1959 Missouri's 4th congressional district special election
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March 3, 1959
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Missouri's 4th congressional district | ||||||||||||||||
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The 1959 Missouri's 4th congressional district special election was held on March 3, 1959, and was won by Jackson County Judge William J. Randall, the Democratic nominee.
On January 23, 1959, Democratic Congressman George H. Christopher died, causing a vacancy. On February 2, Governor James Blair issued a proclamation for the special election, which he deliberately scheduled with the Kansas City municipal election primary.[1] The parties' nominees were picked by the local congressional party committees.
The Democratic convention to select the party's nominee for the special election took place on February 5, 1959. Going into the convention, two party leaders—Independence Mayor William Sermon and Jackson County Clerk Ben Nordberg—supported different candidates. At the beginning of the convention, Nordberg favored Robert W. Crawford, an administrative aide to Governor Blair, while Sermon backed Delton W. Houtchens, an attorney from Clinton. Marvin Durst, an aide to Congressman Christopher, had support from some of the delegates from the district's rural counties. When no candidate received a majority on the first ballot, Houtchens dropped out and Sermon switched his support to Durst, which produced a 22-22 deadlock for the following six ballots. On the eighth ballot, Jackson County Judge William J. Randall emerged as a compromise candidate and was nominated unanimously.[2]