of State In 1926, Pyle was the successful Republican nominee for Secretary of State of South Dakota. She was reelected in 1928, polling more votes than had ever been given any candidate for any office in the state, and served from 1927 to 1931. In 1930, she was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. She won the primary, garnering nearly a third of the vote. Since no candidate received the 35% required under South Dakota law, the contest moved to the Republican Convention, where the delegates would select the nominee from the five candidates on the primary ballot. Pyle led the fourth, and sixth through eleven ballots, increasing her total votes each ballot, except for a significant loss of votes the eighth ballot as she was closing in on the nomination. During the 12th ballot, the Convention Chair suspended the roll call and over three hours later, three male candidates threw their support to Warren E. Green, who had run last in the primary with about 7.5% of the vote and who won the nomination when the roll call resumed. Pyle quickly conceded defeat without rancor or accusation but did not endorse Green until after the filing period for filing as an independent had ended. She later hinted at her disappointment when she indicated she would not seek further partisan political office. Pyle was executive officer for the State Securities Commission from 1931 to 1933. While pursuing her political career, Pyle also became active in the life insurance business, and worked as an agent for several companies, including New York Life Insurance Company and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. In addition, she was elected president of the Huron Life Underwriters Association, and was active in the National Association of Life Underwriters. U.S. Senator On November 8, 1938, she was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, winning over 58% of the vote and receiving about 8,500 more votes than the second highest statewide election winner. Pyle received the highest percentage of the vote for non-incumbent Republican nominees and second highest percentage of the vote for all Republican nominees for the U. S. Senate in the 1938 elections. Pyle was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Peter Norbeck. Norbeck died in December 1936, which allowed the governor of South Dakota to appoint a replacement, and he appointed Democrat Herbert E. Hitchcock. Hitchcock lost the