David Burgess entered Washington State politics late in his life, but he seemed to make up for lost time once he dove in. The persistent Socialist ran for Governor, US Senate, or US House no less than seven times between 1902-1926, only once tallying just over 5% of the vote.

He was born Feb. 5, 1849 in Hopewell, Ohio, probably the eldest son of Elwood and Gaynor (Ball) Burgess. At some point he struck out on his own and by 1880 was living in Clark County, Arkansas. While there he edited a weekly agricultural newspaper.

Burgess came to Washington State with his wife and children around 1898 and became involved with the Equality Colony, the communal experiment mentioned in the profile of previous Ungovernor W.C.B. Randolph. He served two jobs for Equality. First, he was the principal of the school. In a school photo he appears to be a mature man with a distinguished grey beard. Second, he was an editor and writer for the communal newspaper, Industrial Freedom.

Although the early Socialist Party in Washington centered around Seattle-based Dr. Hermon F. Titus, it was Burgess who went out into the field to organize. According to Thomas Riddle, " ... Eugene Debs traveled through the Puget Sound region on an organizational speaking tour for the Social Democratic party. D. Burgess, a national field organizer for the S.D.P., soon followed Debs into Washington. He appointed several local state organizers, and sought to get a party affiliate established in every county. As a result of these efforts, on April 29 [1899] thirty-five delegates gathered in Seattle to establish a permanent organization of the Social Democratic party. Thus, by 1900, a nationally affiliated Socialist party had taken root in Washington." Historian Harvey O'Connor adds this information about Burgess: "He was widely read and perhaps the best known of the early Washington socialists for it was he who went out on the road organizing locals up and down western Washington, while Dr. Titus preferrred to remain in Seattle. After Equality days, he was associated with Dr. Titus' Socialist and several succeeding papers." Many of the converts came from the ranks of the former Populists.

Burgess had two political lives, so to speak. He ran for three offices between 1902-1908 as a member of the Socialist Party, and four between 1920-1926 as part of the Socialist Labor Party. At the turn of the century he is found in the Whatcom County census, but by 1910 he is living in Seattle.

In the 1902 Congressional race, Washington voters selected three candidates at-large. There were 15 names on the ballot, including Burgess, and Ungovernors McCormick (Socialist Labor) and Sherwood (Prohibition). Burgess placed 7th, and gained the highest tally of all the third party candidates, 4,632 votes (1.56%).

1904 was his best year, when he first ran for Governor. Many in the progressive community were not excited by Sen. Turner's name on the ballot. No doubt they cast their vote for Burgess. He came in third out of five at 7,420 votes (5.13%). His percentage did not change the outcome. Even so, when I see a third party come out with more than 5% I would say that is too large a percentage to brush off as inconsequential.

Attempting to track the history of the socialist factions in Washington is like trying to untangle a pile of coat hangers. Historian Gary Siebel gave it a good try as he traced the rise and fall of Dr. Titus' empire in Seattle: "It appears there were two seperate organizations calling themselves the Socialist Party of Washington from perhaps as early as late 1905, and neither of them was willing to yield an inch, or, in some instances, to even acknowledge the other side's existence. For example, D. Burgess, featured as a frequent front page contributor to The Socialist and a long time Titus ally, is later abruptly referred to as if he has been a long time enemy instead ..."

In 1908 he ran for US Congress in the 1st District, and placed 3rd of 4 (again, pitted against Prohibitionist Ungovernor Sherwood) with 1,468 votes (2.36%).

During the decade of World War I Burgess continued to write and was a contributor to the Socialist Voice and probably other newspapers. It was also during this era that his wife died, leaving him on his own in a Seattle boarding house.

By 1920 Seattle had undergone a period of great labor unrest and radical activity. In that election year, the Socialist Party did not run any candidates for Governor. Instead they endorsed the newly formed Farmer-Labor Party. But Burgess, now 71 years old, apparently felt this move was a sell-out and in the words of O'Connor: "True to his own concept of fundamental socialist principles, following the collapse of the Socialist Party in 1919 he returned, after a lapse of 20 years, to the older Socialist Labor Party and was its main figure in Seattle in the 1920s." Which meant he jumped into a party even more obscure, and his subsequent vote tallies would reflect that.

The FLP, which had co-opted some of the Socialist Party concepts, did very well in the 1920 gubernatorial election, placing second. Burgess placed dead last (after the third place Dems) with 5,086 votes (1.26%).

Two years later Burgess made his last bid for Governor. The progressive vote was split between the Democrats, the Progressive Party, the State Party, the Socialists, and the Socialist Labor Party. But their combined vote didn't matter, Gov. Hartley was elected with 56%. It was the high tide of conservatism. Burgess had the most miserable ballot outcome of his office-running career, finishing last with a mere 770 votes (0.20%).

At the age of 77, Burgess made his final run for office, in the 1926 US Senate race. He placed 3rd out of 4 with 3,513 votes (1.10%).

David Burgess had a career that spanned from Washington's utopian experiments to the Jazz Age and apparently shared his views through print media in the course of his activities. I would think he would be a worthy subject for someone's political science dissertation. Finding out more about him would require diving into some very obscure sources but I think it would be worth it.