1898 California gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 related races 1898 United States gubernatorial elections 1898 California gubernatorial election presidential 1894 California gubernatorial election 1894 1902 California gubernatorial election 1902 no Flag of California (1864).pngborder November 8, 1898 Henry Gage 1899.jpg Henry Gage Republican Party (United States) 148,354 51.68% Maguire, Hon. J.G Alt Crop.jpg James G. Maguire PopulistSilver Republican Democratic Party (United States) 129,261 45.03% 1898 California gubernatorial election results map by county.svg County resultsGage: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70%Maguire: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% Governor James Budd Democratic Party (United States) Henry Gage Republican Party (United States) The 1898 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1898, to elect the governor of California. Republican lawyer Henry Gage defeated Democratic-Populist-Silver Republican Fusion 19 August 1898 Maguire by acclamation https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1898-08-19/ed-1/seq-1/ San Francisco Call San Francisco 17 October 2024 Congressman James G. Maguire. For the eighth time in nine elections, the incumbent party failed to retain the governorship. However, that string of flips ended with this election, as Republicans won the next nine consecutive gubernatorial elections in California.Hiram Johnson was reelected in 1914 on the Progressive ticket, but had originally been elected as a Republican in 1910 and resumed that party affiliation for the US Senate election in 1916Taggart Harold F. 1950 The Election of 1898 in California https://www.jstor.org/stable/3635818 Pacific Historical Review 19 4 357–368 10.2307/3635818 0030-8684 Democratic primary campaign thumb|left|Maguire's full statement announcing his candidacy for governor of California, as published in the San Francisco Examiner, October 26, 1897 On October 26, 1897, Congressman James G. Maguire published a signed statement in the San Francisco Examiner announcing his candidacy for governor of California.MAGUIRE ANNOUNCES HIS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDACY https://www.newspapers.com/image/457727760/ 24 October 2025 San Francisco Examiner 26 October 1897 San FranciscoJAMES G. MAGUIRE https://www.newspapers.com/image/695726203/?match=1&terms=%22James%20G.%20Maguire%22 24 October 2025 Tulare County Times 28 October 1897 Visalia By January of 1898, it was not immediately clear whether James Budd would challenge him and seek re-election; at the time Budd was suffering from rheumatism and confined to his bed.Governor Budd Ill https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18980125.2.97 20 October 2025 25 117 Los Angeles Herald 25 January 1898 In February it was rumored that he preferred to help his lieutenant governor, William T. Jeter, secure the Democratic nomination for governor.The Shadow of a Coming Event https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCWC18980217.1.6 20 October 2025 1599 Santa Cruz Surf (Weekly) 17 February 1898 The Los Angeles Herald later confirmed that Governor Budd would not seek re-election due to his health and that he would attempt to bring in a dark horse candidate to challenge Maguire, such as Jeter. It was later announced that rancher Hugh McElroy LaRue would run for governor.POLITICAL GOSSIP https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18980221.2.69 20 October 2025 25 144 Los Angeles Herald 21 February 1898 In February, Senator J.H. Seawall of Mendocino County announced that he was running for governor.SENATOR SEAWELL https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD18980223.2.15 30 January 2026 XLI 46 Press Democrat 23 February 1898 In early March, outgoing Senator Stephen M. White told reporters that he advised Maguire to not run for governor and instead stay in Congress, saying: "I told Maguire at Washington a short time ago that he was making a mistake...The Judge should remain in Congress, where he is a leader and where he can stay until the end of the chapter... Maguire insists, however, that his gubernatorial ambition will end his political career. If he is nominated and elected he will serve his term and quit, and if on the other hand he should fail to reach