1924 Texas gubernatorial election

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1924 Texas gubernatorial election
Flag of Texas.svg
←  1922 4 November 1924 1926  →
Turnout60.0% Increase2.svg 19.9 pp [1]
  Miriam A. Ferguson 1.jpg Dr. Geo. C. Butte LCCN2014717791.jpg
Nominee Miriam A. Ferguson George C. Butte
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote422,558 294,970
Percentage58.89%41.11%
1924 Texas gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Ferguson:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     90-100%
Butte:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
No Vote:     
Unorganized:     
Governor before election

Pat Morris Neff
Democratic

Elected Governor

Miriam A. Ferguson
Democratic

The 1924 Texas gubernatorial election was held on 4 November 1924 in order to elect the Governor of Texas. Democratic nominee and former First Lady of Texas Miriam A. Ferguson defeated Republican nominee George C. Butte. With her victory, she became the first female governor of Texas and the second to be governor of any U.S. state, after Nellie Tayloe Ross, although Ferguson was the first to be elected to the office. [2] [3]

Contents

Democratic primary

Candidates

Primary election

The Democratic primary election was held on 26 July 1924. No one candidate received greater than 50% of the vote, so a run-off was held.

Runoff election

As no candidate won a majority of votes, there was a runoff. The runoff was a proxy battle between pro-Klan political forces backing Klansman Felix Robertson and anti-Klan political forces backing Ma Ferguson. [6] During the runoff, Thomas D. Barton endorsed Ferguson. [5] The election was held August 23, 1924. Ferguson won the primary with 56.70% against Robertson. [9]

Results

CandidateFirst RoundRun-off
Votes%Votes%
Miriam A. Ferguson 146,42420.82413,75156.70
Felix D. Robertson193,50827.52316,01943.30
Lynch Davidson 141,20820.08
Thomas Whitfield Davidson 125,01117.78
Thomas D. Barton29,2174.16
Vinson A. Collins 24,8643.54
Joe Burkett21,7203.09
W. E. Pope17,1362.44
George W. Dixon4,0350.57
Total703,123100.00729,770100.00
Source: [10]

General election

The general election saw the Ku Klux Klan back Republican George C. Butte, seeing him as a more acceptable alternative to the anti-Klan Ferguson, despite the state Republican platform's stated "unalterable opposition to the Ku Klux Klan." [11] [12] Additionally, Ferguson saw an unprecedented number of defections from the Democratic Party, notably state legislator and longtime party leader Thomas B. Love. [13] A coalition of anti-Ferguson Democrats and prohibitionists formed the Good Government Democratic League [12]

An atypically close race in then-staunchly Democratic Texas, Butte received 41.11% of the vote to Fergueson's 58.89% of the vote. [14] By contrast, Democratic nominee John W. Davis received 73.70% of the vote in his three-way race against Calvin Coolidge (19.78%) and Robert M. La Follette (6.52%). [15] Ferguson was sworn in as the 29th Governor of Texas on January 20, 1925. [14]

Results

Texas gubernatorial election, 1924
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Miriam A. Ferguson 422,558 58.89
Republican George C. Butte 294,97041.11
Total votes717,528 100.00
Democratic hold

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References

  1. ↑ "Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide 1925". Portal to Texas History. October 2010.
  2. ↑ "Portraits of Texas Governors: The Politics of Personality". Texas State Library. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  3. ↑ Coppedge, Clay (March 25, 2007). "'Ma' elected governor of Texas". Temple Daily Telegram.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Associated Press (July 25, 1924). "State Politics Hold Center Stage on Eve of Primary Election". Brownsville Herald. Vol. 32, no. 22. p. 1 – via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at the Library of Congress.
  5. 1 2 Associated Press (August 17, 1924). "Barton to Aid Mrs. Ferguson". Brownsville Herald. Vol. 32, no. 45. Retrieved November 3, 2023– via Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at the Library of Congress.
  6. 1 2 3 Jolly, Amber; Banks, Ted (April 14, 2022). "Dallas Ku Klux Klan No. 66". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Prisoner Shot to Death is Charge". Kentucky New Era. Vol. 56, no. 26. Hopkinsville, Kentucky. June 27, 1924. Retrieved November 3, 2023– via Google Newspapers.
  8. ↑ Kowalski, Amanda; Atkins, Lori (March 2020). "W. E. Pope Papers". Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi . Retrieved November 3, 2023.
  9. ↑ Stewart, Frank M. (1930). "Impeachment in Texas". American Political Science Review. 24 (3): 652–658. doi: 10.2307/1946933 . ISSN   0003-0554. JSTOR   1946933. S2CID   147274001.
  10. ↑ "TX Governor - D Primary". ourcampaigns.com. January 13, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  11. ↑ Curtis, Tracy (July 1, 1977). "The Many Crusades of Old Man Texas". D Magazine. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Stewart, Frank M. "Texas". The Southwestern Political and Social Science Quarterly. 5 (4): 381–398. JSTOR   42880486.
  13. ↑ Weeks, O. Douglas (September 1932). "The Texas Direct Primary System". The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly. 13 (2): 95–120. JSTOR   42864789.
  14. 1 2 "TX Governor". ourcampaigns.com. June 26, 2006. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  15. ↑ "1924 Presidential General Election Results — Texas". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Owing to problems with the original collection of returns, these figures differ from those in Géoelections and Edgar Eugene Robinson's work. These totals exclude some counties (noted in the table) where the Texas Secretary of State did not compile data.
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