Arizona gubernatorial election, 1918

Last updated
Arizona gubernatorial election, 1918
Flag of Arizona.svg
  1916 November 4, 1918 1920  

  Thomas E Campbell 2.jpg Fred T. Colter.jpg
Nominee Thomas E. Campbell Fred T. Colter
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote25,92725,588
Percentage49.90%49.25%

Governor before election

George W. P. Hunt
Democratic

Elected Governor

Thomas E. Campbell
Republican

The 1918 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1918 for the post of the Governor of Arizona. Thomas Campbell, who served a partial term in 1917 and had his election overturned by the Supreme Court of Arizona, returned to contest the Governors office. Incumbent Governor Hunt declined to run again after the stress of the close elections and the year-long court battle. Despite falling to its lowest percentage in years, the sole third party challenger held the difference between the two candidates. The Democratic challenger was state senator Fred T. Colter, a pro-Hunt Democrat. [1]

George W. P. Hunt American politician

George Wylie Paul Hunt was an American politician and businessman. He was the first governor of Arizona, serving a total of seven terms, along with President of the convention that wrote Arizona's constitution. In addition, Hunt served in both houses of the Arizona Territorial Legislature and was posted as U.S. Minister to Siam.

Arizona Senate part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona

The Arizona Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents. Members serve two-year terms with term limits that limit Senators to four terms for a total of eight years. Members of the Republican Party are currently the majority in the Senate.

Fred Colter American rancher and politician

Fred Colter was an Arizona rancher and farmer, as well as being the state senator for Apache County beginning with Arizona's second state legislature in 1915. Colter spent six terms in the Arizona Senate. He also led the fight on Arizona's behalf to maintain control over the water from the Colorado River, coining the slogan, "Save the Colorado for Arizona". He was a close ally of the state's first governor, George W. P. Hunt. Prior to his election to the state senate, Colter had served as the state's fair commissioner.

Contents

Thomas Campbell was sworn in for his first full term on January 6, 1919.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Race

In early 1918, Sutter, who was one of two sitting State Senators from Cochise County, was approached by leaders of the Democratic party to consider running in the Democratic primary for the governorship. [3] In February, the other sitting senator from Cochise, C. M. Roberts, announced his intention to run for the Democratic nod for Governor. [4] Sid Osborne also announced his attention to seek the Democratic nomination in February, as did Fred Colter, the state senator from Apache County. [5] Benjamin Baker Moeur announced his intention to run for the Democratic nomination in mid-February. [6] On July 20, 1918, the last day to do so, Colter officially entered the gubernatorial race when he filed his petition with the Arizona Secretary of State. [7] On the final day, Lamar Cobb added his name to the list of Democratic primary candidates, bringing the total to five. [8] In mid-August, in an effort to consolidate the conservative arm of the Democratic party in an attempt to thwart Colter's candidacy, Moeur withdrew from the race, asking his supporters to throw their support behind Osborn. [9] Shortly thereafter, also in August, Cobb also withdrew from the race. [10]

Benjamin Baker Moeur American politician

Benjamin Baker Moeur was the fourth governor of Arizona, one of the United States of America.

This left only three candidates to run in the Democratic primary: Osborn, Sutter and Colter. On September 10, early returns showed Sutter with a slight lead over Colter. With only 29 of 82 statewide precincts counted, Sutter had 772 votes to Colter's 755, with Osborn a distant third with 71. [11] However. by the time 79 precincts had tallied their votes, Colter had pulled into a commanding lead, with the three final precincts to be counted being small. [12] Colter won the Democratic primary in September 1918, garnering 44% of the total votes, 14,539 to Sutter's 10,108 and Osborn's 8,390. [13] In doing so, he won 12 of Arizona's then 14 counties. [14] It was felt that Osborn and Sutter split the anti-Hunt vote, which allowed Colter to win the nomination. [15]

Results

Democratic primary results [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Fred T. Colter 14,53944.00
Democratic Fred Sutter 10,10830.60
Democratic Sidney P. Osborn 8,39025.40
Total votes33,037100.00

General election

Results

Arizona gubernatorial election, 1918 [2] [16]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Republican Thomas E. Campbell 25,927 49.90% +1.96%
Democratic Fred T. Colter25,58849.25%+1.24%
Socialist George D. Smith4440.85%-2.53%
Majority3390.65%
Turnout 51,959
Republican gain from Democratic Swing

Related Research Articles

Sidney Preston Osborn American politician

Sidney Preston Osborn was the first secretary of state of Arizona, and later the seventh governor of Arizona and is, as of 2019, the only governor of Arizona to be elected to four consecutive terms. Osborn is also the second native-born governor of Arizona, preceded by Thomas Edward Campbell.

