 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 County results Lawrence: 50–60% 60–70% McGonigle: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1958 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 4. Democrat David Lawrence defeated Republican Art McGonigle by a smaller than anticipated margin.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| County results Lawrence: 50–60% 60–70% McGonigle: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Pennsylvania |
|---|
 |
 Government |
The 1958 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 4. Democrat David Lawrence defeated Republican Art McGonigle by a smaller than anticipated margin.
David L. Lawrence easily dispatched incumbent Lieutenant Governor Roy Furman of Greene County, whose position within the party had been marginalized due to his poor relationship with Governor George Leader. Leader had once even described his colleague as unfit for the executive office. [1]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | David Lawrence | 730,229 | 74.45 | |
| Democratic | Roy Furman | 194,464 | 19.83 | |
| Democratic | Ed Lavelle | 56,188 | 5.73 | |
| Total votes | 980,881 | 100.00 | ||
Arthur T. McGonigle's major primary opponent was Harold Stassen, the former Governor of Minnesota and security advisor to President Eisenhower who was known for making a serious run for the party's nomination for president in 1948. Stassen had moved to the state to take the presidency of the University of Pennsylvania and was determined to return to electoral politics. Although the liberal Republican Stassen was viewed as a carpetbagger by state party machinery, his name recognition gave him credibility. McGonigle waged a vigorous campaign to counter Stassen's challenge, which saw the bakery executive crisscross the state by car and gaining grassroots support. Bill Livengood, the longtime Secretary of Internal Affairs, also entered the race after failing to gain the support of his party for another term at this office, but his campaign gained little attention.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Art McGonigle | 578,286 | 53.32 | |
| Republican | Harold Stassen | 344,043 | 31.72 | |
| Republican | Bill Livengood | 138,284 | 12.75 | |
| Republican | Harold Vaughan | 23,981 | 2.21 | |
| Total votes | 1,084,594 | 100.00 | ||
Pennsylvania's branches of the two major parties entered the election in disparate states. Democrats were riding their largest wave of electoral success in nearly a century and quickly coalesced behind David L. Lawrence, the Mayor of Pittsburgh who had gained national fame as a reformer for his massive urban renewal projects earlier in the decade, but who retained a powerful traditional political machine Although Lawrence worried that his age (he was 69 at the time of the campaign) and his pious Catholic faith [4] may prove problematic, he was highly touted by party leaders. He easily defeated Lieutenant Governor Roy Furman in the primary after Governor Leader described Furman as unfit for higher office. [1]
Republicans, conversely, were just exiting a time in which their organization had gone through both electoral and financial disarray. The party had brought in McGonigle, a Reading businessman who had transformed Bachman Bakeries into the world's largest pretzel maker, to clean up their monetary problems. Although McGonigle had no intention of running for public office, his bookkeeping successes lead to many party bosses viewing him as a viable dark horse candidate. [1] [5]
Lawrence entered the race as the clear favorite and ran on a platform emphasizing how the successes he had achieved in Pittsburgh, such as with environmentalism, economic development, race relations, and bureaucratic reform, could be applied to state government. He ran a generally quiet and issues-based campaign and grew frustrated with what he perceived as growing reactionary behavior from the opposing party. McGonigle’s campaign was more energized and continuously attacked Lawrence both for representing an archaic machine style of politics and for his position that the possibility of instituting a state income tax deserved study. [1]
Despite political winds that greatly favored Democrats in the national arena, the party's successes in the state were marginal. Lawrence’s campaign was never able to invigorate the base of urban voters and unionized workers in the manner that McGonigle did with key Republicans. A combination of Lawrence’s generally liberal viewpoints, powerful Appalachian anti-Catholicism [6] and contempt for his position as leader as a strong political machine undercut support in one of the greatest areas of Democratic support: the outlying industrial counties surrounding Pittsburgh's Allegheny County. Despite a generally disappointing vote total, [4] Lawrence was able to hang on to his frontrunner position to win the election. [1]
| Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1958 [7] [8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | |
| Democratic | David Lawrence | John Morgan Davis | 2,024,852 | 50.85% | |
| Republican | Art McGonigle | John Walker | 1,948,769 | 48.93% | |
| Socialist Workers | Herman Johansen | Louis Dirle | 8,677 | 0.22% | |
| Totals | 3,986,854 | 100.00% | |||
The 1948 United States presidential election was the 41st quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 1948. In one of the greatest election upsets in American history, incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman defeated heavily favored Republican New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, and third-party candidates, becoming the third president to succeed to the presidency upon his predecessor's death and be elected to a full term.
