The 1898 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1898, to elect the Governor of California. Republican lawyer Henry Gage defeated Democratic-Populist-Silver RepublicanFusion[1] Congressman James G. Maguire. For the eighth time in nine elections, the incumbent party failed to retain the governorship. However, that string of flips ended with this election as Republicans won the next nine consecutive gubernatorial elections in California.[a]
On October 26, 1897, Congressman James G. Maguire published a signed statement in the San Francisco Examiner announcing his candidacy for Governor of California.[2][3] By January of 1898, it was not immediately clear whether James Budd would challenge him and seek re-election; at the time Budd was suffering from rheumatism and confined to his bed.[4] In February it was rumored that he preferred to help his lieutenant governor, William T. Jeter, secure the Democratic nomination for governor.[5] The Los Angeles Herald later confirmed that Governor Budd would not seek re-election due to his health and that he would attempt to bring in a dark horse candidate to challenge Maguire, such as Jeter. It was later announced that rancher Hugh McElroy LaRue would run for governor.[6]
Republican primary campaign
As early as January 1898, there were several prominent men who were rumored to be interested in the Republican nomination. George Pardee and William R. Davis, both of whom were former Mayors of Oakland, were fighting for the support of the Alameda County Republican Party. Other potential candidates in the beginning of the year were San Francisco District Attorney William S. Barnes, State Senator Thomas Flint Jr., and Attorney General William F. Fitzgerald.[7] While Pardee and Davis were fighting for support within their county, other camps sought to exclude them from the process entirely by rewarding Alameda County with the nomination for a different office, California State Controller, to be given to Oakland City Auditor R. W. Snow.[8]
In August 1898, The San Francisco Call asked editors of newspapers across the state to "telegraph us your unbiased opinion as to which of these candidates is strongest in your locality." and as a result compiled a list of the following candidates: Henry Gage, George C. Pardee, William R. Davis, General John H. Dickinson, Levi Richard Ellert, Lewis H. Brown, Thomas Flint Jr., Charles N. Felton, George A. Knight, William F. Fitzgerald, and Irving Murray Scott.[9]
During the campaign, Maguire was denounced by Irish Catholic priest Peter Yorke for a book he wrote ten years prior, Ireland and The Pope, in which he argued that the subjugation of Ireland by the British Empire had been orchestrated by certain medievalPopes. Yorke's attacks were so severe that Patrick William Riordan, the Archbishop of San Francisco, had to distance himself, stating to the press: "Father Yorke is alone responsible for his utterances."[14] Maguire was further criticized by his opponents for his alleged pandering and flip-flopping during his political career;[15] they cited his opposition to the Annexation of Hawaii and the War Revenue Act, as well as his supposed denouncement and then support of Senator Stephen M. White.[16]
↑ Hiram Johnson was reelected in 1914 on the Progressive ticket, but had originally been elected as a Republican in 1910 and resumed that party affiliation for the US Senate election in 1916
↑ Was tied in 1894; flip from Democratic is relative to 1890
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