Martha Cannon Defeats Her Husband

The first woman elected to a state senate in the United States was Welsh-American physician and suffragist Martha Hughes Cannon. A Mormon in a polygamous marriage, she was the fourth of six wives of prominent LDS leader Angus M. Cannon. In Utah's November 3, 1896, election, Martha ran as a Democrat while Angus ran as a Republican for one of five at-large Senate seats. She received 10,288 votes to his 8,054, securing a seat while her husband lost his bid.

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