1942 Oregon gubernatorial election
November 3, 1942
 
Nominee Earl Snell Lew Wallace
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 220,188 62,561
Percentage 77.9% 22.1%
County results:
Snell:      70-80%      80–90%
Governor before election

Charles A. Sprague
Republican

 Elected Governor

Earl W. Snell
Republican

The 1942 Oregon gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1942 to elect the governor of the U.S. state of Oregon. Republican candidate and Oregon Secretary of State Earl W. Snell defeated state senator Lew Wallace by a more than 3–1 margin, which remains the largest margin of victory for any candidate for Oregon governor.

Background and campaign

In 1938, Republican Charles A. Sprague had won an easy victory as governor following a divisive Democratic primary which had seen the defeat of the sitting governor, Charles Martin. That same year, Republican Earl Snell had been re-elected to a second term as Secretary of State.

In 1942, Snell was ineligible for another term, and decided to challenge Sprague's re-election effort. Despite the fact that the Oregon legislature was controlled by his own party, Sprague's progressive stance on numerous issues had caused conflict with the legislature, and he had vetoed special interest legislation put forward by members of his own party.[1] An attempted recall of Sprague had been unsuccessful,[1] but Snell used the issue, along with accusations that Sprague's efforts to efficiently organize the state for World War II had been inadequate,[2] to achieve a comfortable victory in the primary.[3]

In the Democratic primary, state senator Lew Wallace defeated former Oregon House speaker Howard LaTourette to win his party's nomination.[4]

In the general election, Snell crushed Wallace by the largest margin of victory ever in an Oregon governor's race, winning at least 70 percent of the vote in every county.[5]

Election results

Oregon gubernatorial election, 1942[5]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Earl Snell 220,188 77.87
Democratic Lew Wallace 62,561 22.13
write-ins 13 0.01
Total votes 282,762 100
Republican hold

References

  1. 1 2 Capace, Nancy (1999). The Encyclopedia of Oregon. Somerset Publishers, Inc. p. 116. ISBN 0-403-09840-8.
  2. ↑ "M'Nary takes lead in Oregon primary" (PDF). The New York Times. May 16, 1942. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ "OR Governor - R Primary - May 15, 1942". Our Campaigns. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  4. ↑ "OR Governor - D Primary - May 15, 1942". Our Campaigns. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  5. 1 2 "OR Governor Race - Nov 03, 1942". Our Campaigns. Retrieved January 13, 2012.


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