Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1974

Last updated
Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1974
Flag of Pennsylvania.svg
←  1970 November 5, 1974 (1974-11-05) 1978  →

  Milton Shapp.jpg Drew lewis.jpg
Nominee Milton Shapp Drew Lewis
Party Democratic Republican
Running mate Ernie Kline Ken Lee
Popular vote1,878,2521,578,917
Percentage53.7%45.1%
Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Election Results by County, 1974.svg
County results
Governor before election

Milton Shapp
Democratic

Elected Governor

Milton Shapp
Democratic

The Pennsylvania gubernational election of 1974 was held on November 5. Incumbent Democratic Governor Milton Shapp defeated Republican Drew Lewis. Under the state's 1968 constitution, Shapp was the first governor who was eligible to run for consecutive terms.

Democratic Party (United States) Major 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.

Milton Shapp American businessman

Milton Jerrold Shapp was the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. He was also the first governor of Pennsylvania to take advantage of an amendment to the state constitution lifting the ban on state governors succeeding themselves in office and authorizing them to serve a maximum of two consecutive terms at a time, while still requiring a minimum of four years out of office between any two such consecutive terms.

Republican Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

Contents

Primary elections

Incumbent Governor Shapp easily dispelled a spirited challenge from Martin Mullen, a state representative from Philadelphia who was well known as a firebrand conservative opponent of abortion and pornography. With a short Republican bench, wealthy staffing executive Drew Lewis was the only serious contender in the race.

Martin P. Mullen was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Pennsylvania gubernatorial Democratic primary election, 1974 [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Milton Shapp (Incumbent)729,20170.41
Democratic Martin Mullen 199,61319.27
Democratic Harvey Johnston106,47410.28
Pennsylvania gubernatorial Republican primary election, 1974 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Drew Lewis 534,63776.67
Republican Alvin Jacoboson97,07213.91
Republican Leonard Strunk63,8689.15

Major Party Candidates

Democratic

Republican

Kenneth B. "Ken" Lee was a former Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Campaign

Shapp's popularity had waned somewhat since his coasted to victory in 1970; although he could claim to have saved the state from bankruptcy, he did so at the expense of large tax increases. Furthermore, Shapp, an unabashed liberal, had difficulty rekindling support from the state's rural, socially conservative regions. However, Shapp and Democrats as a whole got a huge boost from the Watergate scandal; with President Nixon's popularity in a tailspin, many of the top tier Republicans declined to run. Instead, the party turned to the wealthy businessman Lewis, who was able to project an "outsider" image. Lewis focused on local issues and greatly undercut Shapp in rural areas; despite lagging at the polls in traditional Democratic strongholds such as Pittsburgh and Scranton, Shapp preserved a moderate victory by winning the combined vote of suburban Philadelphia, an almost unthinkable accomplishment at the time. [3]

Results

Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1974 [4] [5]
PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentage
Democratic Milton Shapp (Incumbent) Ernie Kline (Incumbent)1,878,25253.66%
Republican Drew Lewis Ken Lee 1,578,91745.11%
Constitutional Stephen DepueEllis Werft33,6910.96%
Socialist Workers Roberta Scherr [a] Fred Stanton8,9800.26%
Write-insWrite-in3740.01%
Totals3,500,214100.00%
Voter turnout (Voting age population)63.31%

Notes

a. ^ Scherr, at the time, was only 21 years old and, therefore, ineligible to be governor. [6]

Related Research Articles

1986 United States Senate elections

The 1986 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term. The Republicans had to defend an unusually large number of freshman Senate incumbents who had been elected on President Ronald Reagan's coattails in 1980. Democrats won a net of eight seats, defeating seven freshman incumbents and regaining control of the Senate for the first time since January 1981. The party not controlling the presidency gained seats, as usually occurs in mid-term elections.

Raymond P. Shafer Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

Raymond Philip "Ray" Shafer was an American attorney and politician who served as the 39th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1967 to 1971. Previously, he served as the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967 and a Pennsylvania State Senator from 1959 to 1962. He was a national leader of the moderate wing of the Republican Party in the late 1960s.

Donald A. Bailey American politician

Donald Allen "Don" Bailey is an American politician and lawyer, from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1983, Auditor General of Pennsylvania from 1985 to 1989, and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senate and Governor of Pennsylvania. His Congressional District (PA-21) included all of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania with a sliver of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, prior to the 1981 redistricting.

Peter H. Kostmayer American politician

Peter Houston Kostmayer is a Democratic politician who served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Jack Wagner (politician) American politician

Jack E. Wagner is a Democratic politician from Pennsylvania. He is a former State Auditor General, and has also served in the State Senate and Pittsburgh City Council.

1998 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania Gubernatorial election of 1998 was held on November 3, 1998. It was between incumbent Republican Tom Ridge, Democrat Ivan Itkin, Constitutionalist Peg Luksik and Libertarian Ken Krawchuk. Ridge, a popular moderate, won with 57% of the votes cast.

1994 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1994 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.

1990 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania Gubernatorial election of 1990 was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic Robert P. Casey easily defeated Republican Barbara Hafer. Governor Casey defeated Ms. Hafer by a margin of 35.29%, and carried 66 out of 67 Pennsylvania counties.

1986 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania Gubernatorial election of 1986 was held on November 4, 1986. Democrat Bob Casey narrowly defeated Republican Bill Scranton III, in a race that featured two very high-profile candidates.

1978 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1978 was held on November 7, 1978 between Republican Dick Thornburgh and Democrat Pete Flaherty.

1970 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1970 was held on November 3. Democrat Milton Shapp challenged incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor Ray Broderick.

1799 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1799 was between two candidates. Incumbent governor Thomas Mifflin was not running. The race was between Federalist U.S. Senator James Ross and Democratic-Republican Thomas McKean. The retired Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, McKean was a Federalist and a Mifflin ally, as both supported strong state executive power but rejected the domestic policies of the national government.

1974 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

The 1974 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974. Michael Dukakis was elected to a four-year term, from January 4, 1975 until January 4, 1979. He defeated incumbent Governor of Massachusetts Francis W. Sargent in the general election.

1966 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1966 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.

1962 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1962 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.

1958 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1958 was held on November 4. Democrat David Lawrence defeated Republican Art McGonigle by a smaller than anticipated margin.

1950 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1950 was held on November 7. For the twenty-second time in twenty-five elections, the Republican candidate was victorious, but by a much smaller than usual margin. Superior Court Judge John S. Fine defeated Democrat Richardson Dilworth, the City Controller of Philadelphia.

1946 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 1946 was held on November 5, 1946. Republican Party nominee James H. Duff defeated Democratic Party nominee John S. Rice to become Governor of Pennsylvania.

The Milton Shapp presidential campaign of 1976 began when then-Governor of Pennsylvania Milton Shapp elected to seek the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in the 1976 election. Shapp had won reelection as Governor of Pennsylvania in the 1974 election—the first Pennsylvania Governor to be elected to a second four-year term following an amendment permitting this in 1967—and had hoped to translate his relative popularity in Pennsylvania into the groundwork of a presidential campaign.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=43853.
  2. ↑ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=43860
  3. ↑ Kennedy, John J. (2006). Pennsylvania Elections: Statewide Contests From 1950-2004. University Press of America. ISBN   9780761832799.
  4. ↑ The Pennsylvania Manual, p. 626.
  5. ↑ The Pennsylvania Manual, p. 625.
  6. ↑ Ostrosky, Steve (November 1, 1974). "Will Shapp deny Lewis". The Daily Collegian . Pennsylvania State University.

Sources


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.