Republican party
Alexander W. Randall was a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Milwaukee prior to the 1857 gubernatorial election, having been appointed by the previous Governor, Coles Bashford. Randall had been an attorney for Governor Bashford in his challenge of the 1855 Wisconsin gubernatorial election results. Earlier, in 1846, Randall had been a delegate to the first Wisconsin constitutional convention and had successfully advocated for including a provision by which African American suffrage could be legalized via referendum. Randall served as a Democrat in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1855, but became a Republican later that year when he ran unsuccessfully for election to be Attorney General of Wisconsin.
Randall became a compromise choice for gubernatorial nominee at the 1857 Wisconsin Republican Convention after delegates became deadlocked between the two leading candidates, Edward Holton and Walter McIndoe.
Other candidates
- Edward D. Holton, of Milwaukee, had previously been a candidate for Governor in the 1853 election, running as an independent. Holton was a strident abolitionist and was well-connected to the Milwaukee elite as a businessman and banker.
- Walter D. McIndoe, of Wausau, had served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly representing the frontier northern counties of the state. McIndoe was a Scottish immigrant and worked in the lumber industry.
