1900_South_Carolina_gubernatorial_election
1900 South Carolina gubernatorial election
Election
The 1900 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1900 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Governor Miles Benjamin McSweeney won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election to win a term for governor in his own right.
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The South Carolina Democratic Party held their primary for governor on August 28 and incumbent Governor McSweeney was the frontrunner. McSweeney favored the continuation of the state Dispensary which brought the backing of influential Senator and former Governor Ben Tillman. Prohibitionist James A. Hoyt won second place in the primary to advance to the runoff on September 11, but could not overcome McSweeney because the voters of the state simply did not want any alteration of an institution set up by Ben Tillman.
| Democratic Primary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Miles Benjamin McSweeney | 39,097 | 42.3 |
| James A. Hoyt | 33,833 | 36.6 |
| Frank B. Gary | 12,956 | 14.0 |
| A. Howard Patterson | 6,052 | 6.6 |
| G. Walton Whitman | 491 | 0.6 |
| Democratic Primary Runoff | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Miles Benjamin McSweeney | 51,363 | 57.9 | +15.6 |
| James A. Hoyt | 37,412 | 42.1 | +5.5 |
The general election was held on November 6, 1900 and Miles Benjamin McSweeney was elected to a second term as governor of South Carolina without opposition. Turnout greatly increased over the previous gubernatorial election because there was also a presidential election on the ballot.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Miles Benjamin McSweeney (incumbent) | 46,457 | 100.0 | 0.0 | |
| No party | Write-Ins | 18 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| Majority | 46,439 | 100.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Turnout | 46,475 | ||||
| Democratic hold | |||||
- Ball, William Watts (1932). The State That Forgot; South Carolina's Surrender to Democracy. The Bobbs-Merrill Company. p. 255.
- "Official Count Declared". The News and Courier. September 15, 1900. p. 2.
- "Results of the First Primary". The News and Courier. September 1, 1900. p. 1.
- Jordan, Frank E. The Primary State: A History of the Democratic Party in South Carolina, 1876–1962. pp. 21–22.
- Simkins, Francis Butler (1964). The Tillman movement in South Carolina. Duke University Press. p. 231.
- "Report of M.R. Cooper, Secretary of State, to the General Assembly of South Carolina." Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina. Volume I. Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1901, pp. 82–83.
| Preceded by 1898 |
South Carolina gubernatorial elections | Succeeded by 1902 |