1916 Florida gubernatorial election

none related races 1916 United States gubernatorial elections January 2025 September 2023 1916 Florida gubernatorial election Florida 1900 presidential no 1912 Florida gubernatorial election 1912 November 7, 1916 1920 Florida gubernatorial election 1920 File:Sidney Johnston Catts in 1916 (cropped).jpg 150x150px Sidney Johnston Catts Prohibition Party 39,546 47.71% 400px County results 400px Congressional district results Allen: #E27F7F 50–60%Catts: #ffaacc 40–50% #ff80b2 50–60% #ff5599 60–70% #ff2a7f 70–80%Knott: #BDD3FF 30–40% #A5B0FF 40–50% #7996E2 50–60% #6674DE 60–70% Governor Park Trammell Democratic Party (United States) Sidney Johnston Catts Prohibition Party Image:William V Knott in the Palm Beach Post 1916-06-09 (retouched).png William V. Knott Democratic Party (United States) 30,343 36.61% GeorgeWAllen.png George W. Allen Republican Party (United States) 10,333 12.47% The 1916 Florida gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1916, to elect the governor of Florida. Democratic incumbent Park Trammell was term-limited and could not run for re-election. In the open race to succeed him, Sidney J. Catts defeated William V. Knott in a sharply contested race marked by accusations of electoral fraud during the Democratic primary, which was contested under a controversial ranked-choice voting system. Primary elections were held on June 6.Kerber Stephen Park Trammell and the Florida Democratic Senatorial Primary of 1916 https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol58/iss3/3 Florida Historical Quarterly 58 3 25572 University of Central Florida After Catts was denied the Democratic Party nomination following a recount, the party split between the two men in the general election, with Catts running on the Prohibition Party ticket. Catts won partly through hostile attacks on the Catholic Church and German Americans, appealing to the growing appetite for war with Germany within the state. Democratic primary Background Bryan primary law The campaign was the first (and ultimately only) run under the Bryan primary law, which had been championed by Nathan P. Bryan and passed by the legislature in 1913 as a means to eliminate the need for runoff elections. Rather than holding a second primary between the top two candidates, the Bryan law provided for voters to list a first- and second-preference candidate. If no candidate received an outright majority of first-choice votes, the bottom candidates were eliminated, and their second-choice votes were tallied and added to the totals of the remaining top two candidates to determine a winner. It also legally codified a closed primary system, prohibiting voters from casting a ballot in any primary unless they were registered with that political party.Knott James R. 1972 Flynt Wayne Wayne Flynt William V. Knott and the Gubernatorial Campaign of 1916 https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol51/iss4/6 Florida Historical Quarterly 51 4 42330 University of Central Florida Anti-Catholic sentiment Although Florida had a relatively small Catholic population, religion was a growing an issue within its politics, due to growing rates of Catholic immigration to meet demands for cheap labor during the latter half of the 19th century. Anti-Catholic sentiment in the state was also fueled by Thomas E. Watson of neighboring Georgia, whose magazine Jeffersonian had a large readership in Florida and began publishing strongly anti-Catholic articles in 1909. Much of the opposition to Lewis Zim's 1910 campaign for a U.S. House seat had been built on the basis of his Catholic faith, and the Guardians of Liberty, a growing populist, anti-Catholic organization founded in 1911 and headquartered in New York City, had many chapters in the state and pledged to oppose the election of any Catholic to any political office. Candidates Sidney Johnston Catts, Baptist preacher, insurance salesman, and cousin of William D. Bloxham Ion Farris, state senator from Jacksonville Frederick Mitchell Hudson, former president of the Florida Senate from Miami William V. Knott, state comptroller and former state treasurer F. A. Wood, banker and former state representative from St. Petersburg Campaign Knott was the most established officeholder in the race and ran with the support of the party apparatus at the local and state level, making him the early favorite for