 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1880 Maine gubernatorial election was held on September 13, 1880 for a two-year term that was scheduled to run from January 13, 1881 to January 3, 1883. The contest resulted in the victory of Greenback and Democratic nominee Harris M. Plaisted, who narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Governor Daniel F. Davis, one of the few times Republicans lost control of the governorship between the founding of the party in the 1850s and the Great Depression.
In 1878, events including wage cuts that precipitated the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 caused Plaisted to leave the Republican Party because of dissatisfaction with their monetary policy. [1] As did many farmers and laborers, Plaisted opposed currency backed by gold and silver, arguing that it caused the post-Panic of 1873 deflation that reduced wages and prices paid to farmers, laborers, and producers of raw materials. [1] Instead, he favored federal government-issued currency not backed by gold and silver, believing that this would prevent deflation and make business easier to transact by holding costs and salaries steady. [1]
Both the national Republican and Democratic parties favored specie-backed currency issued by state-chartered banks. [1] As a result of his unhappiness with the Republicans, Plaisted joined the new Greenback Party, and became their candidate for governor in 1881. [1] He was also backed by pro-Greenback Democrats, and became the fusion candidate of both parties. [1]
Davis had been elected governor in 1879 after a protracted struggle that resulted when none of the three major candidates—Republican, Democratic, and Greenback—received a majority, though Davis had attained a significant plurality. [2] The legislature was required to choose, and Democrats and Greenbackers were the majority, but could not agree between themselves. [2] Republican legislators eventually barred their opponents from the Maine State House, reconstituted the legislature, and elected Davis to the governorship. [2] The dispute was then submitted to the Maine Supreme Court. [2] Composed of seven Republicans and one Democrat, the court sustained the Republicans in the legislature, and Davis was inaugurated. [2]
During Davis' governorship, Maine's government was chiefly concerned with the ongoing issue of regulating alcoholic beverages, with some legislators favoring manufacture, sale and consumption, some prohibition and some local option. [2] In addition, the dispute over the 1879 election remained an important issue, and carried over to the 1880 campaign. [2]
Taking advantage of voter unhappiness caused by the lingering effects of the 1873 economic downturn and the 1879 election, Plaisted prevailed over incumbent Davis by fewer than 200 votes, becoming one of only four non-Republicans to hold the governorship between the founding of the party in the 1850s and the Great Depression in 1929. [1]
Two minor candidates, prohibition supporters Joshua Nye and William P. Joy also received votes. [3] Nye's totals were 309 (.21%) and Joy's were 124 or .08%. [3]
The rare Republican loss in Maine was seen as a sign that the post-Civil War tactic of "waving the bloody shirt" was less viable that it had been, and that Republicans would have to devise a new strategy in order to win the November presidential election. [4]
The 1880 United States presidential election was the 24th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1880, in which Republican nominee James A. Garfield defeated Winfield Scott Hancock of the Democratic Party. The voter turnout rate was one of the highest in the nation's history. Garfield was assassinated during his first year in office, and he was succeeded by his vice president, Chester A. Arthur.
James Baird Weaver was an American politician in Iowa who was a member of the United States House of Representatives and two-time candidate for President of the United States. After several unsuccessful attempts at Republican nominations to various offices, and growing dissatisfied with the conservative wing of the party, in 1877 Weaver switched to the Greenback Party, which supported increasing the money supply and regulating big business. As a Greenbacker with Democratic support, Weaver won election to the House in 1878. The Greenbackers nominated Weaver for president in 1880, but he received only 3.3 percent of the popular vote. After several more attempts at elected office, he was again elected to the House in 1884 and 1886. In Congress, he worked for expansion of the money supply and for the opening of Indian Territory to white settlement.
The 1878–79 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between June 3, 1878, and September 3, 1879. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before or after the first session of the 46th United States Congress convened on March 18, 1879. Elections were held for all 293 seats, representing 38 states. This was the last election cycle that at least one state held its regular congressional election in an odd-numbered year.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is currently headed by chair Ben Wikler.
The 1880 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1880 to s elect the governor of South Carolina. Johnson Hagood was nominated by the Democrats and ran against L. W. R. Blair, a Greenback-Labor candidate. Hagood easily won the general election and became the 80th governor of South Carolina.
The 1882 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1882 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Hugh Smith Thompson was nominated by the Democrats and ran against J. Hendrix McLane, a Greenback-Labor candidate. Thompson easily won the general election and became the 81st governor of South Carolina.
Harris Merrill Plaisted was an attorney, politician, and Union Army officer from Maine. As colonel, he commanded the 11th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. After the war, he served as Maine Attorney General, a U.S. Congressman, and the 38th Governor of Maine.
The 1880 Democratic National Convention was held June 22 to 24, 1880, at the Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, and nominated Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania for president and William H. English of Indiana for vice president in the United States presidential election of 1880.
Barzillai Jefferson Chambers was an American surveyor, lawyer, and politician of the Gilded Age. Born in Kentucky, he moved to Texas to join its war for independence against Mexico. Chambers stayed in Texas after its independence and annexation by the United States, earning a living as a surveyor and farmer in Johnson County. In the American Civil War, he served briefly in the Confederate army, then returned to his farming and business interests, becoming part-owner of a bank in his hometown of Cleburne.
Daniel Franklin Davis was an American politician and the 37th Governor of Maine.
The 1882 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina were held on November 7, 1882 to select seven Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. Following the 1880 census, the state was granted two additional seats in the House of Representatives. The Democratic controlled state legislature drew the districts to maximize the white vote and limit the black vote. Much of the black population was packed into the 7th congressional district which resulted in the other six congressional districts being evenly split between the races. The Democratic plan achieved its desired effect and the composition of the state delegation after the election was six Democrats and one Republican.
The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of Maine:
Charles Davis Jameson was an American Civil War general and Democratic Party candidate for Governor of Maine. He contracted "camp fever" (typhoid) at the Battle of Fair Oaks, returned to his native state of Maine, dying in transit or soon after.
The 1879 United States Senate election in New York was held on January 21, 1879, by the New York State Legislature to elect a U.S. Senator to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate.
The 1880 Greenback Party National Convention convened in Chicago from June 9 to June 11 to select presidential and vice presidential nominees and write a party platform for the Greenback Party in the United States presidential election 1880. Delegates chose James B. Weaver of Iowa for President and Barzillai J. Chambers of Texas for Vice President.
Solon Chase was an American farmer, orchardist, politician and newspaper publisher from Maine. Chase served two single year terms in the Maine House of Representatives. In 1873, an economic depression began and Chase joined the national Greenback Party. He is credited with founding the Greenback Party in Maine. Chase sought to build an independent movement of farmers and workers through the Greenback Party and opposed electoral fusion with the Maine Democratic Party.
The 1878 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 5. Former acting Governor Thomas Talbot, a Republican, defeated Benjamin Butler, who ran as an independent Greenback candidate with Democratic support. Butler's supporters secured a majority of delegates to the Democratic state convention, but his nomination was rejected by the state party committee after his supporters used violent tactics to exclude anti-Butler delegates from the convention hall.
The 1879 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 4.
The 1880 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 2, 1880. All contemporary thirty-eight states were part of the 1880 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose twelve electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
The 1910 Maine gubernatorial election took place on September 12, 1910.
 Elections and referendums in Maine | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presidential elections | |||||
| Senate elections |
| ||||
| House elections | |||||
| Gubernatorial elections |
| ||||
| Legislative elections |
| ||||
| Referendums | |||||
