1956 Rhode Island gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1956 Rhode Island gubernatorial election Rhode Island Presidential no 1954 Rhode Island gubernatorial election 1954 1958 Rhode Island gubernatorial election 1958 November 6, 1956 File:RI Governor Dennis Joseph Roberts (cropped).jpg 150x150px Dennis J. Roberts Democratic Party (United States) 192,315 50.09% File:RI Governor Christopher Del Sesto (cropped).jpg Christopher Del Sesto Republican Party (United States) 191,604 49.91% 250px County results 250px Municipality results Roberts: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70%Del Sesto: #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% Governor Dennis J. Roberts Democratic Party (United States) Dennis J. Roberts Democratic Party (United States) The 1956 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Democratic governor Dennis J. Roberts defeated Republican Christopher Del Sesto narrowly after five thousand ballots were invalidated by the Rhode Island Supreme Court. General election Candidates Christopher Del Sesto, former director of the state Office of Price Administration (Republican) Dennis J. Roberts, incumbent Governor since 1951 (Democratic) Results Although Del Sesto won a plurality, he did not become Governor that year. The Board of Elections completed its count on December 18, 1956; Del Sesto was the apparent winner by 427 votes. But in what was known as the "long count," the Rhode Island Supreme Court invalidated 5,000 civilian, absentee and shut-in ballots cast prior to election day on the grounds that a constitutional amendment required such votes to be cast on, rather than prior to, election day. The decision, released on January 1, 1957, resulted in Roberts remaining in office by a plurality of 711 votes. The incumbent Governor's brother was on the Court and recused himself from the decision, but "two of the four judges hearing the case, Chief Justice Edmund W. Flynn and Justice Francis B. Condon, both Democrats, were elected to the Supreme Court" under dubious circumstances "during Rhode Island's infamous 'Bloodless Revolution of 1935'." 1956 Rhode Island gubernatorial electionhttps://books.google.com/books?id=HYKzDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA314 America Votes 31: 2013-2014, Election Returns by State 9781483383026 April 13, 2020 Cook Rhodes 17 November 2015 CQ Press Democratic Party (United States) Dennis J. Roberts (incumbent) 192,315 50.09% Republican Party (United States) Christopher Del Sesto 191,604 49.91% 711 383,919 Democratic Party (United States) Aftermath Del Sesto ran again in 1958 and this time he defeated Roberts by 6,237 votes. References 1956 Rhode Island Gubernatorial Category:November 1956 in the United States