general election: nine-term Congressman Frederick Stevens of the 4th CD (Ramsey County), who lost by 19.3 points to Democrat Carl Van Dyke. Progressives also won the newly created 10th CD with nominee Thomas Schall.

This was the first cycle in which nominees for the state legislature would be designated without party affiliation. Nonpartisan elections for the two legislative chambers would continue through the 1972 cycle.

Appointed Associate Justice George Bunn was elected to the Supreme Court.