James H. Brady

James Henry Brady (June 12, 1862 – January 13, 1918) was a Republican politician from Idaho. He served as the state's eighth governor from 1909 to 1911 and a United States Senator for nearly five years, from 1913 until his death.

Biography

Born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania on June 12, 1862. Brady moved with his parents to Johnson County, Kansas in 1865. He was educated in public schools, and graduated from Leavenworth Normal College in Kansas.

Brady worked in the real estate business, and as editor of a newspaper. He moved to Idaho in 1895, and worked in the water power and irrigation industries.

Brady was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1900, and chairman of the Idaho Republican Central Committee in 1904 and 1908. He was named a delegate to the Republican National Committee again in 1908 and 1916.

Brady was elected governor in 1908, but lost his bid for re-election in 1910, and returned to the private sector until he was elected to the U.S. Senate in January 1913, elected by the Idaho Legislature to replace Kirtland I. Perky in the Senate, who was appointed after Weldon Heyburns's death in October 1912. In 1914 Brady became the first elected to the Senate from Idaho by direct popular vote, defeating former Democratic Governor James H. Hawley and a handful of minor party candidates.