1902 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

1902 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
	County results; La Follette : 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%; Rose : 40-50% 50–60% 60–70%
Governor before election; Robert M. La Follette ; Republican	Elected Governor; Robert M. La Follette ; Republican

Last updated August 23, 2024

The 1902 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1902.

Conservative Republican party leaders attempted to deny La Follette renomination in 1902, but La Follette's energized supporters overcame the conservatives and took control of the state convention, implementing a progressive party platform. In the 1902 general election, La Follette decisively defeated the conservative Democratic nominee, Mayor David Stuart Rose of Milwaukee.^[1]

In the aftermath of the 1902 election, the state legislature enacted the direct primary (subject to a statewide referendum) and La Follette's tax reform bill. The new tax law, which required railroads to pay taxes based on property owned rather than profits, resulted in railroads paying nearly double the amount of taxes they had paid before the enactment of the law.^[2] Having accomplished his first two major goals, La Follette next focused on regulating railroad rates, but the railroads prevented passage of his bill in 1903.^[3]

General election

Candidates

Major party candidates

David Stuart Rose, Democratic, incumbent Mayor of Milwaukee
Robert M. La Follette, Republican, incumbent Governor

Other candidates

Emil Seidel, Socialist (Social-Democratic Party of Wisconsin)
Edwin W. Drake, Prohibition, candidate for Wisconsin State Senate in 1886
Henry E. D. Puck, Socialist Labor, architect^[4]

Results

1902 Wisconsin gubernatorial election^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert M. La Follette (incumbent)	193,417	52.89%
	Democratic	David Stuart Rose	145,818	39.88%
	Socialist	Emil Seidel	15,970	4.37%
	Prohibition	Edwin W. Drake	9,647	2.64%
	Socialist Labor	Henry E. D. Puck	791	0.22%
	Scattering		33	0.01%
Majority			47,599	13.01%
Turnout			365,676
	Republican hold		Swing

