1936 Georgia gubernatorial election

none related races 1936 United States gubernatorial elections January 2025 September 2023 1936 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary Georgia (U.S. state) 1920 Presidential no 1934 Georgia gubernatorial election 1934 1938 Georgia gubernatorial election 1938 September 9, 1936 Discusses Georgia's problems with President. Washington, D.C., Dec. 22. Governor-elect E.D. Rivers was at the White House today where he discussed Georgia's problems with President Roosevelt LCCN2016871021 Crop.jpg Eurith D. Rivers 372 Democratic Party (United States) 233,503 59.98% Charles D. Redwine (cropped).png Charles D. Redwine 30 Democratic Party (United States) 123,095 31.62% 3x4.svg Blanton Fortson 8 Democratic Party (United States) 32,715 8.40% File:1936 Georgia gubernatorial Democratic primary election results map by county.svg 250px County resultsRivers: #bdd3ff 30-40% #a5b0ff 40-50% #7996e2 50-60% #6674de 60-70% #584cde 70-80% #3933e5 80-90%Redwine: #e9ddaf 40-50% #d3bc5f 50-60% #c8ab37 60-70%Fortson: #ffd4ff 40-50% #ff67ff 80-90% Governor Eugene Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) Eurith D. Rivers Democratic Party (United States) 410 county unit votes 206 unit The 1936 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1936, in order to elect the governor of Georgia. Incumbent Democratic governor Eugene Talmadge was term-limited, and would become eligible to run for a third term only after spending four years out of office (thus in 1940).1877 Georgia constitution, Article V, Section I, Paragraph II https://www.georgiaarchives.org/assets/documents/research/1877_Georgia_Constitution.pdf Georgia State Archive The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor, who shall hold his office during the term of two years, and until his successor shall be chosen and qualified. He shall not be eligible to re-election, after the expiration of a second term, for the period of four years. Talmadge instead ran for the U.S. Senate. As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran with only token opposition in the general election so therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered tantamount to election. Despite the token opposition from Prohibition nominee L.P. Glass, this was the first gubernatorial election to have a non-Democrat on the ballot since the 1912 special election. Democratic primary The Democratic primary election was held on September 9, 1936. As Rivers won a majority of county unit votes, there was no run-off. County unit system From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections.http://www.georgiacca.com/unit.cfm County Unit System Georgia County Clerks Association 8 June 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20080531162547/http://www.georgiacca.com/unit.cfm 31 May 2008 dead The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR4181&chapterID=GR4181-6373&path=encyclopedias/greenwood Eugene Talmadge The Jim Crow Encyclopedia The African American Experience 12 August 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20150123030046/http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR4181&chapterID=GR4181-6373&path=encyclopedias%2Fgreenwood 23 January 2015 dead https://rbrl.blogspot.com/2011/10/county-unit-system-eh.html County Unit System, eh? 6 October 2011 Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies 8 June 2020 Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis. Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/county-unit-system County Unit System Buchanan Scott 13 June 2017 New Georgia Encyclopedia 8 June 2020 Candidates Blanton Fortson, Georgia Superior Court judge Primary will test Talmadge record https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1936-09-06/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=1936&index=2&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Fortson+Redwine+Rivers&proxdistance=5&date2=1936&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=rivers+fortson+redwine&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Evening Star Washington, D.C. 6 September 1936 A-5 13 June 2020 Charles D. Redwine, President of the Georgia State Senate Talmadge beaten in Georgia race https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1936-09-10/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1936&index=1&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Fortson+Redwine+Rivers&proxdistance=5&date2=1936&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=rivers+fortson+redwine&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 Evening Star Washington, D.C. 10 September 1936 1 13 June 2020 Eurith D. Rivers, Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives and unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for governor in 1928 and 1930 Results Popular vote County unit vote Eurith D. Rivers 233503 372 Charles D. Redwine 123095 30 Blanton Fortson 32715 8 Congressional Quarterly 1998 107https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=378445 GA Governor, 1936 - D Primary Our Campaigns 13 June 2020Georgia Register 1937 542-545 General election In the general election, Rivers faced token opposition. Results 1936 Georgia gubernatorial electionCongressional Quarterly 1998 48https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=262944 GA Governor, 1936 Our Campaigns 13 June 2020Glashan 1979 68-69Georgia Register 1937 657 Democratic Party (United States) Eurith D. Rivers 263,140 99.67% Prohibition Party L. P. Glass 873 0.33% 264,013 100.00% Democratic Party (United States) References Bibliography Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997 Washington, D.C. Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998 1-56802-396-0 Congressional Quarterly 1998 Glashan Roy R. American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978 Meckler Books 1979 0-930466-17-9 Compiled by Mrs. J.E. Hays, State Historian and Director 1937 Georgia's Official Register, 1933-1935-1937 http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/statreg-images/pdfs/1933.pdf Atlanta, GA State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History Georgia Register 1937 1936 Georgia Gubernatorial Category:November 1936 in the United States