1874_Massachusetts_gubernatorial_election

1874 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

1874 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

Election in Massachusetts

The 1874 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1874. Republican acting Governor Thomas Talbot, who took office after the resignation of William B. Washburn, was defeated by Democrat William Gaston, a former Mayor of Boston.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

Gaston was the first Democrat elected Governor since George S. Boutwell in 1852 and received the largest share of the vote for any Democrat in the state since the party's founding in 1828.

Republican nomination

Candidates

Campaign

Talbot, who had only become acting Governor in April, was by no means guaranteed re-nomination by the Republicans. No candidate, including Talbot, actively sought office, but a number of alternatives were mentioned. Among those suggested were Alexander H. Rice, Henry L. Dawes, George Frisbie Hoar, and Henry L. Pierce.[1] Talbot was thought of as the weakest Republican candidate possible on the basis of his vetoes of liquor regulation; even the prohibitionist governors William Claflin and William Washburn had accepted a tacit agreement that they would not override the legislature's will on liquor.[1]

A proposal was made for Talbot to run for Congress in the vacant seat of Ebenezer R. Hoar, with Rice running for Governor, and Henry L. Dawes for U.S. Senate. Talbot rejected this plan, as did opponents of Rice and Dawes.[1]

Representative Benjamin Butler, who ran for the position in 1871 and had become a kingmaker in Massachusetts politics, largely stayed out of the race.[1]

Convention

At the Republican convention in Worcester on October 7, Talbot was nominated on the first ballot[2] with the support of Dawes and Hoar.[3] Some suggested that their support was exchanged for Talbot's endorsement of Dawes for U.S. Senate in the coming 1875 election.[3]

More information Party, Candidate ...

General election

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...

    See also

    References

    1. [1]
      "BAY STATE POLITICS". New York Tribune. July 25, 1874. p. 3.
    2. [2]
      "Massachusetts: Gov. Talbot Renominated by the Republican State Convention". Louisville Courier-Journal. October 8, 1874. p. 1.
    3. [3]
      "BAY STATE POLITICS". New York Tribune. October 24, 1874. p. 3.
    4. [4]
      "MA Governor, 1874". Our Campaigns. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
    5. [5]
      "1874 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Massachusetts". US Election Atlas. Retrieved February 28, 2021.


    Stub icon 1 Stub icon 2

    This Massachusetts elections–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
    Share this article:

    This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 1874_Massachusetts_gubernatorial_election, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.