1855 Georgia gubernatorial election

By this point, the Constitutional Union Party had effectively dissolved with the loss of Union Democrats, and with the collapse of the Whigs following the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854, most Southern Whigs had joined the nativist American Party (Know Nothing). In Georgia the Know Nothing Party was called "Sam" by the local Democratic party. Its use was so widespread that even some Know-Nothings adopted it. According to Royce McCrary, the origins of the term are obscure. Sam was a term applied to the raw Irish immigrants in the 1850s. Apparently the Democrats, in a mocking way, meant to imply that the anti-Irish Know-Nothings were actually Irish. As one of these people, Garnett Andrews became involved with the Nothing Know party and in 1855, after resigning his seat on the Northern Circuit, became the Know-Nothing candidate for the Georgia governorship. He campaigned against unrestricted immigration and against secession.^[3][4]

Around the same time, the Georgia State Temperance Convention met in Atlanta with the aim of getting involved in local politics. Basil Hallam Overby, a lawyer from Atlanta, beat out the son of William H. Crawford for the nomination.^[5]

On election day, October 1, 1855, Democratic nominee Herschel V. Johnson won re-election by a margin of 10,778 votes against his foremost opponent Know Nothing (Sam)^[a] nominee Garnett Andrews, thereby continuing Democratic control over the office of Governor. Johnson was sworn in for his second term on November 9, 1855.^[6]