County	Robert M. La Follette Republican		David Stuart Rose Democratic		Emil Seidel Socialist		Edwin W. Drake Prohibition		Henry E. D. Puck Socialist Labor		Blank / Scattering		Total Votes
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Adams	1,236	76.2%	338	20.8%	4	0.2%	44	2.7%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1,622
Ashland	2,280	54.1%	1,752	41.6%	68	1.6%	109	2.6%	5	0.1%	0	0.0%	4,214
Barron	2,174	72.9%	620	20.8%	34	1.1%	140	4.7%	11	0.4%	2	0.1%	2,981
Bayfield	1,892	79.0%	426	17.8%	17	0.7%	53	2.2%	6	0.3%	0	0.0%	2,394
Brown	3,654	50.4%	3,283	45.3%	174	2.4%	126	1.7%	13	0.2%	0	0.0%	7,250
Buffalo	1,267	59.2%	826	38.6%	1	0.0%	43	2.0%	2	0.1%	0	0.0%	2,139
Burnett	865	83.0%	90	8.6%	18	1.7%	57	5.5%	12	1.2%	0	0.0%	1,042
Calumet	1,238	45.5%	1,325	48.7%	123	4.5%	30	1.1%	2	0.1%	3	0.1%	2,721
Chippewa	2,967	63.3%	1,611	34.4%	24	0.5%	84	1.8%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	4,686
Clark	2,577	57.0%	1,729	38.2%	15	0.3%	191	4.2%	12	0.3%	0	0.0%	4,524
Columbia	3,479	58.1%	2,240	37.4%	43	0.7%	229	3.8%	2	0.0%	0	0.0%	5,993
Crawford	1,746	51.4%	1,572	46.2%	8	0.2%	73	2.1%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	3,399
Dane	7,561	51.8%	6,463	44.3%	118	0.8%	449	3.1%	8	0.1%	5	0.0%	14,604
Dodge	2,810	33.5%	5,343	63.8%	36	0.4%	186	2.2%	1	0.0%	1	0.0%	8,377
Door	1,888	70.9%	707	26.5%	11	0.4%	53	2.0%	2	0.1%	2	0.1%	2,663
Douglas	2,933	58.6%	1,762	35.2%	109	2.2%	141	2.8%	58	1.2%	0	0.0%	5,003
Dunn	1,736	64.7%	817	30.4%	13	0.5%	111	4.1%	7	0.3%	1	0.0%	2,685
Eau Claire	2,762	60.4%	1,597	34.9%	68	1.5%	136	3.0%	13	0.3%	0	0.0%	4,576
Florence	267	58.6%	169	37.1%	4	0.9%	15	3.3%	1	0.2%	0	0.0%	456
Fond du Lac	4,443	45.9%	4,903	50.7%	95	1.0%	227	2.3%	2	0.0%	1	0.0%	9,671
Forest	484	62.4%	272	35.1%	6	0.8%	14	1.8%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	776
Gates	573	69.0%	222	26.7%	5	0.6%	29	3.5%	1	0.1%	0	0.0%	830
Grant	4,411	59.8%	2,642	35.8%	32	0.4%	283	3.8%	8	0.1%	0	0.0%	7,376
Green	2,231	54.7%	1,602	39.3%	70	1.7%	172	4.2%	1	0.0%	0	0.0%	4,076
Green Lake	1,460	46.6%	1,532	48.9%	37	1.2%	96	3.1%	9	0.3%	0	0.0%	3,134
Iowa	2,659	57.2%	1,794	38.6%	9	0.2%	188	4.0%	2	0.0%	0	0.0%	4,652
Iron	1,165	75.5%	348	22.5%	6	0.4%	22	1.4%	3	0.2%	0	0.0%	1,544
Jackson	1,735	72.1%	593	24.6%	13	0.5%	64	2.7%	1	0.0%	0	0.0%	2,406
Jefferson	2,492	38.1%	3,843	58.7%	20	0.3%	183	2.8%	10	0.2%	0	0.0%	6,548
Juneau	2,398	60.9%	1,435	36.5%	24	0.6%	75	1.9%	3	0.1%	0	0.0%	3,935
Kenosha	1,959	45.2%	1,895	43.8%	398	9.2%	68	1.6%	8	0.2%	2	0.0%	4,330
Kewaunee	1,302	42.4%	1,718	56.0%	19	0.6%	29	0.9%	2	0.1%	0	0.0%	3,070
La Crosse	3,806	51.3%	3,300	44.5%	65	0.9%	226	3.0%	16	0.2%	1	0.0%	7,414
Lafayette	2,376	51.4%	2,144	46.3%	28	0.6%	78	1.7%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	4,626
Langlade	1,167	46.9%	1,246	50.1%	15	0.6%	57	2.3%	2	0.1%	0	0.0%	2,487
Lincoln	1,992	56.4%	1,412	40.0%	37	1.0%	89	2.5%	3	0.1%	0	0.0%	3,533
Manitowoc	3,584	48.0%	3,376	45.2%	420	5.6%	78	1.0%	7	0.1%	0	0.0%	7,465
Marathon	3,745	49.0%	3,657	47.9%	86	1.1%	129	1.7%	22	0.3%	0	0.0%	7,639
Marinette	2,880	59.2%	1,769	36.4%	22	0.5%	181	3.7%	13	0.3%	0	0.0%	4,865
Marquette	1,266	52.8%	1,045	43.5%	6	0.2%	82	3.4%	0	0.0%	1	0.0%	2,400
Milwaukee	26,787	43.8%	22,403	36.6%	10,881	17.8%	766	1.3%	327	0.5%	0	0.0%	61,164
Monroe	2,693	56.3%	1,912	40.0%	9	0.2%	169	3.5%	1	0.0%	0	0.0%	4,784
Oconto	2,097	54.7%	1,619	42.3%	18	0.5%	92	2.4%	5	0.1%	0	0.0%	3,831
Oneida	1,154	60.9%	670	35.4%	21	1.1%	49	2.6%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1,894
Outagamie	3,806	51.4%	3,287	44.4%	116	1.6%	192	2.6%	2	0.0%	0	0.0%	7,403
Ozaukee	977	35.9%	1,677	61.6%	44	1.6%	21	0.8%	3	0.1%	0	0.0%	2,722
Pepin	611	62.7%	341	35.0%	2	0.2%	20	2.1%	1	0.1%	0	0.0%	975
Pierce	1,315	58.3%	765	33.9%	22	1.0%	152	6.7%	2	0.1%	0	0.0%	2,256
Polk	1,386	79.0%	215	12.3%	74	4.2%	60	3.4%	20	1.1%	0	0.0%	1,755
Portage	2,601	50.0%	2,459	47.3%	23	0.4%	117	2.2%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	5,200
Price	1,087	54.4%	773	38.7%	33	1.7%	96	4.8%	8	0.4%	0	0.0%	1,997
Racine	4,452	50.4%	3,824	43.3%	249	2.8%	263	3.0%	44	0.5%	0	0.0%	8,832
Richland	2,080	54.6%	1,419	37.2%	13	0.3%	296	7.8%	2	0.1%	0	0.0%	3,810
Rock	5,078	58.2%	3,146	36.1%	120	1.4%	361	4.1%	10	0.1%	5	0.1%	8,720
St. Croix	2,408	52.9%	1,886	41.5%	86	1.9%	159	3.5%	9	0.2%	0	0.0%	4,548
Sauk	2,775	54.1%	2,085	40.6%	19	0.4%	248	4.8%	3	0.1%	2	0.0%	5,132
Sawyer	578	53.9%	467	43.5%	13	1.2%	15	1.4%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	1,073
Shawano	2,298	60.6%	1,393	36.8%	18	0.5%	77	2.0%	4	0.1%	0	0.0%	3,790
Sheboygan	4,460	45.9%	3,731	38.4%	1,358	14.0%	142	1.5%	32	0.3%	0	0.0%	9,723
Taylor	1,026	47.7%	1,050	48.8%	17	0.8%	51	2.4%	4	0.2%	2	0.1%	2,150
Trempealeau	2,141	76.9%	519	18.6%	4	0.1%	116	4.2%	3	0.1%	0	0.0%	2,783
Vernon	3,439	78.2%	759	17.3%	23	0.5%	176	4.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	4,397
Vilas	760	58.1%	516	39.4%	7	0.5%	25	1.9%	1	0.1%	0	0.0%	1,309
Walworth	2,838	61.0%	1,488	32.0%	53	1.1%	272	5.8%	2	0.0%	1	0.0%	4,654
Washburn	644	69.3%	252	27.1%	8	0.9%	22	2.4%	3	0.3%	0	0.0%	929
Washington	2,140	46.9%	2,327	51.0%	30	0.7%	59	1.3%	3	0.1%	0	0.0%	4,559
Waukesha	3,799	52.6%	3,091	42.8%	103	1.4%	230	3.2%	6	0.1%	0	0.0%	7,229
Waupaca	3,489	72.6%	1,030	21.4%	40	0.8%	247	5.1%	1	0.0%	1	0.0%	4,808
Waushara	2,107	74.8%	565	20.0%	13	0.5%	126	4.5%	5	0.2%	2	0.1%	2,818
Winnebago	6,191	53.9%	4,811	41.9%	184	1.6%	289	2.5%	15	0.1%	0	0.0%	11,490
Wood	2,740	56.7%	1,920	39.7%	68	1.4%	99	2.0%	7	0.1%	1	0.0%	4,835
Totals	193,417	52.9%	145,818	39.9%	15,970	4.4%	9,647	2.6%	791	0.2%	33	0.0%	365,676

