primary for the Democratic nomination for a full term, and the general election was won by Republican Chan Gurney. Because he lost the Democratic nomination, a quirk in South Dakota law required Hitchcock to step down following the November 1938 election, which would have created a vacancy before Gurney's term began in January 1939. To fill the two month vacancy, South Dakota Republicans successfully pushed for a special election because of rumors that President Franklin D. Roosevelt would call a special session of Congress to be held before January. State law also prevented Gurney from appearing on the ballot twice, so he was unable to run in the special election. As a result of these circumstances and the quirks in the law, the Republican Party prevailed upon Pyle, despite her pledge not seek any further partisan political office, to run in the special election, in part because of her popularity in the state, and in part because she had the name recognition that they would not have to devote many resources to the special election campaign. She campaigned against the New Deal, arguing the program had not gone far enough to help the people of South Dakota. On the same day that Gurney won election to a full term, Pyle easily defeated Democrat J. T. McCullen Sr. for the short one, running about 6 percentage points ahead of the winning percentage of the next highest statewide office election winner. Pyle was paid for her Senate service and allowed to hire staff, but the Congress was not in session and she was never sworn in. After the election, Pyle traveled to Washington, D.C. at her own expense, accompanied by her mother and one aide. No special session was called, so Pyle did not have the opportunity to perform any official Senate duties before her term ended. She shared a Senate office with Thomas M. Storke, an appointed interim senator from California, and spent her time in Washington lobbying federal agencies including the Works Progress Administration and Bureau of Indian Affairs for approval of projects in South Dakota. Later career In January 1939, Pyle returned to her insurance business, and remained closely involved in public service work. In 1940, she became the first woman to deliver a presidential nominating speech at a national convention, speaking on behalf of candidate Harland J. Bushfield. In addition to resuming her career in the life insurance