California gubernatorial election, 1861

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California gubernatorial election, 1861

Flag of California.svg


  1859 September 4, 1861 1863  

  Leland Stanford c1870s.jpg John R. McConnell.jpg John Conness.jpg
Nominee Leland Stanford John R. McConnell John Conness
Party Republican Southern Democratic Democratic
Popular vote56,03633,75130,944
Percentage46.41%27.96%25.63%

Governor of California before election

John G. Downey
Democratic

Governor of California

Leland Stanford
Republican

The California gubernatorial election, 1861 took place on September 4, 1861. Incumbent Governor John G. Downey was not a candidate for renomination, as his Democratic Party had violently ruptured over the issue of slavery and secession. Downey was a Lecompton Democrat, those who favored slavery in the Kansas Territory and who were running as now as the Breckenridge or "Chivalry" Democrats. These Chivalry Democrats supported Attorney General John McConnell. Anti-slavery or anti-secession Democrats were the "Unionist" Democrats who favored John Conness.

John G. Downey Governor of California

John Gately Downey was an Irish-American politician and the seventh governor of California from January 14, 1860 to January 10, 1862. Until the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, Downey was the only governor of California to be born outside the United States. Downey was also the first man from Southern California to serve as governor.

Democratic Party (United States) political party in the United States

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.

With the dire split in the Democratic Party, even more bitter then in 1859, former Republican nominee Leland Stanford won a plurality of the popular vote and won the governorship. Stanford polled less than a tenth of the vote last election [1] and became the first Republican Governor of California. Both Stanford and Conness later served in the United States Senate.

United States Senate Upper house of the United States Congress

The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.

[2]
California gubernatorial election, 1861 [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Leland Stanford 56,03646.41
Southern Democratic John McConnell 33,75127.96
Democratic John Conness 30,94425.63
Total votes120,731100.00
Republican gain from Democratic

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References

  1. "Our Campaigns - CA Governor Race - Sep 07, 1859". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  2. "Our Campaigns - CA Governor Race - Sep 04, 1861". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  3. S. Lucas (1901). "Article". The Quarterly. Historical Society of Southern California, Los Angeles County Pioneers of Southern California. 11: 40. Retrieved 2008-08-20.