Riddle, Agnes Ludwig

Agnes Riddle was a two-term member, 1910 -1914, of the lower house of Colorado's legislature.  In 1914 she ran unsuccessfully as the Progressive Party candidate for Secretary of State.  In the general election, which she lost, there were five candidates, three men, Elizabeth Williams, and Riddle, who received 32,289 votes. Riddle was the strongest of the third party candidates. In 1916, as the nominee of the Republican Party, she became the second woman elected to the Colorado Senate.
Riddle was active in the Grange movement. She was reported to have been an "ardent supporter of Mr. [Charles E.] Hughes" [for president in 1916]. In an interview she had "no kind words" for the Woman's Party, saying, "I call it foolish...women spending their time doing spite work against a party or a candidate." She is quoted in Scott, One-Half of the People (140) as saying that she thought the party's tactics were "just plain nagging," and argued that for women to get anywhere politically, they must fight "definitely for a party or a policy - not merely destructively." In 1919 state senator Riddle introduced the bill for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment by the Colorado Senate, while Dr. May Bigelow and Miss Mabel Ruth Baker introduced the suffrage amendment in the Colorado House. [Doris Weatherford, Women in American Politics (2012)]
Riddle was born in Germany in 1865 and came to the United States in 1882. She was married and had at least one child. She was a nurse and dairy farmer. While in the legislature she successfully sponsored bills that provided for new dairy and farm inspection laws. She also promoted the need for an eight hour day, minimum wage and child welfare laws.