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.
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 County results Gaston: 50–60% 60–70% Talbot: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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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
editCandidates
edit- George B. Loring, State Senator from Salem
- Thomas Talbot, acting Governor since April 1874
Campaign
editTalbot, 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
editAt 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]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Thomas Talbot (incumbent) | 755 | 72.46% | |
| Republican | George B. Loring | 198 | 19.00% | |
| Republican | Charles Devens | 51 | 4.89% | |
| Republican | John E. Sanford | 20 | 1.92% | |
| Republican | Benjamin Butler | 16 | 1.54% | |
| Republican | Henry L. Dawes | 1 | 0.10% | |
| Republican | George Frisbie Hoar | 1 | 0.10% | |
| Total votes | 1,042 | 100.00% | ||
General election
editResults
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | William Gaston | 96,376 | 51.82% | ||
| Republican | Thomas Talbot (incumbent) | 89,344 | 48.04% | ||
| Write-in | All others | 270 | 0.15% | ||
| Total votes | 185,990 | 100.00% | |||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d "BAY STATE POLITICS". New York Tribune. July 25, 1874. p. 3.
- ^ a b "Massachusetts: Gov. Talbot Renominated by the Republican State Convention". Louisville Courier-Journal. October 8, 1874. p. 1.
- ^ a b "BAY STATE POLITICS". New York Tribune. October 24, 1874. p. 3.
- ^ "MA Governor, 1874". Our Campaigns. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
- ^ "1874 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Massachusetts". US Election Atlas. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
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