1938 Minnesota gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial election Minnesota 1893 presidential no 1936 Minnesota gubernatorial election 1936 1940 Minnesota gubernatorial election 1940 November 8, 1938 Harold Stassen.jpg Harold Stassen Republican Party (United States) 678,839 59.92% Elmer A. Benson, 1938.jpg Elmer Benson Farmer–Labor Party 387,263 34.18% Thomas F. Gallagher.png Thomas F. Gallagher Democratic Party of Minnesota 65,875 5.81% 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 280px County resultsStassen: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% #c21b18 80–90%Benson #b4f1b4 40–50% #7fe27f 50–60% Governor Elmer Benson Farmer–Labor Party Harold Stassen Republican Party of Minnesota The 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1938. Republican candidate Harold Stassen defeated Farmer-Labor incumbent Elmer Benson. Benson ran for a second term. Farmer-Labor primary The Farmer-Labor primary election was between incumbent governor Elmer Benson and former governor Hjalmar Petersen. Candidates Nominated Elmer Benson, incumbent Eliminated in primary Hjalmar Petersen, former governor Results Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota primary resultsFarmer-Labor Party Elmer Benson 218,235 51.91%Farmer-Labor Party Hjalmar Petersen 202,205 48.09%420,440 100% Governor, 1938 Election Minnesota Historical Election Archive https://mnelectionarchive.datamade.us/election/2319384032420600/ Republican primary The Republican primary election was held with four candidates. Harold Stassen won the election with a 47.42% plurality. Candidates Nominated Harold Stassen, Dakota County attorney Eliminated in primary George E. Leach, mayor of Minneapolis Martin A. Nelson, attorney and Republican gubernatorial candidate in 1934, and 1936 Harson A. Northrup, pseudoscientist Results Republican Party of Minnesota primary results Republican Party (United States) Harold Stassen 123,634 47.42% Republican Party (United States) Martin A. Nelson 76,532 29.36% Republican Party (United States) George E. Leach 57,028 21.88% Republican Party (United States) Harson A. Northrup 3,501 1.34% 260,695 100% Governor, 1938 Election Minnesota Historical Election Archive https://mnelectionarchive.datamade.us/election/2319384015020600/ Democratic primary Candidates Nominated Thomas F. Gallagher, attorney Eliminated in primary Joel F. Anderson, employee of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission (Farmer-Labor) Victor Emanuel Anderson, former assistant attorney general Michael F. Murray, former head of the Minnesota department of the American Legion Fred Schilplin, newspaper editor Charles A. Lethert, former clerk of the Supreme Court Results Democratic Party of Minnesota primary results Democratic Party (United States) Thomas F. Gallagher 23,240 29.23% Democratic Party (United States) Fred Schilplin 20,209 25.41% Democratic Party (United States) Michael F. Murray 17,722 22.29% Democratic Party (United States) Victor Emanuel Anderson 10,321 12.98% Democratic Party (United States) Charles A. Lethert 4,658 5.86% Democratic Party (United States) Joel F. Anderson 3,369 4.24% 79,519 100% Governor, 1938 Election Minnesota Historical Election Archive https://mnelectionarchive.datamade.us/election/2319384010020600/ Candidates Elmer Benson, incumbent (Farmer-Labor) John William Castle, painter (Industrial) Thomas F. Gallagher, attorney (Democrat) Harold Stassen, Dakota County attorney (Republican) Campaigns Incumbent Benson found his position weakened in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not endorse him for a second term, and former governor and primary opponent Hjalmar Petersen refused to fall in line with him. Former political allies from Wisconsin, Governor Philip La Follette and Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., also broke with Benson, openly preferring Stassen. The La Follettes sought to unite the Farmer-Labor party with the Wisconsin Progressive Party into the National Progressives of America, with candidates already slated in Iowa. Benson refused the union, resulting in the collapse of relations between the two.Ball Joseph H. Petersen Refusal Is Blow To Hopes of Benson Camp September 30, 1938 St. Paul Pioneer Press https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp19380930.1.12&srpos=19&e=------193-en-20--1--img-txIN-Benson----1938------- April 4, 2026 Stassen called Benson's administration "the three R's; reactionary, radical, and racketeering." Benson explained his