it, he will quit just the same. I advised him to try for the Senatorship, but be remarked that be had his mind made up. He thinks as I do, that it is a luxury that he cannot afford, and his wife agrees with him, just as my family does with me."What Senator White Says https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCDS18980302.1.1 30 January 2026 29 50 Santa Cruz Surf 2 March 1898 Despite these reservations, Maguire continued to run, and by April was the early favorite to win the Democratic nomination.POLITICAL PARAGRAPHS https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=BT18980416.2.28 30 January 2026 X 16 Blade Tribune 16 April 1898 Even with many favoring Maguire for the nomination, Democratic politicians still maneuvered to cut down his chances for the nomination, even going so far as to change the rules of the nominating convention to boost rural representation, where Maguire's support was allegedly the weakest.CLEVER PLAN TO DEFEAT MAGUIRE https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980420.2.65 3 February 2026 83 141 San Francisco Call 20 April 1898Maguire and Gould https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=VTD18980422.1.2 3 February 2026 13 51 Visalia Times Delta 22 April 1898 In April, Mayor James D. Phelan of San Francisco announced that he would run for governor as a Democrat.Heard on the Street https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SJH18980427.2.82 3 February 2026 LXIV 99 San Jose Herald 27 April 1898 In May, the Populist Party met in San Francisco, and announced that they would favor a fusion with the Democratic party and the Silver Republicans.The Peoples Party https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=RBDN18980506.1.4 28 February 2026 13 Red Bluff Daily News 6 May 1898 Republican primary campaign As early as January 1898, several prominent men were rumored to be interested in the Republican nomination. George Pardee and William R. Davis, both of whom were former Mayors of Oakland, were fighting for the support of the Alameda County Republican Party. Other potential candidates in the beginning of the year were San Francisco District Attorney William S. Barnes, State Senator Thomas Flint Jr., and Attorney General William F. Fitzgerald.ALL WILLING https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH18980103.2.81 31 October 2025 25 95 Los Angeles Herald 3 January 1898 While Pardee and Davis were fighting for support within their county, other camps sought to exclude them from the process entirely by rewarding Alameda County with the nomination for a different office, California State Controller, to be given to Oakland City Auditor R. W. Snow.SNOW FOR CONTROLLER https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980104.2.113.1 31 October 2025 83 35 San Francisco Call 4 January 1898 Beginning in early March, it was rumored that Henry Gage would run not for the U.S. Senate seat to succeed Stephen M. White, but for governor of California.HENRY T. GAGE FOR GOVERNOR https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980304.2.37 6 November 2025 83 94 San Francisco Call 4 March 1898 On May 19, Gage officially announced his candidacy. This announcement was met with immediate criticism from fellow Republicans who feared that his candidacy would torpedo the chances of Robert N. Bulla, a fellow Southern California Republican who was running for the U.S. Senate election.Henry T. Gage for Governor - Will Seek Republican Nomination - Bulla's Friends Opposed https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980520.1.9 9 December 2025 San Francisco Call California Digital Newspaper Collection May 20, 1898 9 In August 1898, The San Francisco Call asked editors of newspapers across the state to "telegraph us your unbiased opinion as to which of these candidates is strongest in your locality", and compiled a list of candidates: Henry Gage, George C. Pardee, William R. Davis, General John H. Dickinson, Levi Richard Ellert, Lewis H. Brown, Thomas Flint Jr., Charles N. Felton, George A. Knight, William F. Fitzgerald, and Irving Murray Scott.PICKING THE FAVORITES https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC18980809.2.2 31 October 2025 84 70 San Francisco Call 9 August 1898 Campaign thumb|left|Maguire (left) shakes hands with Gage outside