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 County Results Latham: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% >90% Currey: 50-60% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The1859 California gubernatorial election was held on September 7, 1859, to elect thegovernor of California.
Since the beginning of the 1850s, issues regardingslavery had effectively split the stateDemocratic Party. Initially divided by pro-slavery Chivalrists and anti-slavery Free Soilers, by 1857, the party had split into theLecompton and Anti-Lecompton factions. Lecompton members supported theKansas Lecompton Constitution, a document explicitly allowing slavery into the territory, while Anti-Lecompton faction members were in opposition to slavery's expansion. The violence between supporting and opposition forces led to the period known asBleeding Kansas. Splits in the Democratic Party, as well as thepower vacuum created by the collapse of theWhig Party, helped facilitate the rise of theAmerican Party both in state and federal politics. In particular, state voters voted Know-Nothings into theCalifornia State Legislature, and electedJ. Neely Johnson as governor in the 1855 general elections.
During the 1859 general elections, Lecompton Democrats voted Latham, who had briefly lived in theAmerican South, as their nominee forgovernor. Anti-Lecomptons in turn selectedJohn Currey as their nominee. The infantRepublican Party, running in its first gubernatorial election, selected businessmanLeland Stanford as its nominee. To make matters more complicated, after the election, SenatorDavid C. Broderick, an Anti-Lecompton Democrat, was killed in aduel by slavery supporter and formerstate Supreme Court JusticeDavid Terry on September 13.[1]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lecompton Democratic | Milton Latham | 61,352 | 59.13% | +59.13% | |
| Democratic | John Currey | 31,298 | 31.13% | −25.58% | |
| Republican | Leland Stanford | 10,110 | 9.74% | −12.72% | |
| Majority | 29,054 | 28.00% | |||
| Total votes | 103,760 | 100.00% | |||
| Lecompton Democratichold | Swing | -6.25% | |||
| County | Milton Latham Lecompton | John Currey Anti-Lecompton | Leland Stanford Republican | Margin | Total votes cast[2] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Alameda | 1,066 | 52.54% | 664 | 32.73% | 299 | 14.74% | 402 | 19.81% | 2,029 |
| Amador | 2,023 | 62.44% | 985 | 30.40% | 232 | 7.16% | 1,038 | 32.04% | 3,240 |
| Butte | 1,915 | 48.67% | 1,666 | 42.34% | 354 | 9.00% | 249 | 6.33% | 3,935 |
| Calaveras | 3,275 | 69.67% | 1,391 | 29.59% | 35 | 0.74% | 1,884 | 40.08% | 4,701 |
| Colusa | 541 | 74.93% | 166 | 22.99% | 15 | 2.08% | 375 | 51.94% | 722 |
| Contra Costa | 805 | 65.77% | 378 | 30.88% | 41 | 3.35% | 427 | 34.89% | 1,224 |
| Del Norte | 392 | 73.13% | 126 | 23.51% | 18 | 3.36% | 266 | 49.63% | 536 |
| El Dorado | 3,096 | 52.32% | 2,413 | 40.78% | 408 | 6.90% | 683 | 11.54% | 5,917 |