Related Research Articles

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References

↑ Thelen, David P. (1976). Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-83927-3. OL 5198113M., pp. 37–39.
↑ Thelen (1976), pp. 29, 39.
↑ Thelen (1976), pp. 39–40.
↑ "Henry Puck for Governor". The Superior times. Superior, Wis. September 6, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
↑ Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 87.
↑ "WI Governor, 1902". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
↑ Wisconsin Blue Book 1903, pp. 447.
↑ Glashan 1979, pp. 340–341.

Bibliography

Glashan, Roy R. (1979). American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978. Meckler Books. ISBN 0-930466-17-9.
Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998. ISBN 1-56802-396-0.
Erickson, Halford, ed. (1903). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin. Milwaukee: Northwestern Litho. Co.

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[1] Thelen, David P. (1976). Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-83927-3. OL 5198113M., pp. 37–39.

[2] Thelen (1976), pp. 29, 39.

[3] Thelen (1976), pp. 39–40.

[4] "Henry Puck for Governor". The Superior times. Superior, Wis. September 6, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved August 6, 2021.

[FOOTNOTECongressional_Quarterly199887-5] Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 87.

[6] "WI Governor, 1902". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 6, 2021.

[FOOTNOTEWisconsin_Blue_Book1903447-7] Wisconsin Blue Book 1903, pp. 447.

[FOOTNOTEGlashan1979340–341-8] Glashan 1979, pp. 340–341.

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