After serving four terms in the House, she began campaigning for a Senate seat, and the press’s backlash was intense. One reporter commented, “The little lady…is simply over-reaching herself,”
The press could not hide their prejudices, with some stating that Chase Smith “has stepped out of her class.” Even one of her opponent’s wives said, “Why [send] a woman to Washington when you can get a man?”
Chase Smith, however, used these criticisms to her advantage, stating, “Women administer the home. They set the rules, enforce them, and mete out justice for violations. Thus, like Congress, they legislate; like the Executive, they administer; like the courts, they interpret the rules. It is an ideal experience for politics.”
When the election was held on September 13, 1948, she crushed her opponent with seventy-one percent of the vote and began a highly successful twenty-four-year career in the Senate.