| Fresno | 359 | 96.77% | 11 | 2.96% | 1 | 0.27% | 348 | 93.80% | 371 |
| Humboldt | 397 | 46.60% | 372 | 43.66% | 83 | 9.74% | 25 | 2.93% | 852 |
| Klamath | 607 | 83.38% | 120 | 16.48% | 1 | 0.14% | 487 | 66.90% | 728 |
| Los Angeles | 1,916 | 87.69% | 49 | 2.24% | 220 | 10.07% | 1,696[a] | 77.62% | 2,185 |
| Marin | 467 | 76.68% | 75 | 12.32% | 67 | 11.00% | 392 | 64.37% | 609 |
| Mariposa | 1,462 | 86.92% | 212 | 12.60% | 8 | 0.48% | 1,250 | 74.32% | 1,682 |
| Mendocino | 730 | 88.38% | 85 | 10.29% | 11 | 1.33% | 645 | 78.09% | 826 |
| Merced | 231 | 87.50% | 32 | 12.12% | 1 | 0.38% | 199 | 75.38% | 264 |
| Monterey | 495 | 69.13% | 175 | 24.44% | 46 | 6.42% | 320 | 44.69% | 716 |
| Napa | 810 | 46.85% | 905 | 52.34% | 14 | 0.81% | -95 | -5.49% | 1,729 |
| Nevada | 3,185 | 50.56% | 2,534 | 40.22% | 581 | 9.22% | 651 | 10.33% | 6,300 |
| Placer | 2,326 | 53.61% | 1,117 | 25.74% | 896 | 20.65% | 1,209 | 27.86% | 4,339 |
| Plumas | 882 | 51.16% | 649 | 37.65% | 193 | 11.19% | 233 | 13.52% | 1,724 |
| Sacramento | 3,526 | 54.82% | 2,678 | 41.64% | 228 | 3.54% | 848 | 13.18% | 6,432 |
| San Bernardino | 532 | 92.20% | 6 | 1.04% | 39 | 6.76% | 493[a] | 85.44% | 577 |
| San Diego | 259 | 93.50% | 1 | 0.36% | 17 | 6.14% | 242[a] | 87.36% | 277 |
| San Francisco | 4,747 | 44.29% | 2,943 | 27.46% | 3,027 | 28.24% | 1,720[a] | 16.05% | 10,717 |
| San Joaquin | 1,806 | 62.43% | 878 | 30.35% | 209 | 7.22% | 928 | 32.08% | 2,893 |
| San Luis Obispo | 284 | 82.56% | 30 | 8.72% | 30 | 8.72% | 254 | 73.84% | 344 |
| San Mateo | 420 | 44.54% | 418 | 44.33% | 105 | 11.13% | 2 | 0.21% | 943 |
| Santa Barbara | 431 | 92.49% | 0 | 0.00% | 35 | 7.51% | 396[a] | 84.98% | 466 |
| Santa Clara | 1,407 | 58.63% | 367 | 15.29% | 626 | 26.08% | 781[a] | 32.54% | 2,400 |
| Santa Cruz | 496 | 45.21% | 451 | 41.11% | 150 | 13.67% | 45 | 4.10% | 1,097 |
| Shasta | 1,456 | 50.28% | 1,432 | 49.45% | 8 | 0.28% | 24 | 0.83% | 2,896 |
| Sierra | 2,814 | 58.93% | 1,666 | 34.89% | 295 | 6.18% | 1,148 | 24.04% | 4,775 |
| Siskiyou | 2,159 | 61.60% | 1,303 | 37.18% | 43 | 1.23% | 856 | 24.42% | 3,505 |
| Solano | 1,172 | 56.16% | 827 | 39.63% | 88 | 4.22% | 345 | 16.53% | 2,087 |
| Sonoma | 1,981 | 62.04% | 1,148 | 35.95% | 64 | 2.00% | 833 | 26.09% | 3,193 |
| Stanislaus | 389 | 76.57% | 106 | 20.87% | 13 | 2.56% | 283 | 55.71% | 508 |
| Sutter | 695 | 73.86% | 159 | 16.90% | 87 | 9.25% | 536 | 56.96% | 941 |
| Tehama | 770 | 85.84% | 92 | 10.26% | 35 | 3.90% | 678 | 75.59% | 897 |
| Trinity | 1,285 | 60.67% | 829 | 39.14% | 4 | 0.19% | 456 | 21.53% | 2,118 |
| Tulare | 821 | 91.73% | 63 | 7.04% | 11 | 1.23% | 758 | 84.69% | 895 |
| Tuolumne | 3,723 | 68.58% | 737 | 13.58% | 969 | 17.85% | 2,754[a] | 50.73% | 5,429 |
| Yolo | 757 | 54.42% | 568 | 40.83% | 66 | 4.74% | 189 | 13.59% | 1,391 |
| Yuba | 2,442 | 56.14% | 1,471 | 33.82% | 437 | 10.05% | 971 | 22.32% | 4,350 |
| Total | 61,352 | 59.13% | 32,298 | 31.13% | 10,110 | 9.74% | 29,054 | 28.00% | 103,760 |
