 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 County results Pardee: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% Lane: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Elections in California |
|---|
 |
The 1902 California gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1902, to elect the governor of California. George Pardee won the election with 48.06% percent of the popular vote and was the Governor of California until 1907. This was the first time since 1863 that the Republican Party retained control of the governorship in California.
At the beginning of the year 1902, Henry Gage the 20th governor was still favored to be re-elected, if not at least re-nominated. [1] However, he and his administration were embroiled in a series of issues, the most prominent of which was the San Francisco plague of 1900–1904. His poor handling of the situation, alongside accusations of being a pawn of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, led to a steep decline in his popularity. [2] Despite this unpopularity, Gage still held a significant amount of power within the State Republican Party, and observers noted that he might force his way through to the Republican Party nomination. [3]
George Pardee sent out word early in the election year that he would be running for the Republican nomination. [4] He would later make his announcement official at a dinner in Oakland on January 27, 1902. [5] At the time Pardee was working as a Regent of the University of California. [6] In the beginning stages of the campaign, many observers doubted the seriousness of Pardee as a candidate, with some thinking that he was a stalking horse candidate, or that his infighting among those in the Republican Party would prove too costly in the primary. [7] [8]
The Republican State Convention would begin in San Jose on April 14, 1902. [9] Governor Gage was still the favorite to win the nomination, despite his political scandals. He received several endorsements from Republican groups, and even received cheers from the crowd at the convention. [10] However, as the convention continued, Gage received more negative press and more delegates were unclear as to whether they would support his renomination. [11] While Gage lead in the initial ballots at the convention, he would steadily lose support, until the sixth and final ballot when George Pardee was nominated, with 515 votes. [12]
At the beginning of the year, the favorites for the Democratic nomination were Barney Murphy, Washington Dodge, and Franklin K. Lane. Franklin Knight Lane was the San Francisco City Attorney at the time of his campaign announcement. [13] Despite not being favored to win the nomination at first, Lane would become the favorite to win by August 1902. [14] On September 3, 1902, Lane was officially nominated by the Democratic Party, doing so on the first ballot. [15] At the convention the Democratic Party would develop a progressive platform, which included low tariffs, the direct election of U.S. Senators, and support for the use of referendum, recall, and initiatives on the ballot in California. The party also supported the exclusion of Chinese immigration, as well as the establishment of a mine bureau, and labor bureau. [16]
In September 1902, the Socialist Campaign Committee of California nominated Gideon S. Brower for Governor of California. Brower was born in New York in 1849. He moved to California in 1886 and began working as a carpenter in Fresno. He joined Carpenters Union, Local 701 and became a member of the Socialist Party shortly after. [17]
On August 28, 1902, the Prohibition Party nominated Theodore D. Kanouse as their candidate for governor. [18] Kanouse was a former Civil War veteran, who served as a musician in the 6th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment and in the 3rd Wisconsin Light Artillery Regiment. After the war he retired to California, where he was active in the temperance movement. [19]
After both parties selected their nominees, newspapers around the State of California stated that Pardee was likely to win. The Santa Cruz Sentinel stated,"Pardee's majority over Lane will be nearer 40,000 than 20,000. This is a Republican year on the Pacific Coast." [20] George Pardee opened his general election campaign with a speech in Oakland, where he stated,
I am glad whenever labor adds another cent to its daily wages, and I rejoice when the laboring man is able to cut off another hour from the time that he spends at his daily toil. I am glad and I rejoice over these things because I know that the more wages the laboring man gets the better citizen he will be, the more able he will be to send his children to school and to our university, and to make of them our future great men. For it is a fact that our greatest men have sprung from the common people. And I rejoice when the hours of labor are shortened because I know that with shorter hours the workingman will have more time to give to his wife and his children. And I know, from my own experience, that the more time a man can give to his wife and children the better man he is. And I believe that shorter hours and higher, wages will give us better citizens and make us all more prosperous. And I am convinced that there is but one way for the working people to gain their ends, and that is by a wise, intelligent and firm organization. There never was a better exemplification of the motto "United we stand, divided we fall" than in the case of the working people.
