 The Republican/Populist coalition disintegrated, and the Democrats won the North Carolina 1898 election and the following 1900 election.Simmons was elected as the state's US senator in 1900, holding office until 1931 through multiple re-elections by the state legislature and by popular vote after 1920.The Democrats used their power in the state legislature to disenfranchise minorities, primarily blacks, and ensure that Democratic Party and white power would not be threatened again.