1924 Texas gubernatorial election

none January 2025 December 2025 ly 1924 Texas gubernatorial election Presidential no 1922 Texas gubernatorial election 1922 1926 Texas gubernatorial election 1926 1924 11 04 60.0% 19.9 ppTexas Almanac and State Industrial Guide 1925 https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123783/m1/114/?q=poll%20tax Portal to Texas History October 2010 File:Miriam A. Ferguson 1.jpg 150x150px Miriam A. Ferguson Democratic Party (United States) 422,558 58.89% File:Dr. Geo. C. Butte LCCN2014717791.jpg George C. Butte Republican Party (United States) 294,970 41.11% 1924 Texas gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 310px County resultsFerguson: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90% #0D0596 >90%Butte: #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80%#ccccccff Unorganized county#808080 No Vote Governor Pat Morris Neff Democratic Party (United States) Miriam A. Ferguson Democratic Party (United States) Texas The 1924 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1924, in order to elect the Governor of Texas. Democratic nominee and former First Lady of Texas Miriam A. Ferguson defeated Republican nominee George C. Butte. With her victory, she became the first female governor of Texas and the second to be governor of any U.S. state, after Nellie Tayloe Ross, although Ferguson was the first to be elected to the office.Texas State Library http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/personality/index.html#MaFerguson Portraits of Texas Governors: The Politics of Personality 2023-05-11'Ma' elected governor of Texas Coppedge, Clay March 25, 2007 Temple Daily Telegram The election, and more specifically the Democratic primary, was the climax of the conflict within the state's Democratic party over the Klan issue.https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/democratic-party TSHA The Evolution of the Democratic Party in Texas: A Historical Overview tshaonline.org 17 February 2026 The state elections in 1924 quickly evolved into a fight over the Klan issue...electing Mrs. Ferguson did have one ameliorative affect on Texas politics, namely the elimination of the Klan as a political force. Miriam A. Ferguson, wife of former impeached governor James E. Ferguson, defeated Klan-backed candidate Felix D. Robertson in the runoff after Lynch Davidson and Thomas Whitfield Davidson divided the anti-Klan/anti-Ferguson vote amongst themselves in the first primary.Brown 1984 p.224 Miriam "Ma" Ferguson's campaign was run almost entirely by "Pa" Ferguson as a vehicle to return to the governorship after he was barred from public office in 1917.Texas State Library https://www.tsl.texas.gov/governors/personality/index.html Portraits of Texas Governors: The Politics of Personality James E. Ferguson 2026-02-17Texas Highways https://texashighways.com/culture/history/the-history-behind-texas-first-woman-governor/ The History Behind Texas’ First Woman Governor 2026-02-17 The choice between Ferguson and Robertson in the runoff presented an issue for anti-Klan drys and progressive Democrats, who opposed "Pa" Ferguson for his anti-prohibition stances, his conflict with the University of Texas, and corruption while in office. Most of the anti-Klan faction reluctantly supported "Ma" Ferguson who was viewed as the lesser of two evils.https://www.texasalmanac.com/page/texas-in-the-20th-century-part-2 Texas in the 20th Century, Part 2 Texas Almanac 17 February 2026 Mrs. Ferguson easily won the runoff against Robertson when many Texans decided that “Fergusonism” was preferable to the Klan in the governor's office. In the general election Klan forces and disgruntled Democrats backed Republican nominee George C. Butte, although he disavowed the Klan's support.https://www.bannerpresspaper.com/article/6790,the-sizzling-gubernatorial-election-of-1924 The sizzling gubernatorial election of 1924 The Banner Press Newspaper Watts Marie W. 2024 2026-02-17 Butte posted unusually high returns for a Republican in Texas, which at the time was a solidly Democratic state. He received 41% of the vote, the highest for a Republican since 1869, and 294,970 raw votes, the highest for a Republican in the state ever up to that point. Democratic primary Candidates Thomas D. Barton, incumbent Adjunct General of Texas.Associated Press Barton to Aid Mrs. Ferguson Brownsville Herald August 17, 1924 Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at the Library of Congress 2023-11-03 32 45 https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1924-08-17/ed-1/seq-1/ Joe Burkett, incumbent member of the Texas Senate.Associated Press State Politics Hold Center Stage on Eve of Primary Election July 25, 1924 Brownsville Herald 32 22 1 Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at the Library of Congress https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1924-07-25/ed-1/seq-1/ Vinson Allen Collins, former State Senator and member of the Ku Klux Klan. Lynch Davidson, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas. Thomas Whitfield Davidson, incumbent Lieutenant Governor of Texas George W. Dixon, lawyer and prison reform activist.Prisoner Shot to Death is Charge Kentucky New Era Hopkinsville, Kentucky 56 26 June 27, 1924 Google Newspapers 2023-11-03 https://books.google.com/books?id=vNorAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1 James E. Ferguson, former governor (barred from running) Miriam A. Ferguson, former First Lady of Texas Walter Edward Pope, former member of the Texas House of Representatives.Amanda Kowalski Lori Atkins W. E. Pope Papers March 2020 Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi 2023-11-03 https://archivesspace.tamucc.edu/repositories/4/resources/42 Felix D. Robertson, incumbent Dallas County District Judge and member of the Ku Klux Klan.Dallas Ku Klux Klan No. 66 Amber Jolly Ted Banks