For this speech, Pardee was praised by standing ovation from a supportive crowd. [21] Franklin K. Lane opened his general election campaign on September 22, 1902, in the city of San Diego. It was there that he addressed a large crowd and stated
I am extremely pleased that I came here to open my campaign. I am pleased that I decided to begin at the bottom and work up as I have done in many other things. I am glad that I have done this because I have gained a larger conception of the state as I came down through the mountains and the valley and broke through the foothills at last onto the inimitable surf line which lands us here. My ideas have grown and I have expanded on the trip and have a larger idea of the state which I would serve. It is a wonderful state, with her high mountains, deep valleys and remarkable scenery, and I feel tonight that I would be a governor for the whole state and not for any section of it. My eye is not fixed on San Francisco as some have said, but I have my eye looking as from Eagle Peak at the Yosemite, looking broadly over the whole state. I would not be a man of the narrow kind. I would not be a governor of the narrow kind. [22]
Both candidates pledged to campaign "cleanly", with no mudslinging to occur between the two campaigns. [23] Lane and Pardee would cross the state, speaking in major cities and looking for support and endorsements from newspapers, civic groups, and labor unions across California. Towards the end of the campaign, and near the date of the general election, many papers believed that the election of George Pardee was likely if not inevitable. [24]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | George Pardee | 146,332 | 48.06% | −3.62% | |
| Democratic | Franklin Knight Lane | 143,783 | 47.22% | +2.19% | |
| Socialist | Gideon S. Brower | 9,592 | 3.15% | +3.15% | |
| Prohibition | Theodore D. Kanouse | 4,636 | 1.52% | +0.03% | |
| Scattering | 130 | 0.04% | |||
| Majority | 2,549 | 0.84% | |||
| Total votes | 304,473 | 100.00% | |||
| Republican hold | Swing | -5.81% | |||
| County | George C. Pardee Republican | Franklin K. Lane Democratic | Gideon S. Brower Socialist | Theodore D. Kanouse Prohibition | Scattering Write-in | Margin | Total votes cast [25] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Alameda | 13,915 | 57.54% | 9,022 | 37.31% | 1,009 | 4.17% | 238 | 0.98% | 0 | 0.00% | 4,893 | 20.23% | 24,184 |
| Alpine | 87 | 61.70% | 52 | 36.88% | 1 | 0.71% | 1 | 0.71% | 0 | 0.00% | 35 | 24.82% | 141 |
| Amador | 1,376 | 50.98% | 1,290 | 47.80% | 16 | 0.59% | 17 | 0.63% | 0 | 0.00% | 86 | 3.19% | 2,699 |
| Butte | 2,271 | 49.64% | 2,171 | 47.45% | 57 | 1.25% | 76 | 1.66% | 0 | 0.00% | 100 | 2.19% | 4,575 |
| Calaveras | 1,726 | 53.47% | 1,456 | 45.11% | 35 | 1.08% | 10 | 0.31% | 1 | 0.03% | 270 | 8.36% | 3,228 |
| Colusa | 606 | 33.74% | 1,158 | 64.48% | 23 | 1.28% | 9 | 0.50% | 0 | 0.00% | -552 | -30.73% | 1,796 |
| Contra Costa | 2,122 | 49.82% | 1,950 | 45.79% | 155 | 3.64% | 31 | 0.73% | 1 | 0.02% | 172 | 4.04% | 4,259 |
| Del Norte | 368 | 50.97% | 305 | 42.24% | 43 | 5.96% | 6 | 0.83% | 0 | 0.00% | 63 | 8.73% | 722 |
| El Dorado | 1,160 | 45.53% | 1,320 | 51.81% | 49 | 1.92% | 19 | 0.75% | 0 | 0.00% | -160 | -6.28% | 2,548 |