the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco, October 8, 1898. Maguire ran on a platform of anti-monopolism, support for the war with Spain, and opposition to the War Revenue Act of 1898. He was opposed by every major newspaper save for William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner. Meanwhile, Gage had the backing of the powerful Southern Pacific RailroadRoske Ralph J. Everyman's Eden: A History of California 1968 Macmillan Publishers New York 448 https://archive.org/details/everymansedenhis00rosk/page/448/mode/1up 14 October 2025 and campaigned on support for the War Revenue Act.Why Citizens Should Vote for Gage https://www.newspapers.com/image/50278291/?terms=Gage&match=2 20 October 2025 Evening Sentinel 2 November 1898 Santa Cruz He denied any connection to Southern Pacific and marketed himself as a political outsider. 25 August 1898 Henry T. Gage is nominated https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85066387/1898-08-25/ed-1/?sp=1 San Francisco Call San Francisco 20 October 2025 During the campaign, Maguire was denounced by Irish Catholic priest Peter Yorke for a book he had written ten years prior, Ireland and The Pope, in which he argued that the subjugation of Ireland by the British Empire had been orchestrated by certain medieval Popes. Yorke's attacks were so severe that Patrick William Riordan, the archbishop of San Francisco, had to distance himself, stating to the press: "Father Yorke is alone responsible for his utterances."Gaffey James P. Citizen of No Mean City: Archbishop Patrick Riordan of San Francisco (1841-1914) 1976 Consortium Books Wilmington 168–172 https://archive.org/details/citizenofnomeanc0000gaff/page/168/mode/1up 13 October 2025 Maguire was further criticized by his opponents for his alleged pandering and flip-flopping during his political career;Maguire Denounces Straddling. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HTES18981027.2.34 24 October 2025 XXII 5 Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar 27 October 1898 they cited his opposition to the Annexation of Hawaii and the War Revenue Act, as well as his supposed denouncement and then support of Senator Stephen M. White.Remember! https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HTS18981101.2.15 24 October 2025 LI 104 Humboldt Times 1 November 1898 Maguire's support for Henry George's single tax was also made an issue in the campaign (although he pledged not to make it one), with various Republican publications and individuals labeling him an anarchist, a socialist, and a communist.MAGUIRE AS A COMMUNIST https://www.newspapers.com/image/837040274/?terms=%22James%20G.%20Maguire%22 29 October 2025 Marysville Daily Appeal 2 November 1898 MarysvilleMAGUIRE ACCEPTS https://www.newspapers.com/image/81005855/?terms=Maguire 29 October 2025 The San Francisco Call 25 August 1898 San FranciscoCHEERS FOR MEN AND ISSUES https://www.newspapers.com/image/1251651564/?terms=Maguire 29 October 2025 San Francisco Chronicle 26 October 1898 San Francisco Perhaps the greatest charge was that he was a "sandlotter" (I.E. a former member of the Workingmen's Party of California), with the San Francisco Chronicle devoting a full-page article to highlighting the fact that he had previously sought the party's nomination and that several former party members (Clitus Barbour, Samuel Braunhart, John P. Dunn, John Tracy Gaffey, William J. Gavigan, Joseph C. Gorman and A. B. Maguire, among others) were now Democrats active in the Maguire campaign.MAGUIREISM MEANS SANDLOTISM https://www.newspapers.com/image/1251644652/ 29 October 2025 San Francisco Chronicle 11 September 1898 San Francisco Results California gubernatorial election, 1898California Blue Book, or State Roster 1899 California Secretary of State State Printing Office Sacramento, California 227 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015041451256&view=1up&seq=271 18 July 2024 Republican Party (United States) Henry Gage 148,354 51.68% +12.76% Democratic Party (United States) James G. Maguire 129,261 45.03% +5.69% Socialist Labor Party of America Job Harriman 5,143 1.79% +1.79% Prohibition Party (United States) Joseph E. McComas 4,297 1.50% -2.21% Scattering 9 0.00% 19,093 6.65% 287,064 100.00% Republican Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) +7.07% Results