Marcus A. Smith Democratic U.S. Senator from Arizona

Marcus Aurelius "Mark" Smith was an American attorney and politician who served eight terms as Arizona Territorial Delegate to Congress and as one of the first two Senators from Arizona. As a Delegate he was a leader in the effort to gain statehood for Arizona. His non-voting status however minimized his influence with only 35 of the 277 bills he introduced into the House of Representatives being signed into law. Lack of a voice in the United States Senate further weakened his efforts as he managed to get Arizona statehood bills passed by the House only to see the legislation blocked in the Senate. Beyond his efforts for statehood, Smith worked to have government buildings constructed and to provide relief to his constituents affected by either man-made or natural misfortunes. His efforts to provide relief to the citizens of Arizona did not however extend to the indigenous population for whom Smith expressed great animosity.

2010 United States gubernatorial elections

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 2, 2010 in 37 states and two territories. As in most midterm elections, the party controlling the White House lost ground. Democrats did take five governorships from the Republicans, and Republicans took 11 governorships from the Democrats. An independent won one governorship previously held by a Republican. A Republican won one governorship previously held by an independent. Republicans held a majority of governorships for the first time since before the 2006 elections. One state, Louisiana, had no election for governor, but did feature a special election for lieutenant governor.

Lewis Wolfley Arizona Territorial Governor

Lewis Wolfley was an American civil engineer who served as the eighth Governor of Arizona Territory. He is commonly regarded as the first territorial governor to be a resident of Arizona at the time of his appointment and was the only bachelor to hold the position.

2014 United States gubernatorial elections

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 4, 2014 in 36 states and three territories, concurrent with other elections during the 2014 United States elections.

2012 United States presidential election in Arizona

The 2012 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated. Arizona has been won by the Republican nominee for president in every election since 1952 except when President Clinton narrowly carried the state in 1996. No Democrat has won a majority in the state since Harry Truman in 1948. Arizona voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Arizona was won by Romney with a 9.03% margin.

1914 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1914 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1914 for the post of the Governor of Arizona. The Supreme Court of Arizona ruled that there would be no statewide elections in 1912, thus extending the terms to sync up with elections on even years. The Democratic nominee was incumbent governor George W. P. Hunt, his Republican opponent was the final Delegate to Congress from Arizona Territory, Ralph H. Cameron. Cameron was disadvantaged by the same reason the previous Republican nominee Wells was: he had opposed statehood with the present Constitution.

1916 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1916 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1916 for the post of the Governor of Arizona. Due to battles between labor and business, the Hunt administration was facing severe electoral backlash. After facing a fairly strong primary by former Council member George Olney, Hunt prevailed and went on to face the closest election in Arizona gubernatorial history. The initial results of the 1916 election were extremely close, with Campbell winning by only 30 votes.

1924 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1924 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1924. Despite being a Republican year nationally, President Coolidge's election in Arizona was rather close. He only took Arizona with 40% of the vote against Davis' 35% and La Follette's 23%. The closest Arizona gubernatorial election since 1916, Hunt's lead in votes would continue to decline.

1926 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1926 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 1926. Despite being a Democratic year generally, Hunt barely managed to be re-elected against his Republican opponent Elias Clark. Hunt had been governor for around 11 out of the State of Arizona's 14 years, coupled with his age and with issues regarding the Colorado River Compact, he was running out of steam. Despite that Hunt narrowly prevailed and won.

