1875 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election
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The 1875 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election occurred on November 2, 1875. Incumbent governor John F. Hartranft, a Republican, was a candidate for re-election. Hartranft defeated Democratic candidate Cyrus L. Pershing to win another term.
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November 2, 1875
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 County results
Hartranft: 40â50% 50â60% 60â70% Pershing: 40â50% 50â60% 60â70% 70â80% | |||||||||||||||||
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Background
Hartranft had already become an important figure in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States prior to his election as governor during the 1872 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election. A colonel in the Union Army who was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor for the valor he displayed on July 21, 1861, in the First Battle of Bull Run during the American Civil War, he was repeatedly promoted up through the officer ranks to become a major general, and ultimately became the United States Army officer who read the death warrant to Mary Surratt, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Lewis Powell before they were executed on July 7, 1865, for conspiring to assassinate U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.[1] Post-war, he was elected twice as Pennsylvania's auditor general before choosing to run for the governor's office.[2][3]
Inaugurated as Pennsylvania's 17th governor on January 21, 1873, after winning his first election in 1872,[4] Hartranft was then inaugurated a second time, on January 18, 1876, after winning the 1875 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election.[5]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John F. Hartranft (incumbent) | 304,175 | 49.90 | |
| Democratic | Cyrus L. Pershing | 292,145 | 47.93 | |
| Prohibition | R. Audley Brown | 13,244 | 2.17 | |
| Total votes | 609,564 | 100.00 | ||