Ernest R. Graham (politician)

American politician (1886–1964)

Ernest R. "Cap" Graham (1886–March 14, 1964) was an American politician active in Florida, having served as a member of the Florida Senate from 1937 to 1944, when he unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Florida. As a state senator, he would help to successfully repeal Florida's poll tax in 1937.

Graham was born in Croswell, Michigan, and received his education at the Michigan State College. He moved to Florida after World War I. Prior to this he had been an engineer in gold mines in South Dakota and had served for 10 months with the US Army during World War I. He was sent to Florida by the Pennsylvania Sugar Company to drain part of the Everglades with the intention of doing sugarcane cultivation. Graham's employer left Florida towards the end of 1931, and he received of sugarcane fields outside Miami as severance pay. After this, he became active in the dairy industry and later with breeding cattle as well. The dairy farm became one of the largest in Florida.

While Graham was campaigning for state senate in 1936, he made repealing the poll tax a core component of his campaign. Since Graham was a dairy farmer, he utilized his network of salesmen to help campaign on his behalf. He, along with his salesmen, found that many local white residents were not able to vote because of the poll tax and that many others could vote because someone had paid their tax for them. In 1937 during his first year in office as a senator, he would help his fellow senators Spessard Holland,

Apart from his advocacy against the poll tax, Graham attacked the management of horse racetracks and worked to increase pensions for the elderly. Graham proposed the creation of a public university in Dade (now Miami Dade) County; and although his efforts were unsuccessful during his lifetime, they eventually led to the establishment of Florida International University. The student union building at Florida International University is named the Graham Center in his honor. In 1948, Graham sought election to the Dade County Commission, but ended up losing in the primaries. Later on, Graham and his family developed Miami Lakes out of some of the land they owned. Ernest Graham died on March 14, 1964, in Coral Gables, Florida.