1958 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1958 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election Pennsylvania presidential 1958 11 4 no 1954 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election 1954 1962 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election 1962 File:David L. Lawrence (Pennsylvania governor).jpg David Lawrence John Morgan Davis Democratic Party (United States) 2,024,852 50.85% Arthur T. McGonigle Crop.jpg Art McGonigle John Walker Republican Party (United States) 1,948,769 48.93% 1958 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 260px County resultsLawrence: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% McGonigle: #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% Governor George Leader Democratic Party (United States) David Lawrence Democratic Party (United States) The 1958 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 4. Democrat David Lawrence defeated Republican Art McGonigle by a smaller than anticipated margin. Democratic primary Candidates Roy Furman, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Lavelle David L. Lawrence, Mayor of Pittsburgh Results David L. Lawrence easily dispatched incumbent Lieutenant Governor Roy Furman of Greene County, whose position within the party had been marginalized due to his poor relationship with Governor George Leader. Leader had once even described his colleague as unfit for the executive office.Kennedy John J. https://books.google.com/books?id=1J_9q-lIWRkC&q=1962&pg=PA112 Pennsylvania Elections: Statewide Contests From 1950-2004 University Press of America 2006 9780761832799 thumb|Democratic primary results #7996E2 Lawrence #A5B0FF 40%–50% #7996E2 50%–60% #6674DE 60%–70% #584CDE 70%–80% #3933E5 80%–90% #51C2C2 Furman #008080 80%–90% |center Pennsylvania gubernatorial Democratic primary election, 19581960 The Pennsylvania Manual Harrisburg Pennsylvania Department of Property and Supplies 506 Democratic Party (United States) David Lawrence 730,229 74.45 Democratic Party (United States) Roy Furman 194,464 19.83 Democratic Party (United States) Ed Lavelle 56,188 5.73 980,881 100.00 Republican Primary Candidates Bill Livengood, Secretary of Internal Affairs Art McGonigle, CEO of Bachman Bakeries Harold Stassen, president of the University of Pennsylvania and former Governor of Minnesota Harold Vaughn Arthur T. McGonigle's major primary opponent was Harold Stassen, the former Governor of Minnesota and security advisor to President Eisenhower who was known for making a serious run for the party's nomination for president in 1948. Stassen had moved to the state to take the presidency of the University of Pennsylvania and was determined to return to electoral politics. Although the liberal Republican Stassen was viewed as a carpetbagger by state party machinery, his name recognition gave him credibility. McGonigle waged a vigorous campaign to counter Stassen's challenge, which saw the bakery executive crisscross the state by car and gaining grassroots support. Bill Livengood, the longtime Secretary of Internal Affairs, also entered the race after failing to gain the support of his party for another term at that office, but his campaign gained little attention.Pennsylvania Politics Today and Yesterday: The Tolerable Accommodation Beers Paul B. Penn State University Press 2010 9780271044989 https://books.google.com/books?id=6SpJJmkNDFEC&dq=livengood+secretary+of+internal+affairs&pg=PA252 Results thumb|Republican primary results #E27F7F McGonigle #FFC8CD 30%–40% #FFB2B2 40%–50% #E27F7F 50%–60% #D75D5D 60%–70% #D72F30 70%–80% #FFB380 Stassen #FEE5D5 30%–40% #FFCCAA 40%–50% #FFB380 50%–60% #FF9955 60%–70% #51C2C2 Livengood #ACF2F2 30%–40% #7DDDDD 40%–50% #51C2C2 50%–60% #009696 70%–80% |center Pennsylvania gubernatorial Republican primary election, 1958 Republican Party (United States) Art McGonigle 578,286 53.32 Republican Party (United States) Harold Stassen 344,043 31.72 Republican Party (United States) Bill Livengood 138,284 12.75 Republican Party (United States) Harold Vaughan 23,981 2.21 1,084,594 100.00 Major Party Candidates Democratic David Lawrence, Mayor of Pittsburgh running mate: John Morgan Davis, Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas Judge Republican Art McGonigle, CEO of Bachman Bakeries running mate: John Walker, Allegheny County Commissioner Campaign Pennsylvania's branches of the two major parties entered the election in disparate states. Democrats were riding their largest wave of electoral success in nearly a century and quickly coalesced behind David L. Lawrence, the Mayor of Pittsburgh who had gained national fame as a reformer for his massive urban renewal projects earlier in the decade, but who retained a powerful traditional political machine Although Lawrence worried that his age (he was 69 at the time of the campaign) and his pious Catholic faithMcKenna, William J.; ‘The Influence of Religion in the Pennsylvania Elections of 1958 and 1960’; Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, vol. 29, no. 4 (October, 1962), pp. 407-419 may prove problematic, he was highly touted by party leaders. He easily defeated Lieutenant Governor Roy Furman in the primary after Governor Leader described Furman as unfit for higher office. Republicans, conversely, were just exiting a time in which their organization had gone through both electoral and financial disarray. The party had brought in McGonigle, a Reading businessman who had transformed Bachman Bakeries into the world's largest pretzel maker, to clean up their monetary problems. Although McGonigle had no intention of running for public office, his bookkeeping successes lead to many party bosses viewing him as a viable dark horse candidate.PENNSYLVANIA: The New Twist http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810263,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20110131154105/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810263,00.html dead January 31, 2011 2013-07-03 TIME Magazine 1958-04-21 Lawrence entered the race as the clear favorite and ran on a platform emphasizing how the successes he had achieved in Pittsburgh, such as with environmentalism, economic development, race relations, and bureaucratic reform, could be applied to state government. He ran a generally quiet and issues-based campaign and grew frustrated with what he perceived as growing reactionary behavior from the opposing party. McGonigle's campaign was more energized and continuously attacked Lawrence both for representing an archaic machine style of politics and for his position that the possibility of instituting a state income tax deserved study. Despite political winds that greatly favored Democrats in the national arena, the party's successes in the state were marginal. Lawrence's campaign was never able to invigorate the base of urban voters and unionized workers in the manner that McGonigle did with key Republicans. A combination of Lawrence's generally liberal viewpoints, powerful Appalachian anti-CatholicismSee Menendez, Albert J.; The Religious Factor in the 1960 Presidential Election: An Analysis of the Kennedy Victory Over Anti-Catholic Prejudice, pp. 193, 196 0786484934 and contempt for his position as leader as a strong political machine undercut support in one of the greatest areas of Democratic support: the outlying industrial counties surrounding Pittsburgh's Allegheny County. Despite a generally disappointing vote total, Lawrence was able to hang on to his frontrunner position to win the election. Results Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1958The Pennsylvania Manual, p. 728.The Pennsylvania Manual, p. 727.PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentage Democratic David Lawrence John Morgan Davis 2,024,852 50.85% Republican Art McGonigle John Walker 1,948,769 48.93% Socialist Workers Herman Johansen Louis Dirle 8,677 0.22% Totals 3,986,854 100.00% Notes References Ackley Gayle Arcuri Patricia D 1979 The Pennsylvania Manual 104 Harrisburg Pennsylvania Department of General Services 1958 Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Pennsylvania gubernatorial election