April 14, 2022 Handbook of Texas Online Texas State Historical Association 2023-11-03 https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/dallas-ku-klux-klan-no-66 Primary election Former governor James Ferguson had been impeached and convicted by the state legislature in 1917. Under Texas law this barred Ferguson from running for any office of public trust in the state. However for a variety of reasons, including that he had resigned prior to the final vote of conviction, Ferguson refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of his prohibition to run for office. He had run for reelection in 1918, but lost the primary. He then pivoted to seeking federal office, running for President in 1920, and U. S. Senator in 1922, both were unsuccessful. Ferguson announced that he would again attempt another run for the governorship in 1924 and the majority of the Texas Democratic Party leadership were aligned with Ferguson against the growing influence of the Klan in the state and were willing to put his name on the ballot despite the ban.Davidson Mark Case of the Month: The Case of the Challenged Candidate - Maddox v. Ferguson, et al. https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/Common/HistoricalDocument/pdf/COTM_March2020.pdf Harris County District Clerk This move was challenged in court and the State Supreme Court ultimately upheld the validity of the impeachment and the subsequent ban from office in the case Maddox v. Ferguson (1924).Davidson Mark Summer 2020 Who Is Governor? — The Texas Supreme Court Decides https://www.texascourthistory.org/Content/Newsletters/TSCHS_Summer_2020.pdf Journal of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society 9 4 21-22 The day after the decision was released Ferguson's wife Miram A. Ferguson entered the race on a campaign of "Two governors for the price of one". The Democratic primary election was held on July 26, 1924. No one candidate received greater than 50% of the vote, so a run-off was held. 1924 Democratic primaryhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=296490 TX Governor - D Primary ourcampaigns.com January 13, 2010 2023-05-11 Democratic Party (United States) Felix D. Robertson 193,508 27.52% Democratic Party (United States) Miriam Ferguson 146,424 20.82% Democratic Party (United States) Lynch Davidson 141,208 20.08% Democratic Party (United States) Thomas Davidson 125,011 17.78% Democratic Party (United States) Thomas D. Barton 29,217 4.16% Democratic Party (United States) Vinson A. Collins 24,864 3.54% Democratic Party (United States) Joe Burkett 21,720 3.09% Democratic Party (United States) W. E. Pope 17,136 2.44% Democratic Party (United States) George W. Dixon 4,035 0.57% 703,123 100.00% Runoff election As no candidate won a majority of votes, there was a runoff. The runoff was a proxy battle between pro-Klan political forces backing Klansman Felix Robertson and anti-Klan political forces backing Ma Ferguson. During the runoff, Thomas D. Barton endorsed Ferguson. The election was held August 23, 1924. Ferguson won the primary with 56.70% against Robertson.Stewart Frank M. 1930 Impeachment in Texas American Political Science Review en 24 3 652–658 10.2307/1946933 1946933 147274001 0003-0554 free Results 1924 Democratic primary runoffhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=296490 TX Governor - D Primary ourcampaigns.com January 13, 2010 2023-05-11 Democratic Party (United States) Miriam Ferguson 413,751 56.70% Democratic Party (United States) Felix D. Robertson 316,019 43.30% 729,770 100.00% General election The general election saw the Ku Klux Klan back Republican George C. Butte, seeing him as a more acceptable alternative to the anti-Klan Ferguson, despite the state Republican platform's stated "unalterable opposition to the Ku Klux Klan."Curtis Tracy The Many Crusades of Old Man Texas D Magazine July 1, 1977 2023-11-04 https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1977/july/the-many-crusades-of-old-man-texas/Stewart Frank M. Texas The Southwestern Political and Social Science Quarterly 5 4 381–398 42880486 Additionally, Ferguson saw an unprecedented number of defections from the Democratic Party, notably state legislator and longtime party leader Thomas B. Love.Weeks O. Douglas The Texas Direct Primary System The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 13 2 September 1932 42864789 95–120 A coalition of anti-Ferguson Democrats and prohibitionists formed the Good Government Democratic League An atypically close race in then-staunchly Democratic Texas, Butte received 41.11% of the vote to Fergueson's 58.89% of the vote.https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=264412 TX Governor ourcampaigns.com June 26, 2006 2023-05-11 By contrast, Democratic presidential nominee John W. Davis received 73.70% of the statewide vote in his three-way race against Calvin Coolidge (19.78%) and Robert M. La Follette (6.52%) in the same year.Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1924&off=0&elect=0&fips=48&f=0 1924 Presidential General Election Results — Texas Owing to problems with the original collection of returns, these figures differ from those in Géoelections and Edgar Eugene Robinson’s work. These totals exclude some counties (noted in the table) where the Texas Secretary of State did not compile data. Ferguson was sworn in as the 29th Governor of Texas on January 20, 1925. Results Texas gubernatorial election, 1924 Democratic Party (United States) Miriam A. Ferguson 422,558 58.89 Republican Party (United States) George C. Butte 294,970 41.11 717,528 100.00 Democratic Party (United States) References Further reading Norman D. Brown Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921-1928 (1984). External links Category:Texas gubernatorial elections Texas Gubernatorial Category:November 1924 in the United States Category:1924 in women's history