| Elections in South Carolina |
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Prior to 1865, the Governor of South Carolina was chosen by the General Assembly. The Constitution of South Carolina provided for the voters of South Carolina to choose the governor; James Lawrence Orr was the first elected governor of South Carolina. The following is a list of gubernatorial election results for the state of South Carolina:
| Year | Winner | Minority | County Map |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1865 | James Lawrence Orr No party 9,928 51.9% | Wade Hampton III No party 9,186 48.1% |  |
| 1868 | Robert Kingston Scott Republican 69,693 75.1% | William Dennison Porter Democrat 23,057 24.9% |  |
| 1870 | Robert Kingston Scott Republican 85,071 62.3% | Richard B. Carpenter Union Reform 51,537 37.7% |  |
| 1872 | Franklin J. Moses, Jr. Republican 69,838 65.4% | Reuben Tomlinson Independent Republican 36,533 34.3% |  |
| 1874 | Daniel Henry Chamberlain Republican 80,403 53.9% | John T. Green Independent Republican 68,818 46.1% |  |
| 1876 | Wade Hampton III Democrat 92,261 50.3% | Daniel Henry Chamberlain Republican 91,127 49.7% |  |
| 1878 | Wade Hampton III Democrat 119,550 99.8% | Unopposed |  |
| 1880 | Johnson Hagood Democrat 117,432 96.4% | L.W.R. Blair Greenback-Labor 4,277 3.5% |  |
| 1882 | Hugh Smith Thompson Democrat 67,158 79.0% | J. Hendrix McLane Greenback-Labor 17,719 20.8% |  |
| 1884 | Hugh Smith Thompson Democrat 67,895 100% | Unopposed |  |
| 1886 | John Peter Richardson III Democrat 33,114 99.9% | Unopposed | |
| 1888 | John Peter Richardson III Democrat 58,730 100% | Unopposed |  |
| 1890 | Ben Tillman Democrat 59,159 79.8% | Alexander Cheves Haskell Straightout Democrat 14,828 20.0% |  |
| 1892 | Ben Tillman Democrat 56,673 99.9% | Unopposed |  |
| 1894 | John Gary Evans Democrat 39,507 69.6% | Sampson Pope Independent 17,278 30.4% |  |
| 1896 | William Haselden Ellerbe Democrat 59,424 89.1% | Sampson Pope Reorganized Republican 4,432 6.6% |  |
| 1898 | William Haselden Ellerbe Democrat 28,225 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1900 | Miles Benjamin McSweeney Democrat 46,457 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1902 | Duncan Clinch Heyward Democrat 31,817 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1904 | Duncan Clinch Heyward Democrat 51,917 100% | Unopposed |  |
| 1906 | Martin Frederick Ansel Democrat 30,251 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1908 | Martin Frederick Ansel Democrat 61,060 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1910 | Coleman Livingston Blease Democrat 30,739 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1912 | Coleman Livingston Blease Democrat 44,122 99.5% | R.B. Britton Socialist 208 0.5% | |
| 1914 | Richard Irvine Manning III Democrat 34,606 99.8% | R.B. Britton Socialist 83 0.2% | |
| 1916 | Richard Irvine Manning III Democrat 60,405 97.9% | Coleman Livingston Blease Independent 1,089 1.8% | |
| 1918 | Robert Archer Cooper Democrat 25,267 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1920 | Robert Archer Cooper Democrat 58,050 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1922 | Thomas Gordon McLeod Democrat 34,065 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1924 | Thomas Gordon McLeod Democrat 53,545 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1926 | John Gardiner Richards, Jr. Democrat 16,589 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1930 | Ibra Charles Blackwood Democrat 17,790 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1934 | Olin D. Johnston Democrat 22,873 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1938 | Burnet Rhett Maybank Democrat 49,009 99.4% | Joseph Augustis Tolbert Republican 283 0.6% | |
| 1942 | Olin D. Johnston Democrat 23,859 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1946 | Strom Thurmond Democrat 26,520 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1950 | James F. Byrnes Democrat 50,633 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1954 | George Bell Timmerman, Jr. Democrat 214,204 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1958 | Ernest Hollings Democrat 77,714 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1962 | Donald Stuart Russell Democrat 253,704 100% | Unopposed | |
| 1966 | Robert Evander McNair Democrat 255,854 58.2% | Joseph O. Rogers, Jr. Republican 184,088 41.8% |  |
| 1970 | John Carl West Democrat 251,151 52.1% | Albert Watson Republican 221,236 45.9% |  |
| 1974 | James Burrows Edwards Republican 266,338 50.3% | W.J. Bryan Dorn Democrat 248,861 47.0% |  |
| 1978 | Richard Riley Democrat 384,898 61.3% | Edward Lunn Young Republican 236,946 37.7% |  |
| 1982 | Richard Riley Democrat 468,787 69.8% | W. D. Workman, Jr. Republican 202,806 30.2% |  |
| 1986 | Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. Republican 384,565 51.0% | Michael R. Daniel Democrat 361,328 47.9% |  |
| 1990 | Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. Republican 528,831 69.5% | Theo Mitchell Democrat 212,048 27.8% |  |
| 1994 | David Beasley Republican 470,756 50.4% | Nick Theodore Democrat 447,002 47.9% |  |
| 1998 | Jim Hodges Democrat 570,070 53.3% | David Beasley Republican 484,088 45.3% |  |
| 2002 | Mark Sanford Republican 585,422 52.9% | Jim Hodges Democrat 521,140 47.0% |  |
| 2006 | Mark Sanford Republican 601,868 55.1% | Tommy Moore Democrat 489,076 44.8% |  |
| 2010 | Nikki Haley Republican 674,103 51.4% | Vincent Sheheen Democrat 617,427 47.1% |  |
| 2014 | Nikki Haley Republican 696,645 55.9% | Vincent Sheheen Democrat 516,166 41.4% |  |
| 2018 | Henry McMaster Republican 921,324 54.0% | James Smith Democrat 784,182 45.9% |  |
| 2022 | Henry McMaster Republican 988,501 58.1% | Joe Cunningham Democrat 692,691 40.7% |  |
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1876. Republican Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio defeated Democrat Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Following President Ulysses S. Grant's decision to retire after his second term, U.S. Representative James G. Blaine emerged as frontrunner for the Republican nomination; however, Blaine was unable to win a majority at the 1876 Republican National Convention, which settled on Hayes as a compromise candidate. The 1876 Democratic National Convention nominated Tilden on the second ballot.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1868. In the first election of the Reconstruction Era, Republican nominee Ulysses S. Grant defeated Horatio Seymour of the Democratic Party. It was the first presidential election to take place after the conclusion of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. It was the first election in which African Americans could vote in the reconstructed Southern states, in accordance with the First Reconstruction Act.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 1912. Democratic governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey unseated incumbent Republican president William Howard Taft while defeating former president Theodore Roosevelt and Socialist Party nominee Eugene V. Debs.
