E. R. Hughes Explained

Office:Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner
Term Start:January 1929
Term End:January 1935
Predecessor:Frank Carter
Successor:A. S. J. Shaw
Term Start1:January 1921
Term End1:January 1927
Predecessor1:R. E. Echols
Successor1:Charles C. Childers
Party:Republican Party

E. R. Hughes was an American politician who was the first Republican to serve on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. He served two nonconsecutive terms from 1921 to 1927 and from 1929 to 1935.

Biography

Hughes was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in 1920 and 1928.[1] [2] He was the first and only Republican elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission until the election of Bob Anthony in 1988.[3] He ran for reelection in 1926.[4] In 1934, he ran for reelection to the Corporation Commission but he withdrew after advancing to a runoff with Frank A. Anderson. After Anderson's primary win state law was changed to require Black candidates be labeled on the ballot as "(Negro)," until the practice was ruled unconstitutional by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 1955.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Corporation Commissioners Since 1907 . oklahoma.gov . 19 May 2024.
  2. News: Vandewater . Bob . Commission's Actions Ever a Factor at Polls . 19 May 2024 . . August 26, 1985.
  3. News: Anthony celebrates 10 years at Corporation Commission . 19 May 2024 . . 11 January 1999.
  4. News: running for Commissioner of Labor, socialist . 19 May 2024 . Muskogee Times-Democrat . 1 September 1926 . 14.
  5. Darcy . R. . Did Oklahoma African Americans Vote Between 1910 and 1943? . The Chronicle of Oklahoma . Spring 2015 . 93 . 1 . 72-98 . 19 May 2024.