The 1896 Delaware gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1896. Shortly after his victory in the 1894 gubernatorial election, Republican Governor

Joshua H. Marvil Joshua Hopkins Marvil (September 3, 1825 – April 8, 1895) was an American merchant and politician from Laurel, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, who served as Governor of Del ...

died. State Senate Speaker

William T. Watson William Tharp Watson (June 22, 1849 – April 14, 1917) was an American banker and politician from Milford, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, who served in the Delaware General A ...

, a Democrat, became Governor and a new election for a full four-year term was scheduled in 1896. Though Watson was considered a potential candidate for re-election, the Democratic convention instead nominated

Ebe W. Tunnell Ebe Walter Tunnell (December 31, 1844 – December 18, 1917) was an American merchant and politician from Lewes, Delaware, Lewes, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, who served i ...

, the 1894 nominee for Governor; despite his protests that he would decline the nomination, Tunnell ultimately accepted it. The Republican Party, meanwhile, split in the election and nominated two separate candidates for Governor: the faction of the Republican Party affiliated with wealthy industrialist

J. Edward Addicks John Edward Charles O'Sullivan Addicks (November 21, 1841 – August 7, 1919) was an American industrialist and capitalist who used his wealth from financing and building gas works to wage four unsuccessful campaigns for a United States Senate s ...

split off from the main Party and nominated John H. Hoffecker the President of the

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

Town Council. The anti-Addicks faction, which held the official Republican banner, nominated former State Representative

John C. Higgins John Clarence Higgins (April 28, 1908 – July 2, 1995) was a Canadian-American screenwriter. History During the 1930s and early 1940s, Higgins worked on mostly complex murder mystery films, including the Spencer Tracy film '' Murder Man'' ( ...

. The fragmentation continued throughout the campaign, and despite rumors that the fractions would reunite and nominate a single candidate, they did not do so. The split ended up destroying the Republican Party's chances of regaining the governorship; Tunnell defeated Hoffecker and Higgins by a wide margin, though he fell far short of a majority. This ended up being the final election that occurred under the 1831 Constitution; the 1897 Constitution was drafted the following year and ratified prior to the 1900 gubernatorial election.

General election

References

Bibliography

* Delaware Senate Journal, 86th General Assembly, 1st Reg. Sess. (1897). {{1896 United States elections

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

November 1896 events