the offer of statehood as presented by the U.S. Congress. In August 1911, Sutter announced his candidacy for the Superior Court judgeship for Cochise County. In the October 24, 1911 Democratic Primary, Sutter was elected to represent the Democrats in the general election in December, defeating A. C. Lockwood of Douglas. The election was very close and was in doubt for several weeks, but the official final tally was 643 for Sutter and 635 for Lockwood, with a third candidate, Allen R. English, receiving 365. He was set to face off against Republican John Wilson (J. W.) Ross. The general election was held on December 12, and Sutter defeated Ross. It was initially reported that he had won by 482 votes, but when the official tallies were recorded with the county board of supervisors, the tally was 1993 for Sutter and 1512 for Ross, a 481 difference. His tenure was marked by his adjudicating a record number of cases in 1912. However, in June 1913 he suddenly and unexpectedly resigned from the court in order to return to his private legal career. Governor George W. P. Hunt appointed A. C. Lockwood, the man Sutter had defeated in the Democratic primary, as his replacement. Even though he had stated his intention to not seek public office again when he resigned, when Democratic leaders began to float his name as a possible candidate in the Democratic primary for the governor's seat, he did not disavow those rumors. And by March it was being reported that he would be the conservative Democratic candidate in the primary, to oppose the more liberal Hunt. By mid-March Sutter had unofficially announced that he would run against Hunt in the primary. Within a month, Sutter was considered the front runner for the nomination, over the incumbent Hunt. Sutter's official announcement that he was a candidate for governor came on May 22 in Tucson. Fearful that the primary might shatter the Democratic party, Sutter withdrew from the race in early July, throwing his support behind Hunt. During the summer of 1916, Sutter was approached by leaders of the Democratic party requesting that he run for the state senate, to which he agreed. He officially announced his candidacy on August 22, in order to be able to run in the Democratic primaries on September 12. After winning the primary, he also won the general election in November, receiving the