How was Benjamin Tillman selected as a senator before the Seventeenth Amendment?
Short answerSouth Carolina legislators pledged to choose the Democratic primary winner, so Tillman secured the seat by controlling that decisive primary rather than by relying on a governor's appointment.
NotesSouth Carolina's legislature formally selected senators and retained that constitutional authority even when appointment power could be delegated to a governor. Its members nevertheless pledged to follow the Democratic primary result, making that primary the decisive contest in a state where the Democratic nominee was overwhelmingly likely to win. Tillman therefore faced an election of sorts before direct senatorial elections became constitutional. His repeated victories rested on coercion, patronage, blackmail, and threats against rivals rather than on an admirable democratic machine.