1928 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1928 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1928. Despite a fairly poor economy, a 15-point loss by Al Smith for the Arizona electoral votes, and having served for nearly 6 full terms, Hunt only narrowly lost the general election. Other state Democrats like Senator Ashurst and Representative Douglas both won re-election. John C. Phillips became the second Republican to serve as Arizona Governor, and the first to beat Hunt in a general election.

1930 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1930 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1930. George W. P. Hunt narrowly won the general election in 1930, defeating incumbent governor John Calhoun Phillips, who had defeated Hunt in his bid for reelection in the previous election year in 1928.

1932 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1932 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1932. Incumbent Governor George W. P. Hunt ran for the Democratic nomination, but lost in the primary to Benjamin Baker Moeur, whose pre-gubernatorial experience included service as the Secretary of the Board of Education for Arizona State Teacher's College, which would later become Arizona State University.

1934 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1934 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1934. Incumbent Governor Benjamin Baker Moeur ran for reelection, he was challenged by former governor George W. P. Hunt and future Governor Rawghlie Clement Stanford in the Democratic primary, but he defeated both of them by a comfortable margin.

1938 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1938 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1938. Incumbent Governor Rawghlie Clement Stanford declined to run for reelection, with pharmacy and cattle ranch owner Robert Taylor Jones winning the Democratic nomination to succeed Stanford.

1944 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1944 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1944. Incumbent Governor Sidney Preston Osborn ran for reelection, and easily won the Democratic primary, with only token opposition as former Governor Robert Taylor Jones declined to challenge Osborn to a rematch following two losses, in 1940 and 1942.

1950 Arizona gubernatorial election

The 1950 Arizona gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Governor Dan Edward Garvey, who originally ascended to the office of Governor following the death of Sidney Preston Osborn and was later elected to a full term, lost the Democratic primary to state Auditor Ana Frohmiller. Frohmiller would become the first woman to be nominated by any party for governor in Arizona.

Fred Sutter

Fred Sutter was an Arizona attorney and politician. He ran several times, unsuccessfully, for governor of the state, and was elected several times to the state legislature.

2018 Arizonas 8th congressional district special election

A special election for Arizona's 8th congressional district was held in 2018 subsequent to the resignation of U.S. Representative Trent Franks. Governor Doug Ducey called a special primary election for Tuesday, February 27, 2018, and a special general election for Tuesday, April 24, 2018.

References

  1. Goff 1973, p. 121.
  2. 1 2 3 Goff 1973, p. 122.
  3. "Printer's Ink Puts Pressure on Fred Sutter". The Arizona Republican. February 1, 1918. p. 4. Retrieved February 4, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  4. "Senator Roberts Out For Governor". Tombstone Weekly Epitaph. February 3, 1918. p. 8. Retrieved February 4, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  5. "Campbell To Run If Hunt Dictates the Nomination in the Democratic Primary". Weekly Journal-Miner. February 6, 1918. p. 3. Retrieved February 4, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. "A Swimming Match". The Arizona Republic. February 17, 1918. p. 4. Retrieved February 4, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  7. "More Nominations Filed At Capitol". The Arizona Republican. July 20, 1918. p. 10. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  8. "Twenty-Two Filed For Race For State Primary". The Arizona Republican. July 21, 1918. p. 10. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  9. "One Arizona Candidate Is Out of Race; Two More Might Follow". El Paso Herald (El Paso, Herald). August 16, 1918. p. 6. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  10. "Lamar Cobb Withdraws From Arizona Race, Report". El Paso Herald (El Paso, Texas). August 23, 1918. p. 8. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  11. "Early State Returns". Bisbee Daily Review (Bisbee, Arizona). September 11, 1918. p. 1. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  12. "Governor's Race in Arizona Won By Fred Colter". Albuquerque Journal. September 12, 1918. p. 1. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  13. Goff, John S. (1973). "Creation of the State of Arizona". George W. P. Hunt and his Arizona. Phoenix: Socio-Technical Publications. pp. 121–122.
  14. "Can Senator Fred Colter Serve People of Arizona As Governor If He is Elected in November?". Albuquerque Journal. September 23, 1918. p. 4. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  15. "Arizona's Crazy Politics". The Coconino Sun. September 27, 1918. p. 4. Retrieved January 27, 2017 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  16. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=123353

Bibliography