The 1946 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1946.
Republican Party nominee
James H. Duff
James Henderson Duff (January 21, 1883 – December 20, 1969) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1951 to 1957. Previously he had served as the 34 ...
defeated
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nominee
John S. Rice to become
Governor of Pennsylvania
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
.
, this was the last time
Philadelphia County
Philadelphia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the most populous county in Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Philadelphia County had a population of 1,603,797. The county is the second smallest county in Pennsyl ...
voted for the Republican candidate.
Primary
The endorsed candidates for the two major parties each won by large margins, with Duff earning over three-quarters of the vote against outgoing Secretary of Highways John Shroyer of
Shamokin and Rice winning by a similar margin over
Mahanoy City businessman Henry Morris.
Major Party Candidates
Democratic
*
John Rice, former
President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate (from
Adams County)
**running mate:
John Dent, President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate (from
Westmoreland County)
Republican
*
Jim Duff, State Attorney General (from
Allegheny County)
**running mate:
Dan Strickler, former State Representative and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
general (from
Lancaster County)
Campaign
A close confidant of popular outgoing Governor
Ed Martin, who was running for a US Senate seat, Duff was the clear favorite throughout the campaign. Duff ran as a moderate progressive but also as a hardline anti-communist. He promised to address the key topic of labor strife by limiting strikes and cracking down on union criminal activity while concurrently increasing the minimum wage. Duff also vowed to spur innovation amongst the state's fragmented local government
Results
References
{{1946 United States elections
Pennsylvania gubernatorial elections, 1946
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
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 1946 events in the United States