The Political Graveyard: Iowa: Governors

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Iowa: Governors

Governors of Iowa, 1846-2014 (May be incomplete!)
Ansel Briggs 1846-50 Stephen P. Hempstead 1850-54 James W. Grimes 1854-58 Ralph P. Lowe 1858-60 Samuel J. Kirkwood 1860-64 William M. Stone 1864-68 Samuel Merrill 1868-72 Cyrus C. Carpenter 1872-76 Samuel J. Kirkwood 1876-77 Joshua G. Newbold 1877-78 John H. Gear 1878-82 Buren Robinson Sherman 1882-86 William Larrabee 1886-90 Horace Boies 1890-94 Frank D. Jackson 1894-96 Francis Marion Drake 1896-98 Leslie M. Shaw 1898-1902 Albert B. Cummins 1902-08 Warren Garst 1908-09 Beryl F. Carroll 1909-13 George W. Clarke 1913-17 William L. Harding 1917-21 Nathan E. Kendall 1921-25 John Hammill 1925-31 Dan W. Turner 1931-33 Clyde L. Herring 1933-37 Nelson G. Kraschel 1937-39 George A. Wilson 1939-43 Bourke B. Hickenlooper 1943-45 Robert Donald Blue 1945-49 William S. Beardsley 1949-54 Leo Elthon 1954-55 Leo Hoegh 1955-57 Herschel C. Loveless 1957-61 Norman Erbe 1961-63 Harold E. Hughes 1963-69 Robert D. Fulton 1969 Robert D. Ray 1969-83 Terry E. Branstad 1983-99 Tom Vilsack 1999-2007 Chet Culver 2007-11 Terry E. Branstad 2011-

Events and Candidates (may be incomplete!)

1846 Oct 26: Ansel Briggs (Dem), elected; Thomas McKnight (Whig), defeated.

1850 Aug 5: Stephen P. Hempstead (Opposition), elected; James L. Thompson (Whig), defeated; William Penn Clark (Free Soil), defeated.

1854 Aug 3: James W. Grimes (Whig & Free Soil), elected; Curtis Bates (Dem), defeated.

1857 Oct 13: Ralph P. Lowe (Rep), elected; Benjamin M. Samuels (Dem), defeated; T. F. Henry (American), defeated.

1859 Oct 11: Samuel J. Kirkwood (Rep), elected; Augustus C. Dodge (Dem), defeated.

1861 Oct 8: Samuel J. Kirkwood (Rep), elected; William H. Merritt (Union Democratic), defeated; Benjamin M. Samuels, defeated; Henry Clay Dean, defeated; Charles Mason, defeated; Lincoln Clark, defeated.

1863 Oct 13: William M. Stone (Rep), elected; James M. Tuttle (Dem), defeated.

1865 Oct 10: William M. Stone (Union Republican), elected; Thomas H. Benton (Dem), defeated.

1867 Oct 8: Samuel Merrill (Rep), elected; Charles Mason (Dem), defeated.

1869 Oct 12: Samuel Merrill (Rep), elected; George Gillaspy (Dem), defeated.

1871: J. C. Knapp, defeated.

1873: J. G. Vale, defeated.

1875: Shepherd Leffler (Dem), defeated.

1877: Daniel P. Stubbs, defeated; John P. Irish (Dem), defeated.

1877 Feb 1: Samuel J. Kirkwood, resigned.

1879: Daniel Campbell, defeated; Henry H. Trimble (Dem), defeated.

1881: D. M. Clark, defeated; La Vega G. Kinne (Dem), defeated.

1883: La Vega G. Kinne (Dem), defeated.

1885: Charles Edwin Whiting (Dem), defeated.

1887: T. J. Anderson (Dem), defeated.

1889: Joseph Hutchinson, defeated.

1891: Herman C. Wheeler, defeated.

1893: Horace Boies, defeated.

1895: W. I. Babb (Dem), defeated.

