In 1916, Jeannette Rankin from Montana became the first woman elected to Congress. Four years before women won voting rights nationwide

Imagine winning a seat in the United States Congress at a time when women across much of the country still could not vote. That was the remarkable position Jeannette Rankin found herself in after Montana voters elected her to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916. Her victory may appear impossible against the political landscape of the era, but Montana had already taken a crucial step that made it possible — the state had granted women voting rights two years earlier.

Montana Gave Women the Vote in 1914

Rankin was not simply a beneficiary of Montana's suffrage movement; she had helped build it. After working as a social worker, she became deeply involved in the campaign for women's voting rights and worked as an organiser for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She participated in campaigns across several states before returning home to Montana.

On November 3, 1914, Montana voters approved women's suffrage by a margin of 53 to 47 per cent. The decision made Montana one of a small number of western states where women could vote before the 19th Amendment established voting rights for women nationwide. Just two years later, Rankin decided to run for Congress.

She Turned a Suffrage Network Into a Political Campaign

Rankin entered the 1916 race as a Republican candidate for one of Montana's two at-large House seats. Her platform went beyond suffrage. She campaigned on issues including child welfare and social reform, while maintaining her opposition to American involvement in World War I. Rankin also drew upon the network and organising experience she had developed during Montana's suffrage campaign. Women who had gained the ballot only two years earlier now had an opportunity to help elect a woman to Washington. One account preserved by Montana's historical programme illustrates the enthusiasm. A woman named Edith Mutchler told Rankin that, despite being eight months pregnant, she travelled 14 miles on a cold, windy day to cast her vote.

The Election Made American History

Election results took several days to arrive from sparsely populated parts of Montana, but Rankin ultimately secured the state's second House seat. The result made her the first woman elected to the United States Congress. Her election certificate, dated December 4, 1916, officially confirmed the historic victory. Rankin was sworn in on April 2, 1917. Days later, the committed pacifist cast a vote against US entry into World War I.

She Continued Fighting for Women's Voting Rights

Getting elected did not end Rankin's suffrage campaign. As a member of the newly established House Committee on Woman Suffrage, she helped push the issue onto the House floor. The House approved a women's voting-rights amendment during her first term, although that effort stalled in the Senate. The 19th Amendment was finally ratified in 1920, four years after Rankin's election, guaranteeing women voting rights nationwide. Rankin would return to Congress after winning another election in 1940, and her second term produced another extraordinary distinction: following the attack on Pearl Harbour, she became the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war on Japan.

A Political First That Came Before a National Right

Rankin's 1916 victory remains one of the striking contradictions of American political history. A woman had earned the right to write laws for the entire country before women throughout that country had secured equal access to the ballot. Montana's earlier suffrage victory opened the door, but Rankin's years of organising helped her walk through it. As she famously predicted after arriving in Washington: “I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last."