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County results Brown: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% 90-100% McClurg: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 90-100% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Missouri |
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The 1870 Missouri gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1870, and resulted in a victory for the Liberal Republican nominee, former Senator Benjamin Gratz Brown, over incumbent Republican governor Joseph W. McClurg.
The election centered on the restoration of political rights for Confederates and Confederate sympathizers, leading to a split in the state Republican Party. In addition to support for re-enfranchisement, Liberals supported tariff reform and were critical of President Ulysses S. Grant, particularly his federal appointments policy. The election grew to become a referendum on Grant's presidency, and Brown's landslide victory would lay the ground for the formation of the national Liberal Republican Party which challenged Grant in the 1872 presidential election.