The 1910–11 United States Senate election were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were primarily chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1910 and 1911, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. However, some states had already begun direct elections during this time. Oregon pioneered direct election and experimented with different measures over several years until it succeeded in 1907. Soon after, Nebraska followed suit and laid the foundation for other states to adopt measures reflecting the people's will. By 1912, as many as 29 states elected senators either as nominees of their party's primary or in conjunction with a general election.
The Independent Republican Party of South Carolina was a political party of South Carolina during Reconstruction. It was founded in 1872 to oppose the election of Franklin J. Moses Jr. for Governor of South Carolina after he had been nominated by the Republicans on August 21, 1872. Former governor James Lawrence Orr denounced the selection of Moses and led the formation of a new party.
The 1865 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on October 18, 1865, to elect the governor of South Carolina. It was the first election in which the voters of South Carolina were able to directly choose the governor as a result of the ratification of the South Carolina Constitution of 1865. However, the constitution only permitted for white men to cast ballots, with blacks being forbidden from voting.
The 1870 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on October 19, 1870, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Governor Robert Kingston Scott easily won reelection based entirely on the strength of the black vote in the state. The election was significant because white conservatives of the state claimed it showed that political harmony between the white and black races was impossible and only through a straightout Democratic attempt would they be able to regain control of state government.
The 1872 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on October 16, 1872, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Franklin J. Moses, Jr. won the election as a Radical Republican against the more moderate faction of the Republican Party and became the 75th governor of South Carolina.
The 1874 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1874, to select the governor and lieutenant governor of the state of South Carolina. Daniel Henry Chamberlain won the election and became the 76th governor of South Carolina.
The 1886 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1886, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. John Peter Richardson III was nominated by the Democrats and became the 83rd governor of South Carolina.
The 1890 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday November 4, to elect the governor of South Carolina. Ben Tillman was nominated by the Democrats and easily won the general election against A.C. Haskell to become the 84th governor of South Carolina.
The 1892 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1892, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Governor Ben Tillman was renominated by the Democrats and was elected in the general election to a second two-year term.
The 1896 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1896 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. William Haselden Ellerbe won the Democratic primary and easily won the general election to become the 86th governor of South Carolina.
The 1910 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1910, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Coleman Livingston Blease won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election to become the 90th governor of South Carolina.
The 1912 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1912, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Governor Coleman Livingston Blease won the Democratic primary. As South Carolina was utterly dominated by the Democratic Party, he faced no significant opposition in the general election.
The 1914 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1914, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Richard Irvine Manning III emerged from the crowded Democratic primary to win in the runoff and overwhelmingly won the effectively one-party state's general election to become the 92nd governor of South Carolina.
The 1954 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 2, 1954. Senator Burnet R. Maybank did not face a primary challenge in the summer and was therefore renominated as the Democratic nominee for the election in the fall. However, his death on September 1 left the Democratic Party without a nominee, and the executive committee nominated state Senator Edgar A. Brown as their replacement candidate. Many South Carolinians were outraged by the party's decision to forgo a primary election, and former Governor Strom Thurmond entered the race as a write-in candidate. He easily won the election and became the first U.S. senator to be elected by a write-in vote in an election where other candidates had ballot access. A Senate election where the victor won by a write-in campaign did not happen again until 2010.
The 1914 New York state election was held on November 3, 1914, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the Secretary of State, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state engineer, a U.S. Senator and a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate, and delegates-at-large to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1915.
From December 1876 to April 1877, the Republican and Democratic parties in South Carolina each claimed to be the legitimate government. Both parties declared that the other had lost the election and that they controlled the governorship, the state legislature, and most state offices. Each government debated and passed laws, raised militias, collected taxes, and conducted other business as if the other did not exist. After four months of contested government, Daniel Henry Chamberlain, who claimed the governorship as a Republican, conceded to Democrat Wade Hampton III on April 11, 1877. This came after President Rutherford Hayes withdrew federal troops from the South.
The 1900 North Carolina gubernatorial election was held on August 2, 1900. Democratic nominee Charles Brantley Aycock defeated Republican nominee Spencer B. Adams with 59.57% of the vote. The election started a string of 18 consecutive elections in which the Democratic nominee won the Governor's office. The state would not elect another Republican as governor until James E. Holshouser, Jr. won in 1972.
