1930 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election
November 4, 1930 (1930-11-04)
 
Nominee Gifford Pinchot John M. Hemphill
Party Republican Democratic
Alliance Prohibition Liberal
Popular vote 1,068,874 1,010,204
Percentage 50.77% 47.98%
County results

Pinchot:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Hemphill:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Governor before election

John Fisher
Republican

 Elected Governor

Gifford Pinchot
Republican

The 1930 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election occurred on November 4, 1930. Incumbent Republican governor John Stuchell Fisher was not a candidate for re-election. Republican candidate and former governor Gifford Pinchot defeated Democratic candidate John M. Hemphill to win a second, non-consecutive term as Governor of Pennsylvania.

This was the only election from 1863 until 1950 in which the Democratic candidate carried the city and county of Philadelphia, which was controlled by a powerful Republican political machine during that time. Hemphill won the city in a landslide with the support of Philadelphia Republican boss William Scott Vare, who abandoned Pinchot over his refusal to certify Vare's election as United States Senator in 1926.[1] Hemphill won 226,811 votes on the Liberal Party line in Philadelphia, nearly twice the vote he received on the Democratic ticket.[2]

After Pinchot's election, Vare was ousted as party boss.

Background

1926 United States Senate election

In 1926, Gifford Pinchot (then Governor of Pennsylvania) and William Scott Vare (U.S. Representative and boss of the powerful Philadelphia political machine) both challenged incumbent United States Senator George W. Pepper in the Republican primary. Pepper carried nearly every county in the state, but Vare won the race narrowly, thanks to a 224,000 vote margin in Philadelphia County.[3] Vare went on to win the general election by a wider margin, again relying on a large margin from Philadelphia.

Pinchot, acting in his role as governor, declined to certify the results of Vare's election. After a year-long review of the contested election, the Senate voted 58–22 not to seat Vare on the grounds that he had fraudulently and extravagantly financed his campaign against Pepper.[4] During the lengthy investigation, Vare suffered a stroke brought on by stress.[5]

Republican primary

Candidates

Withdrew

Campaign

To avenge his defeat in 1926, Vare and Philadelphia leaders were able to recruit Francis Shunk Brown, the former state Attorney General, to run in the primary against Pinchot. The domination issue in the campaign was the prohibition of alcohol and Volstead Act, which set the terms of its enforcement, and a third candidate, former Representative Thomas Wharton Phillips Jr., ran the second of three campaigns for governor on an aggressive anti-prohibition platform. Brown, though privately opposed to the Volstead Act, could not openly support its repeal given his ties to the Philadelphia machine and President Herbert Hoover. Instead, he called for a state referendum on the modification of the Act, a lukewarm position in contrast to that of Pinchot, an ardent prohibitionist.[7] However, Pinchot's previous term as Governor had been noted for a relatively permissive enforcement of prohibition laws, so some moderates were drawn to his campaign.[8] Republican National Committeeman W. W. Atterbury, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad and a Brown supporter, unsuccessfully worked to have Representative Phillips withdraw in an effort to unify the anti-prohibition campaign behind a single candidate.[9]

Shortly before the April 1 filing deadline, Samuel S. Lewis dropped out of the race. He had been running on an anti-machine ticket with interim Senator Joseph R. Grundy, who did not replace him.[6] A second candidate, Norristown judge J. Ambler Williams, who had run on a "bone-dry" prohibitionist platform, dropped out on April 7.[9]

Race also came into the campaign in April. Joseph D. Herben, who filed a last-minute campaign to run on a "Negro ticket,"[6] was invited by the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters to an open discussion of Republican issues. Though Pinchot, Phillips, and Grundy agreed to participate, Brown declined, stating, "I refuse to discuss state politics on the same platform with a Negro."[10]

Results

1930 Republican Party gubernatorial primary[11]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Gifford Pinchot 632,719 41.23%
Republican Francis Shunk Brown 612,620 39.92%
Republican Thomas W. Phillips Jr. 281,399 18.34%
Republican Joseph D. Herben 7,896 0.51%
Write-in 23 0.00%
Total votes 1,534,657 100.00%

General election

Candidates

  • John M. Hemphill (Democratic and Liberal)
  • James H. Maurer (Socialist)
  • Frank Mozer (Communist)
  • Gifford Pinchot, former Governor (Republican and Prohibition)

Results

1930 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Gifford Pinchot 1,068,874 50.77%
Democratic John M. Hemphill 1,010,204 47.98%
Socialist James H. Maurer 21,036 1.00%
Communist Frank Mozer 5,267 0.25%
Write-in 64 0.00%
Total votes 2,105,381 100.00%

References

  1. ↑ "U.S. Senate: The Election Case of William B. Wilson vs. William S. Vare of Pennsylvania (1929)". www.senate.gov. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Election Returns 1930". Wilkes University. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Our Campaigns - PA US Senate - R Primary Race - May 18, 1926".
  4. ↑ Weigley, Russell Frank (1982). Philadelphia: A 300 Year History. New York - London: WW Norton & Company. p. 584. ISBN 0-393-01610-2. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  5. ↑ Keels, Thomas H. "Contractor Bosses (1880s to 1930s)". www.philadelphiaencylopedia.org. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "1400 Candidates File Petitions: Receive Papers of 552 Persons on Final Day; Many Contests". The Harrisburg Evening News. April 1, 1930. p. 1. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  7. ↑ McLarnon, John Morrison (2003). Ruling Suburbia: John J. McClure and the Republican Machine in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press. p. 102. ISBN 0-87413-814-0. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  8. ↑ Carlisle Bargeron (October 30, 1930). "Pennsylvania is in Turmoil over Pinchot". Washington Post. p. 1. ProQuest 150054446.
  9. 1 2 "WILLIAMS, DRY, QUITS PENNSYLVANIA RACE; Republican Who Sought Gubernatorial Nomination Leaves Field to Three Others". The New York Times. April 7, 1930. p. 3. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Pa. Candidate Balks at Negro Opponent". Baltimore Afro-American. April 19, 1930. p. A1. ProQuest 530886221.
  11. ↑ "Senatorial Campaign Expenditures, 1930: New Jersey. North Carolina. Pennsylvania, PTS. 1-3. Tennessee". September 27, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Election Returns 1930". Wilkes University. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
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