1866 Delaware gubernatorial election

1866 Delaware gubernatorial election

← 1862 November 6, 1866 1870 →
 
Nominee Gove Saulsbury James Riddle
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 9,810 8,598
Percentage 53.29% 46.71%

Saulsbury:      50–60%      60–70%
Riddle:      50–60%

Governor before election

Gove Saulsbury
Democratic

Elected Governor

Gove Saulsbury
Democratic

The 1866 Delaware gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1866. On March 1, 1865, Republican Governor William Cannon died in office, elevating State Senate Speaker Gove Saulsbury, a Democrat, to the governorship. Saulsbury ran for re-election in 1866, the first Governor to do so since Joshua Clayton in 1792. He faced Republican nominee James Riddle, a prominent industrialist. Saulsbury defeated Riddle by a decisive margin, ushering in a large Democratic majority in both houses of the legislature.[1]

  1. ^ Conrad, Henry C. (1908). History of the State of Delaware: From the Earliest Settlements to the Year 1907. Vol. 1. Lancaster, Pa.: Wickersham Company, Printers and Binders. pp. 220–221.