| Fresno | 3,677 | 44.17% | 4,080 | 49.01% | 371 | 4.46% | 196 | 2.35% | 1 | 0.01% | -403 | -4.84% | 8,325 |
| Glenn | 540 | 37.60% | 880 | 61.28% | 11 | 0.77% | 5 | 0.35% | 0 | 0.00% | -340 | -23.68% | 1,436 |
| Humboldt | 3,447 | 57.54% | 2,316 | 38.66% | 135 | 2.25% | 87 | 1.45% | 6 | 0.10% | 1,131 | 18.88% | 5,991 |
| Inyo | 435 | 47.80% | 427 | 46.92% | 25 | 2.75% | 23 | 2.53% | 0 | 0.00% | 8 | 0.88% | 910 |
| Kern | 1,748 | 39.92% | 2,539 | 57.98% | 66 | 1.51% | 23 | 0.53% | 3 | 0.07% | -791 | -18.06% | 4,379 |
| Kings | 956 | 46.98% | 999 | 49.09% | 51 | 2.51% | 28 | 1.38% | 1 | 0.05% | -43 | -2.11% | 2,035 |
| Lake | 636 | 43.83% | 747 | 51.48% | 32 | 2.21% | 34 | 2.34% | 2 | 0.14% | -11 | -7.65% | 1,451 |
| Lassen | 540 | 53.62% | 434 | 43.10% | 29 | 2.88% | 4 | 0.40% | 0 | 0.00% | 106 | 10.53% | 1,007 |
| Los Angeles | 17,471 | 56.07% | 11,121 | 35.69% | 1,140 | 3.66% | 1,402 | 4.50% | 26 | 0.08% | 6,350 | 20.38% | 31,160 |
| Madera | 737 | 42.63% | 929 | 53.73% | 46 | 2.66% | 16 | 0.93% | 1 | 0.06% | -192 | -11.10% | 1,729 |
| Marin | 1,646 | 57.47% | 1,168 | 40.78% | 44 | 1.54% | 6 | 0.21% | 0 | 0.00% | 478 | 16.69% | 2,864 |
| Mariposa | 526 | 38.23% | 828 | 60.17% | 15 | 1.09% | 7 | 0.51% | 0 | 0.00% | -302 | -21.95% | 1,376 |
| Mendocino | 2,129 | 46.67% | 2,340 | 51.29% | 44 | 0.96% | 49 | 1.07% | 0 | 0.00% | -211 | -4.63% | 4,562 |
| Merced | 742 | 37.16% | 1,179 | 59.04% | 55 | 2.75% | 21 | 1.05% | 0 | 0.00% | -437 | -21.88% | 1,997 |
| Modoc | 478 | 43.77% | 592 | 54.21% | 12 | 1.10% | 10 | 0.92% | 0 | 0.00% | -114 | -10.44% | 1,092 |
| Mono | 292 | 50.43% | 278 | 48.01% | 7 | 1.21% | 2 | 0.35% | 0 | 0.00% | 14 | 2.42% | 579 |
| Monterey | 1,924 | 48.03% | 1,957 | 48.85% | 36 | 0.90% | 89 | 2.22% | 0 | 0.00% | -33 | -0.82% | 4,006 |
| Napa | 1,941 | 54.08% | 1,563 | 43.55% | 45 | 1.25% | 38 | 1.06% | 2 | 0.06% | 378 | 10.53% | 3,589 |
| Nevada | 2,000 | 48.65% | 1,901 | 46.24% | 142 | 3.45% | 68 | 1.65% | 0 | 0.00% | 99 | 2.41% | 4,111 |
| Orange | 2,338 | 54.41% | 1,536 | 35.75% | 194 | 4.51% | 229 | 5.33% | 0 | 0.00% | 802 | 18.66% | 4,297 |
| Placer | 1,800 | 49.09% | 1,722 | 46.96% | 104 | 2.84% | 41 | 1.12% | 0 | 0.00% | 78 | 2.13% | 3,667 |
| Plumas | 669 | 56.89% | 498 | 42.35% | 1 | 0.09% | 7 | 0.60% | 1 | 0.09% | 171 | 14.54% | 1,176 |
| Riverside | 2,216 | 63.44% | 807 | 23.10% | 314 | 8.99% | 156 | 4.47% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,409 | 40.34% | 3,493 |
| Sacramento | 4,661 | 45.66% | 5,154 | 50.49% | 310 | 3.04% | 81 | 0.79% | 1 | 0.01% | -493 | -4.83% | 10,207 |
| San Benito | 680 | 40.84% | 945 | 56.76% | 12 | 0.72% | 28 | 1.68% | 0 | 0.00% | -265 | -15.92% | 1,665 |
| San Bernardino | 3,103 | 55.76% | 1,932 | 34.72% | 291 | 5.23% | 237 | 4.26% | 2 | 0.04% | 1,171 | 21.04% | 5,565 |
| San Diego | 3,182 | 49.26% | 2,517 | 38.97% | 657 | 10.17% | 97 | 1.50% | 6 | 0.09% | 665 | 10.30% | 6,459 |
| San Francisco | 24,106 | 40.13% | 33,743 | 56.18% | 1,993 | 3.32% | 164 | 0.27% | 61 | 0.10% | -9,637 | -16.04% | 60,067 |
| San Joaquin | 3,413 | 48.14% | 3,488 | 49.20% | 120 | 1.69% | 68 | 0.96% | 1 | 0.01% | -75 | -1.06% | 7,090 |
| San Luis Obispo | 1,628 | 43.56% | 1,972 | 52.77% | 53 | 1.42% | 84 | 2.25% | 0 | 0.00% | -344 | -9.21% | 3,737 |
