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Gubernatorial
Candidate | Political
Party | Popular Vote |
 | Milton S. Latham | Democratic (Lecompton) |
61,352 |
59.13% |
 | John Currey | Democratic (Anti-Lecompton) |
32,298 |
31.13% |
 | Leland Stanford | Republican |
10,110 |
9.74% |
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Map Key
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| Election Notes:
- The legislature's canvass did not include the returns from Amador, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Klamath, Los Angeles, Merced, Monterey, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Tulare, and Yuba counties. The totals in the Assembly Journal are given as 44,023 for Latham, 24,180 for Currey, and 8,466 for Stanford.
- By 1859, political tensions over slavery had nearly come to a head. The collapse of the Whigs left the Democrats in a dominant position in California's politics. In 1859, the Democratic Party in the state was divided over slavery, specifically the potential expansion of slavery into Kansas. Two factions emerged for the 1859 state general election: the Lecompton faction, which supported the proposed pro-slavery constitution in Kansas, and the abolitionist Anti-Lecompton faction. Indeed, California's United States Senate delegation was divided, with William Gwin supporting the Lecomptons and David Broderick supporting the Anti-Lecomptons. The pro-slavery Lecomptons won the 1859 election on September 7th. The tension between the factions led to violence the following week when State Supreme Court Justice David Terry shot Senator David Broderick in a duel in San Francisco on September 13th and Broderick died three days later.
- Milton Latham was inaugurated as governor on January 9, 1860, but resigned on January 14th after only in five days in office so that he could be elected to the United States Senate to succeed Broderick (Before his death in September 1859, Broderick's term was due to expire on March 4, 1860, so Latham was not being appointed to fill the vacancy, which was instead filled by Henry P. Haun). Latham was succeeded as governor by Lieutenant Governor John Downey, who served the remainder of the term.
| Election Data and Statistics:
- County Data (Table) (m)
- County Data (Graphs) (m)
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| | Election Tools
- Atlas Forum Image Code for Maps: County
Data Sources:
- Source for Popular Vote data: California State Archives, "For Governor," Statement of the votes polled at a general election held in the State of California on the seventh day of September A.D. 1859 (Sacramento, 1859)
| Results for and Individual County:
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