1898 California gubernatorial election
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The 1898 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1898, to elect the Governor of California. Republican lawyer Henry Gage defeated Democratic-Populist-Silver Republican Fusion[1] Congressman James G. Maguire. For the eighth time in nine elections, the incumbent party failed to retain the governorship. However, that string of flips ended with this election as Republicans won the next nine consecutive gubernatorial elections in California.[a][2]
Democratic primary campaign
[edit]
| Elections in California |
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On October 26, 1897, Congressman James G. Maguire published a signed statement in the San Francisco Examiner announcing his candidacy for Governor of California.[3][4] By January of 1898, it was not immediately clear whether James Budd would challenge him and seek re-election; at the time Budd was suffering from rheumatism and confined to his bed.[5] In February it was rumored that he preferred to help his lieutenant governor, William T. Jeter, secure the Democratic nomination for governor.[6] The Los Angeles Herald later confirmed that Governor Budd would not seek re-election due to his health and that he would attempt to bring in a dark horse candidate to challenge Maguire, such as Jeter. It was later announced that rancher Hugh McElroy LaRue would run for governor.[7]
Republican primary campaign
[edit]As early as January 1898, there were several prominent men who were rumored to be interested in the Republican nomination. George Pardee and William R. Davis, both of whom were former Mayors of Oakland, were fighting for the support of the Alameda County Republican Party. Other potential candidates in the beginning of the year were San Francisco District Attorney William S. Barnes, State Senator Thomas Flint Jr., and Attorney General William F. Fitzgerald.[8] While Pardee and Davis were fighting for support within their county, other camps sought to exclude them from the process entirely by rewarding Alameda County with the nomination for a different office, California State Controller, to be given to Oakland City Auditor R. W. Snow.[9]
Beginning in early March, it was rumored that Henry Gage would run not for the U.S. Senate seat to succeed Stephen M. White, but for governor of California.[10] On May 19, Gage officially announced his candidacy. This announcement was met with immediate criticism from fellow Republicans who feared that his candidacy would torpedo the chances of Robert N. Bulla, a fellow Southern California Republican who was running for the U.S. Senate election.[11]
In August 1898, The San Francisco Call asked editors of newspapers across the state to "telegraph us your unbiased opinion as to which of these candidates is strongest in your locality." and as a result compiled a list of the following candidates: Henry Gage, George C. Pardee, William R. Davis, General John H. Dickinson, Levi Richard Ellert, Lewis H. Brown, Thomas Flint Jr., Charles N. Felton, George A. Knight, William F. Fitzgerald, and Irving Murray Scott.[12]
Campaign
[edit]