Harold Edward Stassen was an American Republican Party politician, military officer, and attorney who was the 25th governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. He was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 1948. Though he was considered for a time to be the front-runner, he lost the nomination to New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. He thereafter regularly continued to run for the presidency and other offices, such that his name became most identified with his status as a perennial candidate.
David Leo Lawrence was an American politician who served as the 37th governor of Pennsylvania from 1959 to 1963. The first Catholic elected as Pennsylvania's governor, Lawrence is the only mayor of Pittsburgh to have also been elected as Governor of Pennsylvania. He served four terms as mayor, from 1946 through 1959. A panel of 69 scholars in 1993 ranked him third among the ten best mayors in American history.
The 2006 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2006, and included the races for the governor of Pennsylvania and lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. Incumbent Democratic governor Ed Rendell successfully ran for re-election. Pennsylvania's first female lieutenant governor, Catherine Baker Knoll, was also running for re-election.
Mark Stephen Singel is an American politician who served as the 27th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995, alongside Governor Bob Casey. Singel served as the state's acting governor from June 14, 1993 to December 13, 1993, during Casey's lengthy battle with amyloidosis and subsequent multiple organ transplant.
The Pennsylvania Republican Party (PAGOP) is the state affiliate of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania. It is headquartered in Harrisburg. Its chair is Lawrence Tabas and is the second largest political party in the state behind the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
From January 21 to June 3, 1980, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1980 United States presidential election. Retired Hollywood actor and two-term California governor Ronald Reagan was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the Republican National Convention held from July 14 to 17, 1980, in Detroit, Michigan.
From March 9 to June 1, 1948, voters of the Republican Party elected delegates to the 1948 Republican National Convention, in part to choose the party nominee for president in the 1948 United States presidential election.
Richard Nixon served as the 37th president of the United States from 1969 to 1974. He previously served as the 36th vice president of the United States from 1953 to 1961, and as a United States senator from 1950 to 1953 and United States representative from 1947 to 1950.
The 1994 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994. The incumbent governor, Bob Casey, Sr. (Democrat), was barred from seeking a third term by the state constitution. The Republican Party nominated Congressman Tom Ridge, while the Democrats nominated Mark Singel, Casey's lieutenant governor. Ridge went on to win the race with 45% of the vote. Singel finished with 39%, and Constitution Party candidate Peg Luksik finished third, garnering 12% of the vote.
The 1982 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1982, between incumbent Republican Dick Thornburgh and Democratic U.S. Congressman Allen E. Ertel. Thornburgh was a popular incumbent, who largely was the favorite throughout the race. However, owing to a nationwide recession which hit the state particularly hard, and a backlash to Reaganomics, the final result ended up becoming much closer than what was initially anticipated.
The 1978 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Governor Milton Shapp was constitutionally ineligible to run for a third consecutive term in office. Republican Dick Thornburgh defeated Democrat Pete Flaherty in the general election.
The 1966 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 8. Republican Ray Shafer, the state's incumbent Lieutenant Governor, was elected to the state's highest office after holding off a charge from future governor Milton Shapp.
The 1962 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 6. Republican Bill Scranton and Democrat Richardson Dilworth, each a member of a powerful political family, faced off in a bitter campaign.
Arthur T. McGonigle (1905–1977) was an American businessman and the 1958 Republican Party nominee for state governor.
The 1954 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 2. In what is considered a crucial realigning election for the state, Democratic State Senator George M. Leader defeated Republican incumbent Lieutenant Governor Lloyd Wood, becoming the first Democrat to be elected governor since 1934.
The 1960 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 8, 1960 as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 32 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
1959 Philadelphia's municipal election, held on November 3, involved contests for mayor, all seventeen city council seats, and several other executive and judicial offices. Citywide, the Democrats took majorities of over 200,000 votes, continuing their success from the elections four years earlier. Richardson Dilworth, who had been elected mayor in 1955, was re-elected over Republican nominee Harold Stassen. The Democrats also took fifteen of seventeen city council seats, the most seats allowed to any one party under the 1951 city charter. They further kept control of the other citywide offices. The election represented a continued consolidation of control by the Democrats after their citywide victories of the previous eight years.
In his political career, between the years 1938 and 1994, Harold Stassen, a Republican, ran many campaigns for public office. He was elected governor of Minnesota three times, in 1938, 1940, and 1942.