Thompson, Sylvia

Sylvia Thompson ran successfully in 1916 and 1918 to be the representative for Wasco and Hood River counties in the Oregon House of Representatives. In 1920, she ran a primary race against Esther Lovejoy as a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, but lost. In 1916, Thompson gave a campaign address for Woodrow Wilson's reelection. She spoke in her capacity as a member of the Woodrow Wilson League, an organization in Oregon supporting Wilson's reelection. Thompson was a member of the Women's Democratic National Committee prior to 1920, when she was asked to leave due to a personal disagreement with a national committeeman. She was a suffrage leader in Oregon. In 1920, she called on the governor to request a special legislative session to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, and said that she would forgo her salary and per diem for the special session. She believed that states that already had granted women the right to vote, such as hers, should take the lead in ratifying the federal amendment. When the Oregon House of Representatives did meet, she introduced its ratification bill.