From collection Candidates
Laura deForce Gordon was a well known trial lawyer in California ("lady lawyer of San Joaquin County.") Gordon frequently appeared at the state legislature, lobbing various reform causes. In 1871 she was nominated by the Independent party as its candidate for state senator to represent a district of San Joaquin county. She received over 200 votes in the race. In June 1878, Gordon campaigned, with the help of her friend Clara Foltz, to become a delegate to the California constitutional convention to begin in September. She lost but received a few hundred votes and succeeded in her goal, establishing the right of women to participate in constitution making. She attended the convention as a lobbyist for the woman suffrage cause. In 1887 Gordon was nominated, but declined to run for state Attorney General. Gordon was also president of the State Suffrage League and active in suffrage politics nationally and through the western part of the country. She was instrumental in insuring that the California state constitution did not bar women from the state university system, or from any business or profession.
