With the support of the Ku Klux Klan, then a powerful political force in the state, Pierce won the election by a wide margin.
In March 1919, Oregon governor James Withycombe died in office, just two months into his second term.
[1] Olcott refused to endorse the Klan, and shortly before the Republican primary, issued an executive proclamation against the organization for terrorist acts conducted by its members which included mock hangings.
[2] Olcott's actions nearly cost him the Republican nomination to the Klan-backed candidate, state senator Charles Hall.
[3] With their candidate's defeat, the Klan threw their support behind Democratic candidate Walter M. Pierce, who also agreed to back the Klan's Compulsory Education Act, which would require all students to attend public, rather than private schools, a deliberate attack on Roman Catholic private schools.