Earle Bradford Mayfield

Who was Earle Bradford Mayfield?

Earle Bradford Mayfield was a lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Overton, Texas who served in both the Texas State Senate and United States Senate.

Mayfield graduated from Southwestern University in 1900 and subsequently studied law at the University of Texas at Austin. He was admitted to the bar in 1907 and practiced in Meridain in Bosque County for a number of years; in addition, he pursued business ventures in agriculture and the wholesale grocery industry. Between 1907 and 1913, he held a seat in the Texas, after which he served on the Texas Railroad Commission for ten years.

In 1922, Mayfield was one of six candidates who challenged five-term United States Senator Charles A. Culberson for the Democratic senatorial nomination. In the ensuing primary runoff between Mayfield and former Governor James E. Ferguson, Mayfield was labelled the "Ku Klux Klan candidate" in part because he and the KKK supported prohibition, while Ferguson emphasized an anti-prohibition stance. At the time the sale of alcoholic beverage was illegal throughout the United States under the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution. After securing the endorsement of the other Texas senator, Morris Sheppard of Texarkana, Mayfield won the party nomination. In the general election held on November 7, 1922, Mayfield faced the Independent candidate George Peddy, who also had the backing of the Republican Party organization. Because Peddy's name was not on the ballot, the insurgents waged a write-in campaign against Mayfield. Peddy's write-in netted a third of the vote. Peddy also challenged Mayfield's election before the Senate on grounds of disputes over filing deadlines and other technical issues. A Senate committee finally ruled in Mayfield's favor, but his seating was delayed until December 1923.