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Aspecial election to theConfederate States House of Representatives forFlorida's 1st congressional district was held February 2, 1863.[1]
The winning candidate would serve the remainder of a two-year term in theConfederate States House of Representatives to represent Florida in the1st Confederate Congress from February 3, 1863, to February 18, 1864.
In the1861 congressional election,James Baird Dawkins was elected to the Confederate States House of Representatives. However, Dawkins resigned on December 8, 1862, after GovernorJohn Milton appointed him as a state judge.[2]
Unique to this election, none of the five candidates came fromWest Florida, which had been the state's political powerhouse, showing the waning influence ofPensacola. Martin and Ives were both fromNorth Central Florida; Martin was aplanter andConfederate States Army captain fromOcala, while Ives was an influential newspaper editor fromLake City. Broome, the formergovernor of Florida, was fromTallahassee. Gettis, a formerstate representative fromTampa, was famous in Florida for his actions during theBattle of Tampa. The only candidate out of the five without a major reputation in the state was Hawes, a formerstate senator fromOrlando, which was still a small frontier town at this time.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | John Marshall Martin | 1,111 | 38.78% | N/A | |
| Independent | James Gettis | 583 | 20.35% | N/A | |
| Independent | W. M. Ives | 571 | 19.93% | N/A | |
| Independent | James E. Broome | 486 | 16.96% | N/A | |
| Independent | George E. Hawes | 114 | 3.98% | N/A | |
| Majority | 528 | 18.43% | +8.26% | ||
| Turnout | 4,053 | 100.00% | |||