| San Mateo | 1,426 | 50.25% | 1,383 | 48.73% | 28 | 0.99% | 1 | 0.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 43 | 1.52% | 2,838 |
| Santa Barbara | 2,150 | 52.43% | 1,722 | 41.99% | 178 | 4.34% | 51 | 1.24% | 0 | 0.00% | 428 | 10.44% | 4,101 |
| Santa Clara | 6,078 | 49.40% | 5,745 | 46.70% | 209 | 1.70% | 265 | 2.15% | 6 | 0.05% | 333 | 2.71% | 12,303 |
| Santa Cruz | 1,819 | 44.84% | 2,009 | 49.52% | 127 | 3.13% | 101 | 2.49% | 1 | 0.02% | -190 | -4.68% | 4,057 |
| Shasta | 1,741 | 41.53% | 2,291 | 54.65% | 120 | 2.86% | 40 | 0.95% | 0 | 0.00% | -550 | -13.12% | 4,192 |
| Sierra | 708 | 58.03% | 506 | 41.48% | 5 | 0.41% | 1 | 0.08% | 0 | 0.00% | 202 | 16.56% | 1,220 |
| Siskiyou | 1,643 | 44.20% | 1,998 | 53.75% | 56 | 1.51% | 19 | 0.51% | 1 | 0.03% | -355 | -9.55% | 3,717 |
| Solano | 2,366 | 45.83% | 2,411 | 46.70% | 310 | 6.00% | 76 | 1.47% | 0 | 0.00% | -45 | -0.87% | 5,163 |
| Sonoma | 4,192 | 48.95% | 4,097 | 47.84% | 182 | 2.13% | 89 | 1.04% | 4 | 0.05% | 95 | 1.11% | 8,564 |
| Stanislaus | 1,069 | 40.96% | 1,458 | 55.86% | 39 | 1.49% | 44 | 1.69% | 0 | 0.00% | -389 | -14.90% | 2,610 |
| Sutter | 815 | 52.61% | 704 | 45.45% | 15 | 0.97% | 15 | 0.97% | 0 | 0.00% | 111 | 7.17% | 1,549 |
| Tehama | 1,138 | 45.98% | 1,255 | 50.71% | 45 | 1.82% | 37 | 1.49% | 0 | 0.00% | -117 | -4.73% | 2,475 |
| Trinity | 565 | 45.38% | 662 | 53.17% | 16 | 1.29% | 2 | 0.16% | 0 | 0.00% | -97 | -7.79% | 1,245 |
| Tulare | 1,683 | 38.56% | 2,397 | 54.91% | 223 | 5.11% | 62 | 1.42% | 0 | 0.00% | -714 | -16.36% | 4,365 |
| Tuolumne | 1,227 | 40.44% | 1,682 | 55.44% | 94 | 3.10% | 31 | 1.02% | 0 | 0.00% | -455 | 15.00% | 3,034 |
| Ventura | 1,844 | 54.01% | 1,405 | 41.15% | 115 | 3.37% | 49 | 1.44% | 1 | 0.03% | 439 | 12.86% | 3,414 |
| Yolo | 1,447 | 44.41% | 1,695 | 52.03% | 75 | 2.30% | 40 | 1.23% | 1 | 0.03% | -248 | -7.61% | 3,258 |
| Yuba | 1,129 | 51.46% | 1,047 | 47.72% | 12 | 0.55% | 6 | 0.27% | 0 | 0.00% | 82 | 3.74% | 2,194 |
| Total | 146,332 | 48.06% | 143,783 | 47.22% | 9,592 | 3.15% | 4,636 | 1.52% | 130 | 0.04% | 2,549 | 0.84% | 304,473 |
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1860. The Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states had already abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes. Lincoln's election thus served as the main catalyst of the states that would become the Confederacy seceding from the Union. This marked the first time that a Republican was elected president. It was also the first presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1904, 1920, 1940, 1944, and 2016. Lincoln's 39.7% of the popular vote is to date the lowest for any winner not decided by a contingent election.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 1884. Democratic Governor Grover Cleveland of New York narrowly defeated Republican James G. Blaine of Maine. It was set apart by mudslinging and personal allegations that eclipsed substantive issues, such as civil administration change. Cleveland was the first Democrat elected president of the United States since James Buchanan in 1856, the first to hold office since Andrew Johnson left the White House in 1869, and the last to hold office until Woodrow Wilson, who began his first term in 1913. For this reason, 1884 is a significant election in U.S. political history, marking an interruption in the era when Republicans largely controlled the presidency between Reconstruction and the Great Depression.