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The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History
South Carolina: Governors

Governors of South Carolina, 1779-2020 (May be incomplete!)
John Rutledge 1779-82 John Mathews 1782-83 Benjamin Guerard 1783-85 William Moultrie 1785-87 Thomas Pinckney 1787-89 Charles Pinckney 1789-92 William Moultrie 1792-94 Arnoldus Van der Horst 1794-96 Charles Pinckney 1796-98 Edward Rutledge 1798-1800 John Drayton 1800-02 James Burchill Richardson 1802-04 Paul Hamilton 1804-06 Charles Pinckney 1806-08 John Drayton 1808-10 Henry Middleton 1810-12 Joseph Alston 1812-14 David R. Williams 1814-16 Andrew Pickens 1816-18 John Geddes 1818-20 Thomas Bennett 1820-22 John Lyde Wilson 1822-24 Richard Irvine Manning 1824-26 John Taylor 1826-28 Stephen Decatur Miller 1828-30 James Hamilton, Jr. 1830-32 Robert Y. Hayne 1832-34 George McDuffie 1834-36 Pierce M. Butler 1836-38 Patrick Noble 1838-40 Barnabas Kelet Henagan 1840 John Peter Richardson 1840-42 James Henry Hammond 1842-44 William Aiken 1844-46 David Johnson 1846-48 Whitemarsh Benjamin Seabrook 1848-50 John Hugh Means 1850-52 John L. Manning 1852-54 James H. Adams 1854-56 Robert Francis Withers Allston 1856-58 William H. Gist 1858-60 Francis W. Pickens 1860-62 Milledge Luke Bonham 1862-64 Andrew Gordon Magrath 1864-65 Benjamin Franklin Perry 1865 James L. Orr 1865-68 Robert Kingston Scott 1868-72 Franklin J. Moses, Jr. 1872-74 D. H. Chamberlain 1874-76 Wade Hampton 1876-79 William Dunlap Simpson 1879-80 Thomas Bothwell Jeter 1880 Johnson Hagood 1880-82 Hugh Smith Thompson 1882-86 John C. Sheppard 1886 John Peter Richardson 1886-90 Benjamin R. Tillman 1890-94 John Gary Evans 1894-97 William Haselden Ellerbe 1897-99 Miles B. McSweeney 1899-1903 D. C. Heyward 1903-07 Martin Frederick Ansel 1907-11 Coleman L. Blease 1911-15 Charles Aurelius Smith 1915 Richard I. Manning 1915-19 Robert A. Cooper 1919-22 Wilson Godfrey Harvey 1922-23 Thomas G. McLeod 1923-27 John G. Richards 1927-31 Ibra C. Blackwood 1931-35 Olin D. Johnston 1935-39 Burnet R. Maybank 1939-41 J. E. Harley 1941-42 R. M. Jefferies 1942-43 Olin D. Johnston 1943-45 Ransome Judson Williams 1945-47 Strom Thurmond 1947-51 James F. Byrnes 1951-55 George Bell Timmerman, Jr. 1955-59 Ernest F. Hollings 1959-63 Donald S. Russell 1963-65 Robert E. McNair 1965-71 John C. West 1971-75 James B. Edwards 1975-79 Richard W. Riley 1979-87 Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. 1987-95 David M. Beasley 1995-99 Jim Hodges 1999-2003 Mark Sanford 2003-11 Nikki Haley 2011-17 Henry D. McMaster 2017-

Events and Candidates (may be incomplete!)

  • 1800 Jan 23: Edward Rutledge, died in office.
  • 1840: James Henry Hammond, defeated.
  • 1840 Apr 7: Patrick Noble, died in office.
  • 1865: Wade Hampton, defeated.
  • 1868: William D. Porter, defeated.
  • 1870: R. B. Carpenter, defeated.
  • 1872: Reuben Tomlinson, defeated.
  • 1874: John T. Green, defeated.
  • 1876: D. H. Chamberlain, defeated.
  • 1882: John Doby Kennedy, defeated.
  • 1899 Jun 2: William Haselden Ellerbe, died in office.
  • 1902: W. Jasper Talbert, defeated for nomination; Martin Frederick Ansel, defeated; W. H. Timmerman, defeated.
  • 1908 Aug 25: Martin Frederick Ansel (Dem), nominated; Coleman L. Blease (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1912 Nov 5: Coleman L. Blease (Dem), elected; R. B. Britton (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1914 Nov 3: Richard I. Manning (Dem), elected; R. B. Britton (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1915 Jan 14: Coleman L. Blease, resigned.
  • 1916 Nov 7: Richard I. Manning (Dem), elected; Coleman L. Blease (Independent Democratic), defeated; J. C. Gibbes (Socialist), defeated; J. M. Cantey (Progressive), defeated.
  • 1918 Nov 5: Robert A. Cooper (Dem), elected unopposed.
  • 1920 Nov 2: Robert A. Cooper (Dem), elected unopposed.
  • 1922 Nov 7: Thomas G. McLeod (Dem), elected unopposed.
  • 1924 Nov 4: Thomas G. McLeod (Dem), elected unopposed.
  • 1926 Nov 2: John G. Richards (Dem), elected unopposed.
  • 1930 Nov 4: Ibra C. Blackwood (Dem), elected unopposed.
  • 1938 Nov 8: Joseph A. Tolbert (Rep), defeated.
  • 1942 Feb 27: J. E. Harley, died in office.
  • 1950: Thomas H. Pope (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1970: Albert Watson, defeated.
  • 1974: W. J. Bryan Dorn (Dem), defeated.
  • 1974 Nov 5: James B. Edwards, elected.
  • 1978: Edward Lunn Young (Rep), defeated.
  • 1986: Philip J. Lader, defeated.
  • 1994: Arthur Ravenel, Jr. (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1998: Jim Hodges (Dem), elected; David M. Beasley, defeated.
  • 2002: Mark Sanford (Rep), elected; Jim Hodges (Dem), defeated.
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