Railroad & Warehouse Commissioner, 1944 Election

Special Primary Republican

Date: July 10, 1944
Cycle: 1944
Office: Railroad & Warehouse Commissioner
State: Minnesota
District: Statewide
Candidate Gender Party Votes Percent Margin
Raymond P. (Ray) Chase Man Republican 78,817 37.93 +0.55
Rollin G. Johnson Incumbent Man Republican 77,684 37.38
Jalmer O. (J.O.) Johnson Man Republican 16,992 8.18
Verner A. Nelson Man Republican 15,794 7.60
Earl Kallestad Man Republican 9,694 4.66
John H. Bliss Man Republican 8,822 4.25

Rollin Johnson was the ninth Railroad / Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner to lose at the ballot box following Anti-Monopolist Alonzo Edgerton in 1875, Republican-turned-Prohibitionist William Marshall in 1881, Democratic-People's nominees Peter Rindal and Thomas Knox in 1900, Republican Christian Laurisch in 1934, Republican Frank Matson in 1936, Farmer-Laborite Harold Atwood in 1938, and Farmer-Laborite Charles Munn in 1940.

Chase was a resident of Anoka, former Anoka municipal judge (1911-1916), deputy state Auditor (1916-1921), state Auditor (1921-1931), Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1930, U.S. Representative (At-large, 1933-1935), and candidate for U.S. Senate in 1940.

Jalmer Johnson was a resident of Minneapolis, former chief grain and weighing inspector for the Railroad and Warehouse Commission for 35 years, candidate for Railroad and Warehouse commissioner in 1938, 1940, and 1942, candidate for the 3rd CD in 1950, and nominee for HD 35 in 1952 and 1954.

Nelson was a tax consultant from Minneapolis who served 22 years at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank and DFL nominee for the 9th CD in 1946.

Kallestad was a resident of Minneapolis with experience in the farming, granite, and insurance industries and a candidate for the 5th CD in 1938.

Bliss was a resident of Minneapolis and chief Deputy Register of Deeds for Hennepin County.

Sources

  • The Legislative Manual of the State of Minnesota, 1943 (p. 173).