the nomination. Frederick Hudson, who had a strong base of support in South Florida, was considered a potential contender, while Jacksonville senator Ion Farris won the backing of organized labor, urban voters, and progressives. Few observers gave Sidney J. Catts even remote odds of contending for the nomination; he had only relocated to the state from Alabama in 1911 and was generally unknown, being the only candidate in the race who had never held public office. However, Catts had ties to the Guardians of Liberty and began developing a base of political support through a series of speeches and sermons through 1914 and 1915. Catts supporters included many nativist, rural white Protestants, including farmers dissatisfied with the Florida Democratic Party in general. Although none of the candidates were Catholic themselves, Catts was the first candidate to make the Catholic Church an issue in the campaign; for example, he charged that the Church was storing arms in convents for a possible armed conflict with the United States government. In addition to his criticism of the Catholic Church, Catts campaigned on his support for prohibition and white supremacy. At the January 6, 1916 meeting of the Florida Democratic Party executive committee, the party tried to limit rising anti-Catholic bias by adopting resolutions which called on its members to pledge that they were not members of "any secret organization which attempts in any way to influence political action or results" and urged them not to be influenced by "any religious test, belief, determination, or sect with which a candidate was affiliated." Catts, who viewed the resolution as a death blow to his campaign, was the only opposing vote. Despite Catts's initial pessimism regarding the resolutions, J. V. Burke, his campaign manager and a Guardians member, urged him to stay in the race and made the resolutions the centerpiece of the campaign, attacking them as violations of the freedoms of religion and speech through pamphlets, public speeches, and the Jacksonville Free Press. Catts's attacks, which were joined by many party members and newspapers, were ultimately so effective that the state committee repealed the resolution on February 24. Results In the initial primary results, Catts led Knott by 544 votes, 33,983 to 33,439, with the other three candidates running well behind. The results were significantly complicated by confusion over the ranked-choice voting system. Many voters did not vote for a second choice out of fear that it would affect their first choice vote, and elections inspectors had difficulties reading the tally sheet. Results were slow to report. Although Catts was declared the winner in the initial count, the party establishment was displeased by the result and appealed to the Supreme Court of Florida, which authorized a recount. When the recount showed Knott as the winner, Catts and his supporters alleged fraud, and Catts agreed to join the Prohibition Party ticket in the general election. Aftermath The Bryan primary law was later repealed and remained a controversial political issue in the state for many years. Bryan himself was defeated in the simultaneous primary for U.S. Senate by Governor Park Trammell, who also had the support of the Guardians of Liberty after he supported the April arrest of three St. Augustine nuns for teaching black children, and Bryan adamantly supported a Catholic, Peter Dignan, for postmaster of Jacksonville. General election Candidates C. C. Allen (Prohibition) George W. Allen, banker and former state senator from Key WestAugust 17, 1916 Republicans Pin Faith on Allen for Gov. https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00087698/00180/zoom/2 August 13, 2026 The Lake Worth Herald 1 (Republican) Sidney Johnston Catts, Baptist preacher, insurance salesman, and cousin of William D. Bloxham (Prohibition) William V. Knott, former state treasurer (Democratic) Campaign Trammell, who assured of victory over his nominal Republican opposition, remained neutral in the race. His neutrality caused considerable discontent within the Catts campaign, who believed Trammell had ridden Catts's coattails to victory in the primary; the Jacksonville Free Press issued an October 12 editorial accusing Trammell of being "merely the bailiff of the invisible throne of a diabolical despotism." Days before the election, Trammell issued an