1934 Georgia gubernatorial election

For related races, see 1934 United States gubernatorial elections.

1934 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary

←  1932 September 12, 1934 1936  →
410 county unit votes 206 unit votes needed to win
Nominee Eugene Talmadge Claude Pittman Party Democratic Democratic Electoral vote 394 16 Popular vote 178,409 87,049 Percentage 65.95% 32.18%
County results Talmadge:     50-60%     60-70%     70-80%     80-90%     >90% Pittman:     50-60%
Governor before election Eugene Talmadge Democratic Elected Governor Eugene Talmadge Democratic

The 1934 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1934, in order to elect the governor of Georgia.

Incumbent Democratic governor Eugene Talmadge was re-elected to a second term.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed in the general election so therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered tantamount to election.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary election was held on September 12, 1934. As Talmadge won a majority of county unit votes, there was no run-off.

County unit system

From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections. ^[1]

The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties. ^{[2] [3]}

Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis. ^{[2] [3]}

Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner. ^[4]

Candidates

• Ed Gilliam, attorney ^[5] and alderman of Atlanta ^[6]
• Claude Pittman, Georgia Superior Court judge ^[7]
• Eugene Talmadge, incumbent governor

Results

Candidate	Popular vote		County unit vote
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Eugene Talmadge	178,409	65.95	394	96.10
Claude Pittman	87,049	32.18	16	3.90
Ed Gilliam	5,073	1.88
Total	270,531	100.00	410	100.00
Source: [8] [9] [10]

General election

In the general election, Talmadge ran unopposed.

Results

1934 Georgia gubernatorial election ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Eugene Talmadge (incumbent)	53,101	100.00%
Turnout			53,101	100.00%
	Democratic hold		Swing

References

1. "County Unit System". Georgia County Clerks Association. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
2. "Eugene Talmadge". The Jim Crow Encyclopedia. The African American Experience. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
3. "County Unit System, eh?". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. October 6, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
4. Buchanan, Scott (June 13, 2017). "County Unit System". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
5. "Governor races in South heated". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. June 24, 1934. p. B-2. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
6. "Candidate: Alderman Ed A. Gilliam". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. May 13, 1934. p. F-2. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
7. Anderson, William (1975). The Wild Man from Sugar Creek: The Political Career of Eugene Talmadge. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. p. 105. ISBN   0-8071-0088-9.
8. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 107.
9. "GA Governor, 1934 - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
10. Georgia Register 1937, pp. 542–545.
11. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 48.
12. "GA Governor, 1934". Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
13. Glashan 1979, pp. 68–69.
14. Georgia Register 1937, pp. 657.

Bibliography

• Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998. ISBN   1-56802-396-0.
• Glashan, Roy R. (1979). American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978. Meckler Books. ISBN   0-930466-17-9.
• Compiled by Mrs. J.E. Hays, State Historian and Director (1937). Georgia's Official Register, 1933-1935-1937 (PDF). Atlanta, GA: State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History.