1896 Gubernatorial General Election Results

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Data for this Contest was Contributed by on 2023-09-19

Gubernatorial
Candidate

Political
Party

Popular Vote

Hazen S. Pingree

Republican

304,431

55.57%

Charles R. Sligh

D. P. U. S.

221,022

40.35%

Rufus F. Sprague

Democratic

9,738

1.78%

Robert C. Safford

Prohibition

5,499

1.00%

Scattering

Write-in

5,168

0.94%

John Giberson

National

1,944

0.35%

Turnout

Maps

Election Notes:

Sligh was supported by a fusion of Democratic, People's, and Union Silver parties. Although Sprague is listed in the official canvass under the Democratic party, it would be more accurate to describe his party as National Democratic (Gold Democratic), which was the faction of Democrats opposed to William Jennings Bryan.
Among the Scattering votes, 665 were for "Rufus S. Sprague", 1158 were for "Charles R. Slig", 3020 were for "Charles R. Sleigh", and 64 were for "Robert C. Stafford". Although the voter intent is clear based on these names, these votes were counted separately. This has several odd effects on the results, notably there being zero DPUS vote in Delta, Huron, and Ontonagon counties.

Demographic Data

Election Data and Statistics:

Election Tools

Data Sources:

Source for Popular Vote data: Michigan Secretary of State. Michigan Official Directory and Legislative Manual for the Years 1897-1898, Michigan Secretary of State (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073066550&view=1up&seq=518) (accessed 19 Sep 2023)
Source for Population data: U.S. Census Bureau.

Results for and Individual County: