Byrns, Elinor

Elinor Byrns participated in the first of five campaigns in 1918 when she ran on the Socialist ticket in the hope of representing Congressional District 11 in the U.S. House of Representatives. She campaigned for the position again in 1923 and 1926. In 1919 Byrns was the Socialist party candidate for District Attorney of Richmond County, New York. In 1927, Byrns ran for Richmond County's New York State's second district Assembly seat. She lost all five campaigns. Byrns was an attorney who graduated from New York University Law School. She was a dedicated suffragist and used her skills as an attorney in her position as press chairman for the National Woman Suffrage Association. She was also a member of the "Votes for Women" Committee. Members campaigned on behalf of all candidates who were willing to introduce and support a suffrage bill in New York regardless of their party affiliation. Byrns was a woman of conviction and held steadfastly to her beliefs. In an interview with Byrnes in 1919, "Everybody's" magazine reported that, when Tammany leaders found out Byrns was in the running for Congress, they were distraught. "'Why didn't you tell us you wanted a job?' said the Staten Island political dictators where Miss Byrnes makes her home. 'We would have fixed you up.' 'Because I happened to have principles,' said Miss Byrnes. 'But we have the votes!' said the solicitous gentlemen."