reasoning as: reactionary as in Benson's ideological control of the Farmer-Labor party; radical in its encouragement of strikes, which Stassen claimed were 'violent', and racketeering as in attempts to implement sales tax and liquor tax. Stassen further accused Benson's administration of being more focused on maintaining control than benefitting the people.Stassen Raps Benson, Opposes Sales Tax St. Paul Pioneer Press March 8, 1938 https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp19380308.1.1&e=------193-en-20--1--img-txIN-Stassen----1938------- Benson attacked Stassen for his call for "tolerance", stating that this was nothing more than tolerating special interests, big banks, and big business. Benson stated, "You cannot serve God and Mammon."Benson Hits Tolerance Plea October 31, 1938 St. Paul Pioneer Press https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp19381031.1.7&srpos=16&e=------193-en-20--1--img-txIN-Benson----1938------- April 4, 2026 One local Farmer-Laborite leader from Floodwood, S. B. Ruohoniemi, had endorsed Stassen and other Republican candidates. Ruohoniemi allenged that a group of fellow Farmer-Laborites accused him of being a traitor, and went as far as threatening his life.Reds Threatened Me, Says F.-L. Backer of Stassen October 21, 1938 St. Paul Pioneer Press https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp19381022.1.2&srpos=9&e=------193-en-20--1--img-txIN-Stassen----1938------- April 4, 2026 In early October, Stassen proposed a debate with Benson that would have been the first gubernatorial debate in Minnesotan history. Benson refused.Ball Joseph H. Stassen Attacks F.-L 'Cover Up' St. Paul Pioneer Press October 4, 1938 https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp19381004.1.1&e=------193-en-20--1--img-txIN-Stassen----1938------- Stassen's image was heavily impacted by a strike that happened while he was Dakota County commissioner, in November of 1933. A strike in South St. Paul by 1,233 workers of Armour and Company was poorly resolved by Stassen after he ordered the illegal arrests and raids of union leaders. The strike was broken, the workers returned to work with no new compensation, and the strike leaders were blacklisted from jobs. However, the compliance board chairman of the National Recovery Administration, M. J. O'Toole, argued instead that Stassen was uninvolved in the raids or arrests, and fought for the re-instatement of the workers, bringing the issues to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of the workers when the NLRB was founded in 1935.Stassen's Role in Settling Labor Dispute in 1933 Praised and Denounced November 5, 1938 St. Paul Pioneer Press https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp19381105.1.4&srpos=2&e=------193-en-20--1--img-txIN-Stassen----1938------- April 4, 2026 A group of Stassen supporters, led by Ray P. Chase, ran an anti-semetic campaign against Benson. Chase collaborated with the Silver Shirts, and their campaign argued that Benson's administration would bring about 'Jewish Communism'. The Silver Shirts threatened that if Benson could not be defeated in the election, then they would violently attempt to depose him.No Jews Allowed MPR News September 21, 1992 https://archive.mpr.org/stories/1992/09/21/no-jews-allowed Results 1938 gubernatorial election, Minnesota Republican Party (United States) Harold Stassen 678,839 59.92% +21.37% Farmer–Labor Party Elmer Benson (incumbent) 387,263 34.18% -26.55% Democratic Party (United States) Thomas F. Gallagher 65,875 5.81% n/a Industrial Party (United States) John William Castle 899 0.08% -0.63% 291,576 25.74% 1,132,876 Republican Party (United States) Farmer–Labor Party Further reading Benson, Elmer A. "Politics in My Lifetime." Minnesota History 47 (1980): 154–60. online Haynes, John Earl. Dubious alliance: the making of Minnesota's DFL Party (U of Minnesota Press, 1984) Kirby, Ales, David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann. Harold E. Stassen: The Life and Perennial Candidacy of the Progressive Republican (2012) Lovin, Hugh T. "The Fall of Farmer–Labor Parties, 1936-1938." Pacific Northwest Quarterly (1971): 16–26. in JSTOR Sofchalk, Donald G. "Union and Ethnic Group Influence in the 1938 Election on the Minnesota Iron Ranges." Journal of the West (2003) 42#3 pp: 66–74. References See also List of Minnesota gubernatorial elections External links Minnesota Historical Election Archive Minnesota Gubernatorial 1938 Category:November 1938 in the United States