Born September 18, 1859, in
Indiana,
Pennsylvania, his mother was Eliza Ann Newman and father Thomas McCartney McCandless. On May 24, 1904, he married Elizabeth Janet Cartwright of New York. McCandless entered political life as a member of the
Republic of Hawaii House of Representatives from the 5th district from 1898 to 1900. After the
United States annexed the islands to form the
Territory of Hawaii, McCandless was elected to the
territorial legislature as a senator from 1902 to 1906. He started his career in the
Hawaii Republican Party. But by 1906, he started to challenge the long-serving Prince
Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana'ole. By 1908 McCandless switched to join the
Hawaii Democratic Party to oppose Kūhiō as non-voting delegate to the
United States House of Representatives for
Hawaii Territory's at-large congressional district, and in 1912, losing all those elections, but Democrat
William Paul Jarrett was nominated and won the elections in 1922 and 1924. McCandless was nominated and won the election on November 8, 1932, and served one term from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935. Losing a bid for reelection, McCandless directed the construction of roads, buildings, and a sewer system for
Honolulu. He died in Honolulu, on October 5, 1940, and was cremated and interred in
Oahu Cemetery in the Nuuanu Valley. ==References==