Maguire ran on a platform of anti-monopolism, support for the war with Spain, and opposition to the War Revenue Act of 1898.[13] He was opposed by every major newspaper save for William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner. Meanwhile, Gage had the backing of the powerful Southern Pacific Railroad[14] and campaigned on support for the War Revenue Act.[15] He denied any connection to Southern Pacific and marketed himself as a political outsider.[16]
During the campaign, Maguire was denounced by Irish Catholic priest Peter Yorke for a book he wrote ten years prior, Ireland and The Pope, in which he argued that the subjugation of Ireland by the British Empire had been orchestrated by certain medieval Popes. Yorke's attacks were so severe that Patrick William Riordan, the Archbishop of San Francisco, had to distance himself, stating to the press: "Father Yorke is alone responsible for his utterances."[17] Maguire was further criticized by his opponents for his alleged pandering and flip-flopping during his political career;[18] they cited his opposition to the Annexation of Hawaii and the War Revenue Act, as well as his supposed denouncement and then support of Senator Stephen M. White.[19]
Maguire's support for Henry George's single tax was also made an issue in the campaign (although he pledged not to make it one),[3] with various Republican publications and individuals labeling him an anarchist, a socialist, and a communist.[20][21][22] Perhaps the greatest charge was that he was a "sandlotter" (I.E. a former member of the Workingmen's Party of California), with the San Francisco Chronicle devoting a full-page article to highlighting the fact that he had previously sought the party's nomination and that several former party members (namely Clitus Barbour, Samuel Braunhart, John P. Dunn, John Tracy Gaffey, William J. Gavigan, Joseph C. Gorman and A. B. Maguire, amongst others) were now Democrats active in the Maguire campaign.[23]
Results
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Henry Gage | 148,354 | 51.68% | +12.76% | |
| Democratic | James G. Maguire | 129,261 | 45.03% | +5.69% | |
| Socialist Labor | Job Harriman | 5,143 | 1.79 | +1.79% | |
| Prohibition | Joseph E. McComas | 4,297 | 1.50 | −2.21% | |
| Scattering | 9 | 0.00% | |||
| Majority | 19,093 | 6.65% | |||
| Total votes | 287,064 | 100.00% | |||
| Republican gain from Democratic | Swing | +7.07% | |||
Results by county
[edit]| County | Henry Gage Republican |
James G. Maguire Democratic |
Job Harriman Socialist Labor |
Joseph E. McComas Prohibition |
Scattering Write-in |
Margin | Total votes cast[24] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Alameda | 12,080 | 57.24% | 8,308 | 39.37% | 496 | 2.35% | 220 | 1.04% | 1 | 0.00% | 3,772 | 17.87% | 21,105 |
| Alpine | 64 | 69.57% | 28 | 30.43% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 36 | 39.13% | 92 |
| Amador | 1,351 | 49.93% | 1,304 | 48.19% | 24 | 0.89% | 27 | 1.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 47 | 1.74% | 2,706 |
| Butte | 2,245 | 51.38% | 2,012 | 46.05% | 43 | 0.98% | 69 | 1.58% | 0 | 0.00% | 233 | 5.33% | 4,369 |
| Calaveras | 1,609 | 52.24% | 1,432 | 46.49% | 23 | 0.75% | 16 | 0.52% | 0 | 0.00% | 177 | 5.75% | 3,080 |
| Colusa | 664 | 37.14% | 1,076 | 60.18% | 30 | 1.68% | 18 | 1.01% | 0 | 0.00% | -412 | -23.04% | 1,788 |
| Contra Costa | 1,893 | 55.42% | 1,472 | 43.09% | 22 | 0.64% | 29 | 0.85% | 0 | 0.00% | 421 | 12.32% | 3,416 |
