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 County results Randall: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Cross: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Wisconsin |
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The 1857 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1857. Republican Party candidate Alexander Randall narrowly prevailed, defeating Democratic candidate James B. Cross by a margin of just 454 votes. [1]
Incumbent Governor Coles Bashford declined to seek re-election.
James B. Cross was the incumbent Mayor of Milwaukee at the time of the 1857 gubernatorial election, serving his third consecutive term in that role. He had also represented Milwaukee in the Wisconsin State Assembly for three terms. Cross was a lawyer and had previously served as a probate judge in Milwaukee County. He was a Wisconsin delegate to the 1856 Democratic National Convention.
James B. Cross was nominated on the third ballot at the Wisconsin Democratic Party Convention. He received 89 votes; Jairus C. Fairchild received 37; Francis Huebschmann received 14. [2]
Alexander W. Randall was a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Milwaukee prior to the 1857 gubernatorial election, having been appointed by the previous Governor, Coles Bashford. Randall had been an attorney for Governor Bashford in his challenge of the 1855 Wisconsin gubernatorial election results. Earlier, in 1846, Randall had been a delegate to the first Wisconsin constitutional convention and had successfully advocated for including a provision by which African American suffrage could be legalized via referendum. Randall served as a Democrat in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1855, but became a Republican later that year when he ran unsuccessfully for election to be Attorney General of Wisconsin.
Randall became a compromise choice for gubernatorial nominee at the 1857 Wisconsin Republican Convention after delegates became deadlocked between the two leading candidates, Edward Holton and Walter McIndoe.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, November 3, 1857 | |||||
| Republican | Alexander Randall | 44,693 | 49.63% | -0.23% | |
| Democratic | James B. Cross | 44,239 | 49.12% | -0.95% | |
| Scattering | 1,126 | 1.25% | |||
| Plurality | 454 | 0.50% | +0.29% | ||
| Total votes | 90,058 | 100.0% | +24.05% | ||
| Republican hold | |||||
William Augustus Barstow was an American businessman, politician, and public administrator. He was the third governor and second Secretary of State of Wisconsin, and served as a Union Army officer during the American Civil War. Before Wisconsin became a state, he was instrumental in the creation of Waukesha County.
Coles Bashford was an American lawyer and politician who became the fifth governor of Wisconsin, and one of the founders of the U.S. Republican Party. His one term as governor ended in a bribery scandal that ended in him fleeing Wisconsin, but he was later instrumental in the government of the newly formed Arizona Territory.
Alexander Williams Randall was an American lawyer, judge, and Republican politician from Waukesha, Wisconsin. He served as the 22nd United States Postmaster General, during the administration of President Andrew Johnson (1865–1869). He previously served as the sixth governor of Wisconsin (1858–1862) and, as governor, was instrumental in raising and organizing the first Wisconsin volunteer troops for the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is the namesake of Camp Randall and Camp Randall Stadium.
Frederick Robert Zimmerman was a German American politician from Milwaukee, who served as the 25th Governor of Wisconsin. He served before and after his governorship as Wisconsin Secretary of State—for a total of eighteen years in that office. He also served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly. His son, Robert C. Zimmerman, was also Wisconsin Secretary of State from 1957 until 1975.
James B. Cross was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 9th mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1855–1858). A Democrat, Cross also represented Milwaukee for three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, and was the Party's nominee for Governor of Wisconsin in the 1857 election.
Thomas Richard Hudd was an American lawyer from Wisconsin who represented that state for two terms in the United States House of Representatives, as well as serving in both houses of that state's legislature and holding other public offices.
Walter Duncan McIndoe was a Scottish American immigrant, lumber industrialist, and politician. A Republican, he represented Wisconsin for two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1863 to 1867.
Erasmus Daniel Campbell was an American Democratic politician who served as the 6th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, and 2nd Mayor of La Crosse, Wisconsin. In historical sources, he was sometimes referred to as "E. D. Campbell." In at least one source, he was incorrectly referred to as "Edward Campbell."
Harlow South Orton was an American lawyer and judge. He was the 8th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and served on the court from 1878 until his death. He is chiefly remembered as the author of the Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion Vosburg v. Putney (1890), an important torts case in establishing the scope of liability from battery. Earlier in his career, he served three non-consecutive terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Madison and central Dane County.
William Rudolph Smith was an American lawyer, politician, pioneer, and historian from Pennsylvania who served as the 5th Attorney General of Wisconsin, the first President of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the first Adjutant General of Wisconsin.
Jairus Cassius Fairchild was an American Democratic politician and a businessman. He was the first State Treasurer of Wisconsin and the first Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. He was the father of Wisconsin's tenth governor, Lucius Fairchild. In historical documents, he is often referred to as "J. C. Fairchild" and his first name is sometimes misspelled "Jarius".
David W. Taylor was an American attorney, judge, and Republican politician. He was a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the last 13 years of his life (1878–1891). Previously, he served ten years as a Wisconsin circuit court judge, and was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly.
Edward Dwight Holton was an American business leader, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was Milwaukee County's first elected sheriff and served one term in the Wisconsin State Assembly (1860). He was influential in the early political development of the state as a leader in Wisconsin's abolitionist and temperance movements, and as a co-founder of the Republican Party. He also had a strong influence on the economic development of the state through his involvement in the banking, railroad, and insurance businesses.
Thomas Carmichael was an Irish-American lumberman and politician from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who spent four discontinuous terms as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
The 1853 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1853. Democratic candidate William A. Barstow won the election with 55% of the vote, winning his first term as Governor of Wisconsin. Barstow defeated Free Soil Party candidate Edward D. Holton and Whig candidate Henry S. Baird. This would be the last Wisconsin gubernatorial election in which there was a Whig candidate on the ballot.
The 1859 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1859. Republican Party incumbent Governor Alexander Randall won re-election with 53% of the vote, defeating Democratic candidate Harrison Carroll Hobart.
The 1865 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1865. Republican Party candidate Lucius Fairchild won the election with nearly 55% of the vote, defeating Democratic candidate Harrison Carroll Hobart.
The 1867 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1867. Incumbent Republican Party Governor Lucius Fairchild won re-election with nearly 52% of the vote, defeating Democratic candidate John J. Tallmadge.
The 1869 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1869. Incumbent Republican Party governor Lucius Fairchild won re-election with over 53% of the vote, defeating Democratic candidate Charles D. Robinson. Fairchild became the first person to win three terms as governor of Wisconsin.
The 1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1877. Under internal party pressure, incumbent Republican Governor Harrison Ludington, who had barely won the 1875 election, was pressured to not seek a second term. Former State Assembly Speaker William E. Smith, a longtime figure in Wisconsin politics, was selected as the Republican nominee, and Milwaukee County Municipal Judge Thomas A. Mallory won a protracted battle for the nomination at the Democratic convention. Smith and Mallory were joined in the general election by Greenback nominee Edward Phelps Allis. Ultimately, though the Republican vote share shrunk relative to 1875, the Democratic vote share shrunk more, and Smith won a larger victory than Ludington did, though only with a 44% plurality.
