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 County results Gaston: 50–60% 60–70% Talbot: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1874 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1874. Republican acting GovernorThomas Talbot, who took office after the resignation ofWilliam B. Washburn, was defeated by DemocratWilliam Gaston, a former Mayor of Boston.
Gaston was the first Democrat elected Governor sinceGeorge S. Boutwell in 1852 and received the largest share of the vote for any Democrat in the state since the party's founding in 1828.
Talbot, who had only become acting Governor in April, was by no means guaranteed re-nomination by the Republicans. No candidate, including Talbot, actively sought office, but a number of alternatives were mentioned. Among those suggested wereAlexander H. Rice,Henry L. Dawes,George Frisbie Hoar, andHenry L. Pierce.[1] Talbot was thought of as the weakest Republican candidate possible on the basis of his vetoes of liquor regulation; even the prohibitionist governorsWilliam Claflin andWilliam Washburn had accepted a tacit agreement that they would not override the legislature's will on liquor.[1]
A proposal was made for Talbot to run for Congress in the vacant seat ofEbenezer R. Hoar, with Rice running for Governor, andHenry L. Dawes for U.S. Senate. Talbot rejected this plan, as did opponents of Rice and Dawes.[1]
RepresentativeBenjamin Butler, who ran for the position in 1871 and had become a kingmaker in Massachusetts politics, largely stayed out of the race.[1]
At the Republican convention in Worcester on October 7, Talbot was nominated on the first ballot[2] with the support of Dawes and Hoar.[3] Some suggested that their support was exchanged for Talbot's endorsement of Dawes for U.S. Senate in the coming 1875 election.[3]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Thomas Talbot (incumbent) | 755 | 72.46% | |
| Republican | George B. Loring | 198 | 19.00% | |
| Republican | Charles Devens | 51 | 4.89% | |
| Republican | John E. Sanford | 20 | 1.92% | |
| Republican | Benjamin Butler | 16 | 1.54% | |
| Republican | Henry L. Dawes | 1 | 0.10% | |
| Republican | George Frisbie Hoar | 1 | 0.10% | |
| Total votes | 1,042 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | William Gaston | 96,376 | 51.82% |  6.96 | |
| Republican | Thomas Talbot (incumbent) | 89,344 | 48.04% |  6.51 | |
| Write-in | All others | 270 | 0.15% | 0.07 | |
| Total votes | 185,990 | 100.00% | |||
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