Minnie Fisher Cunningham campaign poster, 1928

After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Minnie Fisher Cunningham became the executive secretary of the National League of Women Voters in Washington, D.C. In 1928, she returned to Texas to run for the United States Senate. She challenged the incumbent Earle Mayfield, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, on the issues of prohibition, tax reform, farm relief, flood control, and U.S. participation in the League of Nations. Cunningham carried only her home county of Walker, and finished fifth in a field of six. Still, she had the satisfaction of seeing Mayfield go down to a progressive Waco congressman, Tom Connally.

Cunningham ran for Texas governor in 1944 to express her outrage at the fact that conservatives had seized control of the state's delegation to the Democratic National Convention and were prepared to vote against President Roosevelt despite the wishes of Texas voters. Cunningham finished second in the field of nine but was defeated by a wide margin by incumbent Coke Stevenson. Nonetheless, she prevented the anti-Roosevelt move. She continued to campaign for liberal causes and candidates until her death in 1964.

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Minnie Fisher Cunningham campaign poster, 1928, Jessie Daniel Ames Papers, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.