JoinCalifornia: Election History for the State of California

Information Home Elected Offices Elections by Decade Longest Service Shortest Service Most & Fewest Votes Uncontested Races Closest Contests Redistricting Recalls
Elections 2024 General 2024 CD-20 Special 2023 US Senate Appt 2022 General Prior 2020s Elections Elections by Decade
Other Stuff Advanced Search CA Constitution CA in Congress Line of Succession Highest Ranking SCOTUS Cases

[search tips] [advanced search]

Searching tips

  • Enter a candidate's name to find a candidate
  • Enter the name of a political party to find the party and all candidates
  • Enter a date to find an election
  • Enter a year to find all elections within that year

Alexander P. Crittenden

Democratic

Date Party Office Votes Result
11-13-1849 Nonpartisan AD-Los Angeles 0 Win
09-03-1851 Democratic AD-05 0 Win
 

Candidate Biography:

Alexander Parker Crittenden
Born: January 14, 1816 in Lexington, Kentucky
Married.
Children: One daughter and one son
Military Service: Confederate Army (Civil War)
Killed: November 5, 1870 in San Francisco, CA*

1870: Appointed Reporter, California Supreme Court

  • LEGISLATION: Author of AB 60 (Chapt 99, Stats of 1850), which included the provision that in California courts, "No black or mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor of, or against a white man." In 1854, this law was used to successfully appeal the conviction of George W. Hall for the murder of Ling Sing, on the basis that the multiple witnesses to the murder were non-whites and could not testify.
  • LEGISLATION: Author of the bill to incorporate the City of Los Angeles. (1850) 
  • OUCH: According to "Gold Rush Politics" by Mary Jo Ignoffo, Crittenden was murdered by Laura Fair (widow of William D. Fair) after a seven-year affair. Crittenden had pretended to be single, but Fair followed him onto a ferry from Oakland to San Francisco where he was meeting with his family and shot him on November 3, 1870. He died two days later.

Source: "Californians in the Rebels Ranks", The Los Angeles Star. December 19, 1862. Transcribed by Dee Sardoch.