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1892. In the fourth rematch in American history, the Democratic nominee, former president Grover Cleveland, defeated the incumbent Republican President Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland's victory made him the first president in American history to be elected to a non-consecutive second term, a feat not repeated until Donald Trump was elected in 2024. This was the first of two occasions when incumbents were defeated in consecutive elections—the second being Gerald Ford's loss in 1976 to Jimmy Carter followed by Carter's loss in 1980 to Ronald Reagan. The 1892 election saw the incumbent White House party defeated in three consecutive elections, which did not occur again until 2024.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1932. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York and the vice presidential nominee of the 1920 presidential election. Roosevelt was the first Democrat in 80 years to simultaneously win an outright majority of the electoral college and popular vote, a feat last accomplished by Franklin Pierce in 1852, as well as the first Democrat in 56 years to win a majority of the popular vote, which was last achieved by Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. Roosevelt was the last sitting governor to be elected president until Bill Clinton in 1992. Hoover became the first incumbent president to lose an election to another term since William Howard Taft in 1912, the last to do so until Gerald Ford lost 44 years later, and the last elected incumbent president to do so until Jimmy Carter lost 48 years later. The election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans. It was the first time since 1916 that a Democrat was elected president.
Hiram Warren Johnson was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917 and represented California in the U.S. Senate for five terms from 1917 to 1945. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century as a leading progressive and ran for vice president on Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive ticket in the 1912 presidential election. As a U.S. senator, Johnson was a leading critic of the foreign policy of both Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
James Herbert Budd was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. Involved in federal and state politics, Budd was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 2nd California district from 1883 to 1885, and served as the 19th governor of California from 1895 until 1899.
James Norris Gillett was an American lawyer and politician. A Republican involved in federal and state politics, Gillett was elected both a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California from March 4, 1903, to November 4, 1906, and as the 22nd governor of California from January 9, 1907, to January 3, 1911.
Henry Tifft Gage was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. A Republican, Gage was elected to a single term as the 20th governor of California from 1899 to 1903. Gage was also the U.S. Minister to Portugal for several months in 1910.
