Helen Curtenius Statler

Helen Statler, a civic leader, was an unsuccessful candidate from Michigan for the 1920 U.S. House of Representatives. Michigan granted women full voting rights in 1918. In March, 1920 local women, unhappy with the two announced Republican party candidates for the Third Congressional District approached Statler and asked her to run for the office. She was well thought of in Kalamazoo but had no political experience. After initially hesitating, Statler agreed to run in the three-way primary race. She was opposed by a respected attorney and local sheriff. Despite her lack of previous experience, Statler ran an aggressive primary campaign that was well-received by citizens and the Michigan press. At the outset her platform emphasized legal and economic issues affecting women, as well as the need of the federal government to take an active role in elementary and secondary education. She quickly expanded that platform with demands for a federal budget system, military preparedness, better roads, and higher appropriations for agriculture. She made many public appearances, sent out pamphlets and, in the last month of the primary, placed nine political advertisements in the KalamazooGazette. In the primary balloting Statler made a good showing with 5842 votes, but attorney William Frankhauser won the party's nomination with 7888 votes. Frankhauser defeated his Democratic opponent in the general election only to find his health shattered. On May 9, 1921 he committed suicide. Statler, apparently, left politics after her defeat in the primary.