JAMES E. FERGUSON
(James Edward Ferguson Jr.)
Furgeson was running, with his wife as proxy, against the incumbent Texas governor who proudly announced that the state auditor had reported the state's books and budget were in balance.
In 1917 the very popular governor was impeached and convicted for misappropriation of public funds. Under Texas law he was precluded from elected office thereafter. In 1924 his wife, Amanda Wallace Furguson, announced her candidacy for the Texas governorship. Critics claimed this was a transparent attempt for Jim Furguson to regain his former power. He not only didn't deny this but made the most of it. The "two governors" won.
Furgeson's opponent, Judge Felix Robertson, had strong support from the Ku Klux Klan.
James Edward Ferguson Jr., known as Pa Ferguson, was an American Democratic politician and the 26th Governor of Texas, in office from 1915 to 1917. He was indicted and impeached during his second term, but according to Ferguson technically impeached, after he resigned office. Ferguson said that he resigned "the day before the judgment was announced and contended that it did not apply to him. The question was eventually carried into the courts, where the judgment of the Court of Impeachment was sustained. But the mere fact that Ferguson had been impeached and made ineligible to hold any office of trust or profit under the state did not in any sense remove him from the field of Texas politics. In 1918 he sought the Democratic party nomination for the governorship but was defeated by William P. Hobby. In 1920 he was an unsuccessful candidate for President on his own American party ticket. In 1922 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate. But eventually returned to the Governor's mansion, when his wife was elected Governor.
