1936 Georgia gubernatorial election

For related races, see 1936 United States gubernatorial elections.

1936 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary

←  1934 September 9, 1936 1938  →
410 county unit votes 206 unit votes needed to win
Nominee Eurith D. Rivers Charles D. Redwine Blanton Fortson Party Democratic Democratic Democratic Electoral vote 372 30 8 Popular vote 233,503 123,095 32,715 Percentage 59.98% 31.62% 8.40%
County results Rivers:     30-40%     40-50%     50-60%     60-70%     70-80%     80-90% Redwine:     40-50%     50-60%     60-70% Fortson:     40-50%     80-90%
Governor before election Eugene Talmadge Democratic Elected Governor Eurith D. Rivers Democratic

The 1936 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1936, in order to elect the governor of Georgia.

Incumbent Democratic governor Eugene Talmadge was term-limited, and would become eligible to run for a third term only after spending four years out of office (thus in 1940). ^[1] Talmadge instead ran for the U.S. Senate.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran with only token opposition 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 9, 1936. As Rivers 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. ^[2]

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. ^{[3] [4]}

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. ^{[3] [4]}

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. ^[5]

Candidates

• Blanton Fortson, Georgia Superior Court judge ^[6]
• Charles D. Redwine, President of the Georgia State Senate ^[7]
• Eurith D. Rivers, Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives ^[7] and unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for governor in 1928 and 1930

Results

Candidate	Popular vote		County unit vote
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Eurith D. Rivers	233,503	59.98	372	90.73
Charles D. Redwine	123,095	31.62	30	7.32
Blanton Fortson	32,715	8.40	8	1.95
Total	389,313	100.00	410	100.00
Source: [8] [9] [10]

General election

In the general election, Rivers faced token opposition.

Results

1936 Georgia gubernatorial election ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Eurith D. Rivers	263,140	99.67%
	Prohibition	L. P. Glass	873	0.33%
Turnout			264,013	100.00%
	Democratic hold		Swing

References

1. "1877 Georgia constitution, Article V, Section I, Paragraph II" (PDF). Georgia State Archive. The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office during the term of two years, and until his successor shall be chosen and qualified. He shall not be eligible to re-election, after the expiration of a second term, for the period of four years.
2. "County Unit System". Georgia County Clerks Association. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
3. "Eugene Talmadge". The Jim Crow Encyclopedia. The African American Experience. Archived from the original on January 23, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
4. "County Unit System, eh?". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. October 6, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
5. Buchanan, Scott (June 13, 2017). "County Unit System". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
6. "Primary will test Talmadge record". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. September 6, 1936. p. A-5. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
7. "Talmadge beaten in Georgia race". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. September 10, 1936. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
8. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 107.
9. "GA Governor, 1936 - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
10. Georgia Register 1937, pp. 542–545.
11. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 48.
12. "GA Governor, 1936". 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.