ambiguous statement urging Democratic voters to get to the polls. Results 1916 Florida gubernatorial election Prohibition Party Sidney J. Catts 39,546 47.71% 45.52 Democratic Party (United States) William V. Knott 30,343 36.61% 43.81 Republican Party (United States) George W. Allen 10,333 12.47% 7.01 Socialist Party of America C.C. Allen 2,470 2.98% 4.17 Other Various 193 0.23% 9,203 11.10% -62.17% 82,885 +170.02% Prohibition Party Democratic Party (United States) By county County William V. Knott Democratic George W. Allen Republican C.C. Allen Socialist Sidney J. Catts Prohibition TotalsCrawford, H. C. (1915). (rep.). Report of the Secretary of State of the State of Florida (Vol. 1915, pp. 6–7). Tallahassee, FL: T.J. Appleyard, State Printer. # % # % # % # %Alachua 1,128 44.06% 332 12.97% 33 1.29% 1,067 41.68% 2,560 Baker 92 14.70% 87 13.90% 8 1.28% 439 70.13% 626 Bay 399 34.76% 170 14.81% 73 6.36% 506 44.08% 1,148 Bradford 515 31.44% 106 6.47% 10 0.61% 1,007 61.48% 1,638 Brevard 467 53.13% 151 17.18% 27 3.07% 234 26.62% 879 Broward 152 22.65% 32 4.77% 43 6.41% 444 66.17% 671 Calhoun 227 22.02% 69 6.69% 55 5.33% 680 65.96% 1,031 Citrus 224 32.28% 29 4.18% 6 0.86% 435 62.68% 694 Clay 158 27.92% 56 9.89% 23 4.06% 329 58.13% 566 Columbia 314 28.04% 185 16.52% 25 2.23% 596 53.21% 1,120 Dade 854 29.99% 465 16.33% 111 3.90% 1,418 49.79% 2,848 DeSoto 598 23.31% 245 9.55% 78 3.04% 1,644 64.09% 2,565 Duval 3,834 49.67% 815 10.56% 174 2.25% 2,896 37.52% 7,719 Escambia 1,359 47.15% 224 7.77% 48 1.67% 1,251 43.41% 2,882 Franklin 180 37.89% 51 10.74% 11 2.32% 233 49.05% 475 Gadsden 530 50.96% 20 1.92% 8 0.77% 482 46.35% 1,040 Hamilton 274 31.24% 81 9.24% 13 1.48% 509 58.04% 877 Hernando 182 33.58% 24 4.43% 8 1.48% 328 60.52% 542 Hillsborough 3,079 42.05% 436 5.95% 175 2.39% 3,633 49.61% 7,323 Holmes 323 20.88% 91 5.88% 34 2.20% 1,099 71.04% 1,547 Jackson 1,068 40.62% 220 8.37% 34 1.29% 1,307 49.71% 2,629 Jefferson 314 40.20% 101 12.93% 9 1.15% 357 45.71% 781 Lafayette 290 31.56% - 0.00% 10 1.09% 619 67.36% 919 Lake 494 36.40% 217 15.99% 34 2.51% 612 45.10% 1,357 Lee 261 23.71% 110 9.99% 36 3.27% 694 63.03% 1,101 Leon 629 48.76% 265 20.54% 10 0.78% 386 29.92% 1,290 Levy 240 24.64% 116 11.91% 10 1.03% 608 62.42% 974 Liberty 131 34.56% 15 3.96% 5 1.32% 228 60.16% 379 Madison 350 43.70% 13 1.62% 4 0.50% 434 54.18% 801 Manatee 428 28.33% 235 15.55% 59 3.90% 789 52.22% 1,511 Marion 975 41.99% 444 19.12% 95 4.09% 808 34.80% 2,322 Monroe 169 9.87% 978 57.13% 125 7.30% 440 25.70% 1,712 Nassau 372 55.27% 62 9.21% 11 1.63% 228 33.88% 673 Okaloosa 338 34.42% 135 13.75% 27 2.75% 482 49.08% 982 Orange 897 48.17% 251 13.48% 51 2.74% 663 35.61% 1,862 Osceola 159 13.71% 371 31.98% 67 5.78% 563 48.53% 1,160 Palm Beach 535 39.63% 257 19.04% 105 7.78% 453 33.56% 1,350 Pasco 328 28.15% 121 10.39% 23 1.97% 693 59.48% 1,165 Pinellas 726 32.17% 421 18.65% 101 4.47% 1,009 44.71% 2,257 Polk 1,070 30.64% 400 11.45% 147 4.21% 1,875 53.69% 3,492 Putnam 590 36.81% 387 24.14% 51 3.18% 575 35.87% 1,603 Santa Rosa 712 63.12% 54 4.79% 27 2.39% 335 29.70% 1,128 Seminole 364 37.49% 130 13.39% 41 4.22% 436 44.90% 971 St. Johns 800 43.50% 306 16.64% 75 4.08% 658 35.78% 1,839 St. Lucie 416 40.15% 71 6.85% 42 4.05% 507 48.94% 1,036 Sumter 359 48.19% 44 5.91% 5 0.67% 337 45.23% 745 Suwannee 554 37.95% 57 3.90% 76 5.21% 773 52.95% 1,460 Taylor 255 39.11% 29 4.45% 10 1.53% 358 54.91% 652 Volusia 1,037 37.90% 348 12.72% 106 3.87% 1,245 45.50% 2,736 Wakulla 94 17.06% 111 20.15% 15 2.72% 331 60.07% 551 Walton 265 17.99% 312 21.18% 44 2.99% 852 57.84% 1,473 Washington 234 22.72% 83 8.06% 52 5.05% 661 64.17% 1,030Total30,34336.69%10,33312.50%2,4702.99%39,54647.82%82,692 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Prohibition Baker Bay Bradford Broward Calhoun Citrus Clay Columbia Dade DeSoto Franklin Hamilton Hernando Hillsborough Holmes Jackson Lafayette Lake Lee Levy Liberty Madison Manatee Okaloosa Osceola Pasco Pinellas Polk Seminole St. Lucie Suwannee Taylor Volusia Wakulla Washington Walton Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Monroe References Further reading Deal John R. Jr. Sidney Johnson Catts: Stormy Petrel of Florida Politics University of Florida Press 1949 Flynt Wayne Wayne Flynt Cracker Messiah: Governor Sidney J. Catts of Florida Louisiana State University Press 1977 Baton Rouge, La. 1916 Gubernatorial Florida Category:November 1916 in the United States