Edward I. Edwards

In the Democratic primary, his opponent was James R. Nugent, chair of the Essex County party and former state party boss. The campaign became a proxy for Frank Hague's struggle with Nugent for state power, and Edwards emerged victorious with 53.6 percent of the vote.[2] He carried fifteen counties and a huge majority in Hudson County; Hague emerged as the undisputed leader of the New Jersey Democratic Party, which he would dominate through the late 1940s.[2]

In the general election, Edwards faced Newton A.K. Bugbee. Despite Republican victories throughout the northeast in reaction to Wilson's unpopularity, nationwide labor and racial unrest, and anarchist terrorism, Edwards prevailed narrowly.[2] With the exception of a Camden trolly strike, the New Jersey campaign focused on the single issue of the prohibition of alcohol, following the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in January 1919 and the passage of the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto on October 28.[2] An Elizabeth daily newspaper dubbed Edwards's campaign the "Applejack Campaign," because although Edwards personally did not drink alcohol, he ran as an avowed "wet" opponent of prohibition.[2] His victory was attributed to an urban political revolt by Catholic and ethnic immigrants, overcoming those groups' dissatisfaction with Wilson's proposal for the League of Nations. Historian Warren E. Stickle has referred to the election as the "Edwards Revolution," as it significantly reshaped New Jersey politics for the twentieth century and served a prelude to the New Deal coalition.[2]

A June 1920 political cartoon satirizing the various contenders for the presidency as varieties of plant seed. Edwards is listed as "New Jersey Hops," a reference to his opposition to prohibition.

Edwards's time in office was defined by Republican domination of the state legislature; the State Senate, which then apportioned one vote per county, was dominated by rural and small-town interests which increasingly aligned with Republicans and against Edwards's urban base. Following the 1920 Republican landslide, the General Assembly was also dominated by Republicans—only one Democratic member was elected to serve in the legislature of 1921–22.[2] Thus, Edwards played only a minor role in legislation as Governor; the Republican majorities frustrated much of his own program and repeatedly passed their own legislation over his veto, including the establishment of the Port Authority (which Edwards later supported) and the New Jersey State Police.[2]

On prohibition, Edwards did briefly succeed in passing a bill which permitted the sale and manufacture of beverages with less than 3.5 percent alcohol content, which he signed on March 2, 1920; it was repealed in January 1921 and laws for the enforcement of prohibition were passed over Edwards's veto.[2] With his legislative power cut off, Edwards instead exercised executive power by joining the state as a plaintiff in Rhode Island v. Palma, a challenge to the constitutionality of prohibition policies.[2] He also called on Congress to modify the Volstead Act to permit the sale of light wines and beer.[2] Because of his aggressive public stance against Prohibition, his name was entered in the Illinois and New Jersey presidential preference primaries in 1920; he won both.

Edwards also used his appointments power to fire the members of the Public Utility Commission as part of a fight for reduced rates, but the Republican legislature established a new commission over his veto.[2] He also opposed blue laws which restricted activity on Sundays and supported the arrangement of boxing matches in the state against moral objections.[2]