1886 South Carolina gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1886 South Carolina Democratic convention South Carolina presidential no 1884 South Carolina gubernatorial election 1884 August 4, 1886 1888 South Carolina gubernatorial election 1888 x150px John Peter Richardson III, Governor of South Carolina.jpg John Peter Richardson III Democratic Party (United States) 54.26% 172 3x4.svg W. C. Coker Democratic Party (United States) 29.65% 94 Photo_of_Governor_John_Calhoun_Sheppard_of_SC.jpg John Calhoun Sheppard Democratic Party (United States) 15.77% 50 Governor John Calhoun Sheppard Democratic Party (United States) John Peter Richardson III Democratic Party (United States) The 1886 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1886, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. John Peter Richardson III was nominated by the Democrats and became the 83rd governor of South Carolina. Democratic Convention Democratic nomination for GovernorCandidate1st Ballot2nd Ballot3rd Ballot 1st Call 2nd Call John Peter Richardson III 112 137 149 172 John Calhoun Sheppard 68 80 78 50 W.C. Coker 48 65 77 94 Giles J. Patterson 36 0 0 0 Edward McCrady 29 15 14 1 W.D. Johnson 25 20 0 0 Ben Tillman, an upstate demagogue, sought to increase his political strength statewide by entering in a union with the editor of The News and Courier, Francis Dawson. They united behind the candidacy of governor John Calhoun Sheppard for reelection, although Sheppard refused to accept Tillman's agriculture program. The News and Courier ran articles leading up to the convention describing the growing strength of Sheppard's campaign and by beginning of the state Democratic convention held in Columbia on August 4, the newspaper had proclaimed that Sheppard was in the lead.Cooper, p. 178 On the morning of August 4, Tillman gathered the delegates from the Democratic convention who were supporters of the Farmers' Association at the Richland County courthouse and tried to bind them to a resolution to support Sheppard. The effort failed and the farmers instead adopted a resolution stating that they would not endorse any candidate for governor. When it became public that Tillman tried to coerce support for Sheppard, a delegate from Richland County went to the floor after the initial call of the third ballot and changed his vote from Sheppard to John Peter Richardson III, a planter from Clarendon County. Immediately a stampede of other delegates changed their vote and a second call of the third ballot was taken. After this tally, Richardson received 172 votes and was declared the nominee for governor, having passed the required threshold of 159. General election The general election was held on November 2, 1886, and John Peter Richardson III was elected as governor of South Carolina without opposition. Being a non-presidential election and few contested races, turnout was the lowest for a gubernatorial election since the election of 1865. South Carolina Gubernatorial Election, 1886 Democratic Party (United States) John Peter Richardson III 33,114 99.88 -0.1 No party Write-Ins 40 0.12 +0.1 33,074 99.76 -0.2 33,154 |- | Democratic Party (United States) | colspan=5 |Democratic hold |- frame|none|1886 South Carolina gubernatorial election map, by percentile by county. #00f 65+% won by Richardson See also Governor of South Carolina List of governors of South Carolina South Carolina gubernatorial elections Notes References William J. Jr. Cooper The Conservative Regime: South Carolina, 1877–1890 2005 University of South Carolina Press 1-57003-597-0 The Summary The News and Courier 5 August 1886 1 External links SCIway Biography of Governor John Peter Richardson III 1884 South Carolina gubernatorial elections 1888 Category:1886 United States gubernatorial elections 1886 1886 Gubernatorial Category:November 1886 in the United States