1897: Frederick E. White, defeated.

1899: Frederick E. White, defeated.

1901: T. J. Phillips, defeated; Alexis U. Coates (Prohibition), defeated.

1903: Jerry B. Sullivan, defeated.

1906: Claude R. Porter, defeated.

1908: Frederick E. White, defeated.

1910: John M. Work (Socialist), defeated; Claude R. Porter, defeated.

1912 Nov 5: George W. Clarke (Rep), elected; Edward G. Dunn (Dem), defeated; John L. Stevens (Progressive), defeated; I. S. McCrillis (Socialist), defeated; C. Durant Jones (Prohibition), defeated.

1914 Nov 3: George W. Clarke (Rep), elected; John T. Hamilton (Dem), defeated; George C. White (Progressive), defeated; Oliver C. Wilson (Socialist), defeated; Malcolm Smith (Prohibition), defeated.

1916: George Cosson (Rep), defeated in primary.

1916 Nov 7: William L. Harding (Rep), elected; Edwin T. Meredith (Dem), defeated; J. W. Bennett (Socialist), defeated; Oren D. Eilett (Prohibition), defeated; F. H. Bashor (Progressive), defeated; Arthur S. Dowler (Socialist Labor), defeated.

1918: Edwin T. Meredith (Dem), defeated in primary.

1918 Nov 5: William L. Harding (Rep), elected; Claude R. Porter (Dem), defeated; Andrew Engle (Socialist), defeated; Madison L. Christian (Prohibition), defeated.

1920 Nov 2: Nathan E. Kendall (Rep), elected; Clyde L. Herring (Dem), defeated; George J. Peck (Socialist), defeated; Mathias Faber (Farmer-Labor), defeated; J. Jay Hisel (Socialist Labor), defeated.

1922 Nov 7: Nathan E. Kendall (Rep), elected; J. Ray Files (Dem), defeated.

1924 Nov 4: John Hammill (Rep), elected; J. C. Murtagh (Dem), defeated.

1926 Nov 2: John Hammill (Rep), elected; Alex R. Miller (Dem), defeated; Thomas J. Kelly (Commonwealth Land), defeated.

1928 Nov 6: John Hammill (Rep), elected; L. W. Housel (Dem), defeated.

1930 Nov 4: Dan W. Turner (Rep), elected; Fred P. Hageman (Dem), defeated; John M. Smith (Farmer-Labor), defeated; William Patten (Communist), defeated.

1934: Robert W. Colflesh (Rep), defeated in primary.

1940: John K. Valentine (Dem), defeated.

1948: William S. Beardsley (Rep), elected.

1950: William S. Beardsley (Rep), elected.

1952: Otha D. Wearin (Dem), defeated in primary.

1952: Herschel C. Loveless, defeated.

1954: Ernest Palmer, Jr. (Rep), defeated in primary.

1954 Nov 21: William S. Beardsley, died in office.

1956: Leo Hoegh (Rep), defeated.

1962: Norman Erbe (Rep), defeated.

1968: Donald Johnson (Rep), defeated in primary.

1968: Paul Franzenburg, defeated.

1970 Jun 2: Fulton (Dem), nominated; Gannon (Dem), defeated in primary; Nereim (Dem), defeated in primary.

1970 Nov 3: Robert D. Ray (Rep), elected; Fulton (Dem), defeated; Dilley (American Independent), defeated.

1972: Paul Franzenburg, defeated.

1974: James F. Schaben, defeated.

1990 Jun 5: John Chrystal (Dem), defeated in primary.

1994: Fred Grandy (Rep), defeated in primary.

1998 Jun 2: Paul Pate (Rep), defeated in primary.

1998 Nov 3: Tom Vilsack (Dem), elected; Jim Lightfoot (Rep), defeated.

2006: Chet Culver (Dem), elected.

2014: Tom Hoefling (Rep), defeated in primary.

"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."
Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872

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