The 1910 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1910, to select the

governor 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 ...

of the state of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Coleman Livingston Blease Coleman Livingston Blease (October 8, 1868 – January 19, 1942) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 89th governor of South Carolina from 1911 to 1915, and as a United States senator from 1925 to 1931. Blease w ...

won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election to become the 90th governor of South Carolina.

Democratic primary

By 1910, the

South Carolina Democratic Party The South Carolina Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina. History The Democratic Party thrived during the Second Party System between 183 ...

had split into two factions: the well-to-do farmers with ties to

Clemson College Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

, and the tenant farmers who largely did not benefit from many of the proposals instituted by

Benjamin Tillman Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 – July 3, 1918) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senator from 1895 until his death in 1918. A whit ...

and his followers. Many of these poor farmers escaped the fields to the relative prosperity of a mill town.

, a lawyer from

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (born 1956), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Newb ...

, sought to portray himself as the candidate for the downtrodden and oppressed white man who had not benefited from the Tillman era. Blease and prohibitionist candidate

Claudius Cyprian Featherstone Claudius Cyprian Featherstone (December 1, 1864 – March 28, 1945) was a lawyer and judge in South Carolina. He was born in Laurens County and educated at the Patrick Military Institute. Afterwards, he undertook the study of law in Anderson ...

emerged as the front runners in the Democratic

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

on August 30. Featherstone and his conservative allies attacked Blease for his coarse behavior, similar to A.C. Haskell's attacks on Tillman in the gubernatorial election of 1890, but once again the attacks only strengthened the candidacy of the antagonist. On September 13, Blease won by just over 5,000 votes in the

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

to essentially become the next governor of South Carolina because there was no opposition in the general election.

General election

The general election was held on November 8, 1910, and Coleman Livingston Blease was elected the next

governor of South Carolina The governor of South Carolina is the head of government of South Carolina. The governor is the '' ex officio'' commander-in-chief of the National Guard when not called into federal service. The governor's responsibilities include making year ...

without opposition. Being a non-presidential election and few contested races, turnout was much less than the previous gubernatorial election. , - , , colspan=5 , Democratic hold , -

References

* * * *

External links

SCIway Biography of Coleman Livingston Blease
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Carolina Gubernatorial Election, 1910 1910 United States gubernatorial elections 1910

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 1910 events

Democratic primary

General election

See also

References

External links