by county County Henry GageRepublican James G. MaguireDemocratic Job HarrimanSocialist Labor Joseph E. McComasProhibition ScatteringWrite-in Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % # % # %Alameda12,08057.24%8,30839.37%4962.35%2201.04%10.00%3,77217.87%21,105Alpine6469.57%2830.43%00.00%00.00%00.00%3639.13%92Amador1,35149.93%1,30448.19%240.89%271.00%00.00%471.74%2,706Butte2,24551.38%2,01246.05%430.98%691.58%00.00%2335.33%4,369Calaveras1,60952.24%1,43246.49%230.75%160.52%00.00%1775.75%3,080Colusa66437.14%1,07660.18%301.68%181.01%00.00%-412-23.04%1,788Contra Costa1,89355.42%1,47243.09%220.64%290.85%00.00%42112.32%3,416Del Norte35451.98%30544.79%131.91%91.32%00.00%497.20%681El Dorado1,33247.45%1,41550.41%341.21%260.93%00.00%-83-2.96%2,807Fresno2,78343.20%3,39052.62%1171.82%1522.36%00.00%-607-9.42%6,442Glenn56139.79%82858.72%70.50%140.99%00.00%-267-18.94%1,410Humboldt3,17156.78%2,20739.52%1232.20%841.50%00.00%96417.26%5,585Inyo47847.05%50850.00%131.28%171.67%00.00%-30-2.95%1,016Kern1,72346.61%1,88651.01%671.81%210.57%00.00%-163-4.41%3,697Kings91849.51%89848.44%110.59%271.46%00.00%201.08%1,854Lake62742.83%75751.71%302.05%503.42%00.00%-130-8.88%1,464Lassen55854.39%43842.69%161.56%141.36%00.00%12011.70%1,026Los Angeles14,98352.29%12,05242.06%4791.67%1,1383.97%00.00%2,93110.23%28,652Madera55841.15%76556.42%171.25%161.18%00.00%-207-15.27%1,356Marin1,34557.36%94540.30%472.00%80.34%00.00%40017.06%2,345Mariposa52140.08%74757.46%131.00%191.46%00.00%-226-17.38%1,300Mendocino2,00446.90%2,18851.21%250.59%561.31%00.00%-184-4.31%4,273Merced80141.61%1,07455.79%180.94%321.66%00.00%-273-14.18%1,925Modoc37539.72%54958.16%121.27%80.85%00.00%-174-18.43%944Mono33557.66%24141.48%20.34%30.52%00.00%9416.18%581Monterey1,99547.77%2,05049.09%541.29%771.84%00.00%-55-1.32%4,176Napa1,94753.89%1,57843.68%411.13%471.30%00.00%36910.21%3,613Nevada2,57755.80%1,97142.68%190.41%501.08%10.02%60613.12%4,618Orange1,99250.03%1,78144.73%320.80%1774.45%00.00%2115.30%3,982Placer2,21654.25%1,80844.26%260.64%340.83%10.02%4089.99%4,085Plumas66054.10%54444.59%80.66%80.66%00.00%1169.51%1,220Riverside2,11854.53%1,51839.08%691.78%1794.61%00.00%60015.45%3,884Sacramento5,68961.42%3,41436.86%1021.10%570.62%00.00%2,27524.56%9,262San Benito73842.05%98456.07%140.80%191.08%00.00%-246-14.02%1,755San Bernardino2,68848.74%2,50645.44%981.78%2234.04%00.00%1823.30%5,515San Diego3,50649.26%3,25945.79%2082.92%1442.02%00.00%2473.47%7,117San Francisco28,21851.90%24,63245.30%1,3882.55%1340.25%00.00%3,5866.60%54,372San Joaquin3,89454.73%3,01842.42%1211.70%801.12%20.03%87612.31%7,115San Luis Obispo1,65746.27%1,82851.05%310.87%651.82%00.00%-171-4.78%3,581San Mateo1,58758.03%1,09840.15%361.32%140.51%00.00%48917.88%2,735Santa Barbara2,07251.83%1,73643.42%952.38%952.38%00.00%3368.40%3,998Santa Clara6,82156.02%4,88340.11%2922.40%1791.47%00.00%1,93815.92%12,175Santa Cruz2,14948.83%2,08147.28%932.11%781.77%00.00%681.55%4,401Shasta1,59842.62%2,02854.09%711.89%521.39%00.00%-430-11.47%3,749Sierra75760.71%48038.49%50.40%40.32%10.08%27722.21%1,247Siskiyou1,73749.37%1,72248.95%381.08%210.60%00.00%150.43%3,518Solano3,00555.50%2,26241.78%951.75%520.96%00.00%74313.72%5,414Sonoma4,06351.87%3,58745.79%1001.28%831.06%00.00%4766.08%7,833Stanislaus1,12744.69%1,33652.97%210.83%381.51%00.00%-209-8.29%2,522Sutter88054.42%70443.54%130.80%201.24%00.00%17610.88%1,617Tehama1,08847.35%1,17050.91%251.09%150.65%00.00%-82-3.57%2,298Trinity68753.17%58445.20%141.08%70.54%00.00%1037.97%1,292Tulare1,72540.58%2,24552.81%2044.80%741.74%30.07%-520-12.23%4,251Tuolumne1,21941.92%1,59854.95%421.44%491.69%00.00%-379-13.03%2,908Ventura1,64352.16%1,36943.46%571.81%812.57%00.00%2748.70%3,150Yolo1,69549.46%1,65148.18%330.96%481.40%00.00%441.28%3,427Yuba1,27354.87%1,01143.58%160.69%200.86%00.00%26211.29%2,320Total148,35451.68%129,26145.03%5,1431.79%4,2971.50%90.00%19,0936.65%287,064 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican AmadorWas tied in 1894; flip from Democratic is relative to 1890 San Francisco San Joaquin Santa Clara Yolo Counties that flipped from People's to Republican Humboldt Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic Inyo Monterey San Luis Obispo Tehama Counties that flipped from People's to Democratic Shasta Notes References California Politics 1898 California gubernatorial Category:November 1898 in the United States