David Leigh Colvin, January 28, 1880 (South Charleston, Ohio) – September 7, 1959 (Bronxville, NY)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1920)
Running mate with nominee: Aaron S. Watkins (1863-1941)
Popular vote: 188,787 (0.71%)
Electoral vote: 0/531
The campaign:
Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for. After decades of effort, the Prohibition Party at last saw passage of the 18th Amendment and Prohibition becoming the law of the land.
Now what?
Their 1920 platform summarizes the purpose of their existence in a nutshell: "The issue is not only the Enforcement but also the Maintenance of the law to make the Amendment effective."
The platform took a stand on several other issues of the day, including: support for the League of Nations, increasing the role of women in government, creation of a Dept. of Education, and implementation of sex education in schools.
Presidential candidate Watkins offered to drop out of the race if Cox or Harding made a pledge not to weaken or repeal the Volstead Act. But response had he none. This backfired to some degree as the Prohibition Party found itself late in the campaign having to deny rumors that Watkins had indeed stepped down.
Ballot access by third parties was starting to become a problem as laws were changing to institutionalize the two-party system. The Prohibition Party, being the oldest of the third parties, makes a good case study for this. In 1920 their votes were recorded in only 26 states.
Their best three states were Florida (3.52%), California (2.67%), and Pennsylvania (2.30%). The Watkins/Colvin national result of 0.71% was the worst tally the Party had since 1880, and in all subsequent elections their final vote would never top 0.21%.
Election history:
1913 - New York State Assembly (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1914 - New York House of Representatives (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1916 - US Senate (NY) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1917 - Mayor of New York City (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1922 - US House of Representatives (NY) (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1932 - US Senate (NY) (Law Preservation Party) - defeated
1936 - US President (Prohibition Party) - defeated
1947 - Prohibition Party nomination for US President - defeated
Other occupations: Army Captain WWI, speaker with Flying Squadron Foundation, Chairman of the Prohibition National Committee 1926-1932, author
Buried: Summit Lawn Cemetery (Westfield, Ind.)
Notes:
One of his opponents in the 1916 US Senate race was Socialist Labor candidate August Gillhaus,
who he would later compete with for US Vice-President in 1920.
Earned a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 1913.
His wife Mamie White Colvin also ran for various offices as a Prohibition Party candidate and was
President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union 1944-1953. They were considered something
of a fervent power couple in the prohibition movement.
Methodist.
Unknown if he was related to Industrial Reform Party 1888 VP nominee John A. Colvin (1841-1900)
who was also from the same region of Ohio.
