1851 Connecticut gubernatorial election

1851 Connecticut gubernatorial election

← 1850 April 7, 1851 1852 →
 
Nominee Thomas H. Seymour Lafayette S. Foster
Party Democratic Whig
Electoral vote 122 121
Popular vote 30.077 28,856
Percentage 48.94% 46.95%

County Results
Seymour:      40–50%      50–60%
Foster:      40–50%

Governor before election

Thomas H. Seymour
Democratic

Elected Governor

Thomas H. Seymour
Democratic

The 1851 Connecticut gubernatorial election was held on April 7, 1851.[1] It was a rematch of the 1850 Connecticut gubernatorial election. Incumbent governor and Democratic Party nominee Thomas H. Seymour defeated former state legislator and Whig nominee Lafayette S. Foster with 48.94% of the vote.

Seymour won a plurality of the vote, but he did not receive a majority. As a result, the Connecticut General Assembly elected the governor, per the state constitution. The Whig Party had a majority in the Connecticut State house, but they were divided over their choice. Seymour won the vote over Foster by a mere one-vote margin, 122 to 121, in the General Assembly, and became the governor.[2]

  1. ^ "Correspondence of The Republic". The republic. Washington, D.C. April 5, 1851. p. 3. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  2. ^ "Memorial Sketch of Lafayette S. Foster", Franklin Press (1881),