1852 New York gubernatorial election

1852 New York gubernatorial election

←  1850 November 2, 1852 1854  →

Nominee Horatio Seymour Washington Hunt Party Democratic Whig Popular vote 264,121 241,525 Percentage 50.31% 46.01%

Results by county Seymour:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Hunt:     40–50%     50–60%

Governor before election Washington Hunt Whig Elected Governor Horatio Seymour Democratic

The 1852 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1852. Incumbent Governor Washington Hunt ran for re-election to a second term in office. In a rematch of the 1850 race, Hunt was defeated by Horatio Seymour, who was elected to the first of two non-consecutive terms as governor.

Democratic nomination

Candidates

• John P. Beekman, former State Senator from Kinderhook
• George W. Clinton, former mayor of Buffalo and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York
• Erastus Corning, former State Senator and mayor of Albany
• Zadock Pratt, former U.S. Representative from Prattsville and candidate for governor in 1848
• Augustus Schell, attorney and railroad investor
• Horatio Seymour, former Speaker of the New York Assembly and mayor of Utica and nominee for governor in 1850
• John Vanderbilt, State Senator from Flatbush
• Aaron Ward, former U.S. Representative from Mount Pleasant

Results

The Democratic state convention met on September 1 and 2 in Syracuse. On the first ballot, Seymour led with 59 votes, but was five short of a majority. Seymour was nominated for governor on the second ballot with 78 votes against 21 for Schell. ^[1]

1852 Democratic state convention, first ballot ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Horatio Seymour	59	46.46%
	Democratic	Zadock Pratt	8	6.30%
	Democratic	George W. Clinton	8	6.30%
	Democratic	John P. Beekman	7	5.51%
	Democratic	Augustus Schell
	Democratic	John Vanderbilt
	Democratic	Erastus Corning
	Democratic	Aaron Ward
Total votes			127	100.00%

1852 Democratic state convention, second ballot ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Horatio Seymour	78
	Democratic	Augustus Schell	21
	Democratic	Erastus Corning	9
	Democratic	George W. Clinton	3
	Democratic	John P. Beekman
	Democratic	John Vanderbilt
	Democratic	Aaron Ward
Total votes

Whig nomination

The Whig state convention met on September 22 at the City Hall in Syracuse. Governor Hunt was re-nominated by acclamation. ^[2]

Free Democratic nomination

The Free Democratic state convention met on September 29 in Syracuse and passed a series of strong free soil resolutions. They nominated Minthorne Tompkins for governor. ^[3]

General election

Candidates

• Washington Hunt, incumbent Governor since 1851 (Whig)
• Horatio Seymour, former Speaker of the New York Assembly and mayor of Utica (Democratic)
• Minthorne Tompkins, former State Senator from Castleton, Staten Island and son of Daniel D. Tompkins (Free Democratic)

Results

1852 New York gubernatorial election ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Horatio Seymour	264,121	50.31%	0.73
	Whig	Washington Hunt (incumbent)	214,614	46.01%	1.54
	Free Soil	Minthorne Tompkins	19,661	3.94%	N/A
Total votes			498,396	100.00%

See also

• New York gubernatorial elections
• New York state elections

References

1. Latest Intelligence: Democratic State Convention. New-York Daily Times . September 3, 1852. p. 2.
2. Latest Intelligence: Whig state convention. New-York Daily Times . September 23, 1852. p. 1.
3. News of the Morning. New-York Daily Times . September 30, 1852. p. 4.
4. Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York. 1852. p. 367.

Bibliography

• Dearstyne, Bruce W. (2015). The Spirit of New York: Defining Events in the Empire State's History. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 56. ISBN   978-1-4384-5659-1 – via Google Books.
• Jenkins, John S. (1852). History of Political Parties in the State of New-York. Alden & Markham. p. 466.
• Jenkins, John S. (1851). Lives of the governors of the state of New York. Auburn, NY: Derby and Miller. p.  724.