1886 Delaware gubernatorial election

1886 Delaware gubernatorial election

← 1882 November 2, 1886 1890 →
 
Nominee Benjamin T. Biggs John H. Hoffecker
Party Democratic Prohibition
Popular vote 13,942 7,832
Percentage 63.50% 35.67%

County results
Biggs:      60–70%

Governor before election

Charles C. Stockley
Democratic

Elected Governor

Benjamin T. Biggs
Democratic

The 1886 Delaware gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1886. Incumbent Democratic Governor Charles C. Stockley was barred from seeing a second consecutive term in office. Former Congressman Benjamin T. Biggs won the Democratic nomination to succeed Stockley. The Republican Party, which was weak and practically nonexistent in the state at the time,[1] did not run a candidate for Governor.[2] As a result, the Temperance Reform Party briefly supplanted the Republican Party as the primary opposition to the Democratic Party. Former State Representative and Smyrna Town Treasurer John H. Hoffecker, a former Democrat, emerged as the Temperance Reform nominee. However, the Democratic Party remained strong in the state; with no Republican opponent and only weak opposition, Biggs won in a landslide.

  1. ^ Boyer, William W.; Ratledge, Edward C. (2009). Delaware Politics and Government. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-8032-1345-6.
  2. ^ Peltier, David Paul (1967). Border State Democracy: A History of Voting in Delaware, 1682-1897 (Ph.D.). University of Delaware. p. 275. ProQuest 302215361. Retrieved June 15, 2021.