which they finally did. Liberals carried all offices in the county, which they called the Tooele Republic. Running unopposed in 1876, Liberals held the county until the Utah territorial legislature passed bills in 1878 that required voter registration and instituting women's suffrage. The Liberal Party, typically supported by male miners casually interested in politics, opposed both measures. In 1878 the Liberal electoral majority in Tooele County disappeared, and the People's Party regained control in 1879, after more than six months of Liberal procedural delays. By 1880, the Liberal Party had become severely atrophied, but it was openly supported by the newly appointed strongly anti-Mormon territorial governor, Eli H. Murray. Thus, the 1880 statewide election for the US House of Representatives unexpectedly proved the closest that the Liberal Party got to sending a representative to Washington, DC. The Liberal candidate, Allen G. Campbell, with 1357 votes, lost resoundingly to Mormon General Authority George Q. Cannon who had 18,567 votes. In fact, the election marked the all-time low percentage-wise showing for any Liberal House candidate. However, before Governor Murray certified the election, a protest on behalf of Campbell was filed. The protest listed a dozen claims, chiefly that Cannon, born in Liverpool, England; was not a naturalized alien, and was a polygamist, which was incompatible with the law and a delegate's oath of office. Murray agreed, and issued certification to Campbell in spite of the latter's poor showing. George Q. Cannon, then in Washington, DC, argued that only Congress could decide on a member's qualifications. He furthermore received a certificate from sympathetic territorial election officials that stated he had received the most votes. The document convinced the House of Representatives clerk to enter Cannon's name on the roll and so Cannon began drawing delegate's salary. Both Murray and Campbell traveled to Washington to dispute the seat. Each side battled over the position for over a year even despite the assassination and eventual death of President James Garfield. On February 25, 1882, the House of Representatives finally rejected both candidates. The House refused Cannon his seat not for his dubious citizenship but for his practice of polygamy. The entire ordeal actually brought unfavorable national attention to the "Mormon Situation" on polygamy. In a November 7, 1882 election to fill the vacated seat, the Liberal Party fielded Philip T. Van Zile, but the seat was ultimately won by John T. Caine, of the People's