George Cooper Pardee was an American doctor of medicine and Republican politician. As the 21st Governor of California, holding office from January 7, 1903, to January 9, 1907, Pardee was the second native-born Californian to assume the governorship, after Romualdo Pacheco, and the first governor born in California after statehood.
Frank Finley Merriam was an American Republican politician who served as the 28th governor of California from June 2, 1934, until January 2, 1939. Assuming the governorship at the height of the Great Depression following the death of Governor James Rolph, Merriam defeated Democratic nominee Upton Sinclair in the 1934 election. Merriam also served as the State Auditor of Iowa from 1900 to 1903, and served in both the Iowa and California state legislatures.
The 1964 Republican National Convention took place in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, from July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had been only one national Republican convention on the West Coast, the 1956 Republican National Convention, which also took place in the Cow Palace. Many believed that a convention in San Francisco indicated the rising power of the Republican Party in the west.
The 1984 Democratic National Convention was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from July 16 to July 19, 1984, to select candidates for the 1984 United States presidential election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale was nominated for president and Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York was nominated for vice president. Ferraro became the first woman to be nominated by either major party for the presidency or vice presidency. In another first, the 1984 Democratic Convention was chaired by the female governor of Kentucky, Martha Layne Collins. The Democratic National Committee Chairman at the time, Charles T. Manatt, led the convention.
The 1914 California gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1914. The election saw Hiram Johnson re-elected in 1914 as governor of California on the Progressive Party ticket, nearly tripling his vote total from the 1910 California gubernatorial election.
The 1910 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1910. It saw Republican Hiram Johnson elected as the state's governor. Johnson won the election with 45.9% of the popular vote, and became the 23rd governor of California. This was the first gubernatorial election in which Fresno County, Modoc County, San Benito County, Stanislaus County, and Tulare County voted for a Republican candidate. These Republican flips of traditionally Democratic counties foreshadowed the future Republican dominance of California gubernatorial elections that began in the next election.
The 1906 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1906. James Gillet won the 1906 election and became the governor of California. This was the first election in which more votes were cast in Los Angeles County than in San Francisco, possibly as a result of the earthquake seven months earlier in San Francisco.
Frank Henry Kerrigan was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He also served for nearly 30 years as a California state court judge, and was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from January 8, 1923, to February 11, 1924.
The San Francisco plague of 1900–1904 was an epidemic of bubonic plague centered on San Francisco's Chinatown. It was the first plague epidemic in the continental United States. The epidemic was recognized by medical authorities in March 1900, but its existence was denied for more than two years by California's Republican governor Henry Gage. His denial was based on business reasons, to protect the reputations of San Francisco and California and to prevent the loss of revenue due to quarantine. The failure to act quickly may have allowed the disease to establish itself among local animal populations. Federal authorities worked to prove that there was a major health problem, and they isolated the affected area; this undermined Gage's credibility, and he lost the governorship in the 1902 elections. The new governor, George Pardee, implemented public-health measures and the epidemic was stopped in 1904. There were 121 cases identified, resulting in 119 deaths.
Two 2024 United States Senate elections in California were held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of California. There were two ballot items for the same Class 1 seat: a special election to fill the seat for the final month of the 118th United States Congress, and a regular general election for a full term that starts on January 3, 2025, starting in the 119th United States Congress. This was the second time in a row that both a regular and special election for the U.S. Senate occurred simultaneously in California, following the 2022 elections.
On July 22, 1916, Progressive William Stephens, a U.S. Representative in California's 10th congressional district, resigned to become Lieutenant Governor of California, an appointment he accepted after former Lieutenant Governor John M. Eshleman died in office. To fill the vacancy created by Stephens' resignation, a special election was held for the remainder of the term. It was scheduled for November 7, 1916, the same day as the general election for the full term beginning March 4, 1917.
The 1902 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1902. Incumbent Republican Aaron T. Bliss defeated Democratic candidate Lorenzo T. Durand with 52.52% of the vote.