| Del Norte | 354 | 51.98% | 305 | 44.79% | 13 | 1.91% | 9 | 1.32% | 0 | 0.00% | 49 | 7.20% | 681 |
| El Dorado | 1,332 | 47.45% | 1,415 | 50.41% | 34 | 1.21% | 26 | 0.93% | 0 | 0.00% | -83 | -2.96% | 2,807 |
| Fresno | 2,783 | 43.20% | 3,390 | 52.62% | 117 | 1.82% | 152 | 2.36% | 0 | 0.00% | -607 | -9.42% | 6,442 |
| Glenn | 561 | 39.79% | 828 | 58.72% | 7 | 0.50% | 14 | 0.99% | 0 | 0.00% | -267 | -18.94% | 1,410 |
| Humboldt | 3,171 | 56.78% | 2,207 | 39.52% | 123 | 2.20% | 84 | 1.50% | 0 | 0.00% | 964 | 17.26% | 5,585 |
| Inyo | 478 | 47.05% | 508 | 50.00% | 13 | 1.28% | 17 | 1.67% | 0 | 0.00% | -30 | -2.95% | 1,016 |
| Kern | 1,723 | 46.61% | 1,886 | 51.01% | 67 | 1.81% | 21 | 0.57% | 0 | 0.00% | -163 | -4.41% | 3,697 |
| Kings | 918 | 49.51% | 898 | 48.44% | 11 | 0.59% | 27 | 1.46% | 0 | 0.00% | 20 | 1.08% | 1,854 |
| Lake | 627 | 42.83% | 757 | 51.71% | 30 | 2.05% | 50 | 3.42% | 0 | 0.00% | -130 | -8.88% | 1,464 |
| Lassen | 558 | 54.39% | 438 | 42.69% | 16 | 1.56% | 14 | 1.36% | 0 | 0.00% | 120 | 11.70% | 1,026 |
| Los Angeles | 14,983 | 52.29% | 12,052 | 42.06% | 479 | 1.67% | 1,138 | 3.97% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,931 | 10.23% | 28,652 |
| Madera | 558 | 41.15% | 765 | 56.42% | 17 | 1.25% | 16 | 1.18% | 0 | 0.00% | -207 | -15.27% | 1,356 |
| Marin | 1,345 | 57.36% | 945 | 40.30% | 47 | 2.00% | 8 | 0.34% | 0 | 0.00% | 400 | 17.06% | 2,345 |
| Mariposa | 521 | 40.08% | 747 | 57.46% | 13 | 1.00% | 19 | 1.46% | 0 | 0.00% | -226 | -17.38% | 1,300 |
| Mendocino | 2,004 | 46.90% | 2,188 | 51.21% | 25 | 0.59% | 56 | 1.31% | 0 | 0.00% | -184 | -4.31% | 4,273 |
| Merced | 801 | 41.61% | 1,074 | 55.79% | 18 | 0.94% | 32 | 1.66% | 0 | 0.00% | -273 | -14.18% | 1,925 |
| Modoc | 375 | 39.72% | 549 | 58.16% | 12 | 1.27% | 8 | 0.85% | 0 | 0.00% | -174 | -18.43% | 944 |
| Mono | 335 | 57.66% | 241 | 41.48% | 2 | 0.34% | 3 | 0.52% | 0 | 0.00% | 94 | 16.18% | 581 |
| Monterey | 1,995 | 47.77% | 2,050 | 49.09% | 54 | 1.29% | 77 | 1.84% | 0 | 0.00% | -55 | -1.32% | 4,176 |
| Napa | 1,947 | 53.89% | 1,578 | 43.68% | 41 | 1.13% | 47 | 1.30% | 0 | 0.00% | 369 | 10.21% | 3,613 |
| Nevada | 2,577 | 55.80% | 1,971 | 42.68% | 19 | 0.41% | 50 | 1.08% | 1 | 0.02% | 606 | 13.12% | 4,618 |
| Orange | 1,992 | 50.03% | 1,781 | 44.73% | 32 | 0.80% | 177 | 4.45% | 0 | 0.00% | 211 | 5.30% | 3,982 |
| Placer | 2,216 | 54.25% | 1,808 | 44.26% | 26 | 0.64% | 34 | 0.83% | 1 | 0.02% | 408 | 9.99% | 4,085 |
| Plumas | 660 | 54.10% | 544 | 44.59% | 8 | 0.66% | 8 | 0.66% | 0 | 0.00% | 116 | 9.51% | 1,220 |
| Riverside | 2,118 | 54.53% | 1,518 | 39.08% | 69 | 1.78% | 179 | 4.61% | 0 | 0.00% | 600 | 15.45% | 3,884 |
| Sacramento | 5,689 | 61.42% | 3,414 | 36.86% | 102 | 1.10% | 57 | 0.62% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,275 | 24.56% | 9,262 |
| San Benito | 738 | 42.05% | 984 | 56.07% | 14 | 0.80% | 19 | 1.08% | 0 | 0.00% | -246 | -14.02% | 1,755 |
| San Bernardino | 2,688 | 48.74% | 2,506 | 45.44% | 98 | 1.78% | 223 | 4.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 182 | 3.30% | 5,515 |
| San Diego | 3,506 | 49.26% | 3,259 | 45.79% | 208 | 2.92% | 144 | 2.02% | 0 | 0.00% | 247 | 3.47% | 7,117 |
| San Francisco | 28,218 | 51.90% | 24,632 | 45.30% | 1,388 | 2.55% | 134 | 0.25% | 0 | 0.00% | 3,586 | 6.60% | 54,372 |
