Ernest William McFarland (October 9, 1894–June 8, 1984) was a United States Senator from Arizona and served as Senate Majority Leader from 1951 until 1953.
McFarland born on a farm near Earlsboro, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, and graduated from East Central State Teachers’ College in Ada, Oklahoma in 1914, and from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma in 1917.
He served during the World War I in the United States Navy and after the war settled in Phoenix, Arizona. McFarland received a law degree from Stanford University in 1921, and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Casa Grande, Arizona.
He elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1940; reelected in 1946 and served from January 3, 1941, to January 3, 1953. He served as Senate Majority Leader after the sitting floor leader, Senator Scott W. Lucas of Illinois was defeated for reelection in 1950. He, himself, was defeated for reelection in 1952, by Republican and later presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.
McFarland later served as Governor of Arizona from 1955 to 1959; he failed to regain his seat in the Senate in 1958, losing again to Barry Goldwater.
McFarland died in Phoenix, Arizona on June 8, 1984.