Anna Agnes Maley was a brief but significant political figure in the history of Washington State elections. Not only was she the first woman to run for governor, she was also the most successful vote-getter of all the Socialist ungovernors. Like ungovernor George Boomer before her, she was a journalist who died at a young age. Unlike Boomer, she was a moderate who saw the electoral process as a legitimate and essential form of social evolution. As the Washington State socialist movement splintered, she was marginalized and sent packing by her own party.

The previous Socialist Party candidates had all come to Washington with the Equality colony as their landing point. But by the time Maley arrived, the experiment was over. The rules had changed. The Socialist Party veterans were no longer dazzled by idealistic concepts or utopian visions. Getting beaten up and attacked by intolerant people while campaigning had a way of making them not so enamored of change through the ballot box. And yet 1912 was the highwater mark for the Socialist Party both in Washington State and nationally.

Anna was born Jan. 6, 1872 in Faxon, Sibley County, Minnesota. John and Katherine, her parents, were immigrants from Ireland. The family made their way to Minneapolis, where Anna worked as a stenographer and teacher. She was introduced to socialist theory while a student at the University of Minnesota.