| San Joaquin | 3,894 | 54.73% | 3,018 | 42.42% | 121 | 1.70% | 80 | 1.12% | 2 | 0.03% | 876 | 12.31% | 7,115 |
| San Luis Obispo | 1,657 | 46.27% | 1,828 | 51.05% | 31 | 0.87% | 65 | 1.82% | 0 | 0.00% | -171 | -4.78% | 3,581 |
| San Mateo | 1,587 | 58.03% | 1,098 | 40.15% | 36 | 1.32% | 14 | 0.51% | 0 | 0.00% | 489 | 17.88% | 2,735 |
| Santa Barbara | 2,072 | 51.83% | 1,736 | 43.42% | 95 | 2.38% | 95 | 2.38% | 0 | 0.00% | 336 | 8.40% | 3,998 |
| Santa Clara | 6,821 | 56.02% | 4,883 | 40.11% | 292 | 2.40% | 179 | 1.47% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,938 | 15.92% | 12,175 |
| Santa Cruz | 2,149 | 48.83% | 2,081 | 47.28% | 93 | 2.11% | 78 | 1.77% | 0 | 0.00% | 68 | 1.55% | 4,401 |
| Shasta | 1,598 | 42.62% | 2,028 | 54.09% | 71 | 1.89% | 52 | 1.39% | 0 | 0.00% | -430 | -11.47% | 3,749 |
| Sierra | 757 | 60.71% | 480 | 38.49% | 5 | 0.40% | 4 | 0.32% | 1 | 0.08% | 277 | 22.21% | 1,247 |
| Siskiyou | 1,737 | 49.37% | 1,722 | 48.95% | 38 | 1.08% | 21 | 0.60% | 0 | 0.00% | 15 | 0.43% | 3,518 |
| Solano | 3,005 | 55.50% | 2,262 | 41.78% | 95 | 1.75% | 52 | 0.96% | 0 | 0.00% | 743 | 13.72% | 5,414 |
| Sonoma | 4,063 | 51.87% | 3,587 | 45.79% | 100 | 1.28% | 83 | 1.06% | 0 | 0.00% | 476 | 6.08% | 7,833 |
| Stanislaus | 1,127 | 44.69% | 1,336 | 52.97% | 21 | 0.83% | 38 | 1.51% | 0 | 0.00% | -209 | -8.29% | 2,522 |
| Sutter | 880 | 54.42% | 704 | 43.54% | 13 | 0.80% | 20 | 1.24% | 0 | 0.00% | 176 | 10.88% | 1,617 |
| Tehama | 1,088 | 47.35% | 1,170 | 50.91% | 25 | 1.09% | 15 | 0.65% | 0 | 0.00% | -82 | -3.57% | 2,298 |
| Trinity | 687 | 53.17% | 584 | 45.20% | 14 | 1.08% | 7 | 0.54% | 0 | 0.00% | 103 | 7.97% | 1,292 |
| Tulare | 1,725 | 40.58% | 2,245 | 52.81% | 204 | 4.80% | 74 | 1.74% | 3 | 0.07% | -520 | -12.23% | 4,251 |
| Tuolumne | 1,219 | 41.92% | 1,598 | 54.95% | 42 | 1.44% | 49 | 1.69% | 0 | 0.00% | -379 | -13.03% | 2,908 |
| Ventura | 1,643 | 52.16% | 1,369 | 43.46% | 57 | 1.81% | 81 | 2.57% | 0 | 0.00% | 274 | 8.70% | 3,150 |
| Yolo | 1,695 | 49.46% | 1,651 | 48.18% | 33 | 0.96% | 48 | 1.40% | 0 | 0.00% | 44 | 1.28% | 3,427 |
| Yuba | 1,273 | 54.87% | 1,011 | 43.58% | 16 | 0.69% | 20 | 0.86% | 0 | 0.00% | 262 | 11.29% | 2,320 |
| Total | 148,354 | 51.68% | 129,261 | 45.03% | 5,143 | 1.79% | 4,297 | 1.50% | 9 | 0.00% | 19,093 | 6.65% | 287,064 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
[edit]Counties that flipped from People's to Republican
[edit]Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
[edit]Counties that flipped from People's to Democratic
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Hiram Johnson was reelected in 1914 on the Progressive ticket, but had originally been elected as a Republican in 1910 and resumed that party affiliation for the US Senate election in 1916
- ^ Was tied in 1894; flip from Democratic is relative to 1890
References
[edit]- ^ "Maguire by acclamation". San Francisco Call. San Francisco. August 19, 1898. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- ^ Taggart, Harold F. (1950). "The Election of 1898 in California". Pacific Historical Review. 19 (4): 357–368. doi:10.2307/3635818. ISSN 0030-8684.
- ^ a b "MAGUIRE ANNOUNCES HIS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDACY". San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco. October 26, 1897. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
- ^ "JAMES G. MAGUIRE". Tulare County Times. Visalia. October 28, 1897. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
- ^ "Governor Budd Ill". Vol. 25, no. 117. Los Angeles Herald. January 25, 1898. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
- ^ "The Shadow of a Coming Event". No. 1599. Santa Cruz Surf (Weekly). February 17, 1898. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
- ^ "POLITICAL GOSSIP". Vol. 25, no. 144. Los Angeles Herald. February 21, 1898. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
- ^ "ALL WILLING". Vol. 25, no. 95. Los Angeles Herald. January 3, 1898. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
- ^ "SNOW FOR CONTROLLER". Vol. 83, no. 35. San Francisco Call. January 4, 1898. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
- ^ "HENRY T. GAGE FOR GOVERNOR". Vol. 83, no. 94. San Francisco Call. March 4, 1898. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
- ^ "Henry T. Gage for Governor - Will Seek Republican Nomination - Bulla's Friends Opposed". San Francisco Call. May 20, 1898. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
{{cite news}}: Wikipedia Library link in|url= - ^ "PICKING THE FAVORITES". Vol. 84, no. 70. San Francisco Call. August 9, 1898. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
- ^ "Maguire by acclamation". San Francisco Call. San Francisco. August 19, 1898. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- ^ Roske, Ralph J. (1968). Everyman's Eden: A History of California. New York: Macmillan Publishers. p. 448. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
- ^ "Why Citizens Should Vote for Gage". Evening Sentinel. Santa Cruz. November 2, 1898. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
- ^ "Henry T. Gage is nominated". San Francisco Call. San Francisco. August 25, 1898. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
- ^ Gaffey, James P. (1976). Citizen of No Mean City: Archbishop Patrick Riordan of San Francisco (1841-1914). Wilmington: Consortium Books. pp. 168–172. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
- ^ "Maguire Denounces Straddling". Vol. XXII, no. 5. Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar. October 27, 1898. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
- ^ "Remember!". Vol. LI, no. 104. Humboldt Times. November 1, 1898. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
- ^ "MAGUIRE AS A COMMUNIST". Marysville Daily Appeal. Marysville. November 2, 1898. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
- ^ "MAGUIRE ACCEPTS". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco. August 25, 1898. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
- ^ "CHEERS FOR MEN AND ISSUES". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. October 26, 1898. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
- ^ "MAGUIREISM MEANS SANDLOTISM". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. September 11, 1898. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
- ^ a b California Secretary of State. California Blue Book, or State Roster 1899. Sacramento, California: State Printing Office. p. 227. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
