Election 1881 Results
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1881 governor election results by state and county
In a year overshadowed by James Garfield's assassination, Republicans won six of eight governorships and Virginia's Readjusters took power.
8 governor races were held in 1881. Democrats won 1 and Republicans 6, and 1 went to neither party.
The closest were Ohio (R+3.9), Virginia (D+5.9) and Wisconsin (R+7.0). 1 governorship changed party: Virginia to the third party.
Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.
About the 1881 governor elections
President Garfield was shot in July 1881 and died in September, making Chester A. Arthur president. Only eight states chose governors that fall: Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia and Wisconsin. Republicans won comfortably across the North. Buren R. Sherman took Iowa by about 26 points, John D. Long won another term in Massachusetts by about 27, and Lucius F. Hubbard carried Minnesota by about 27. The closer races were in Ohio, where Charles Foster was re-elected by about 4 points over John W. Bookwalter, and Wisconsin, where Jeremiah M. Rusk won by about 7. Virginia produced the year's most unusual result. The Readjuster movement led by William Mahone, which wanted to scale back the state's prewar debt and drew support from Black voters and poorer white voters, elected William E. Cameron governor over the Democrat John W. Daniel. In Mississippi, Robert Lowry won with no real opposition.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa | La Vega G. Kinne | 73,344 (31.2%) | Buren R. Sherman | 133,328 (56.8%) | David M. Clark (Greenback) 28,112 (12.0%) |
R+25.6 |
| Massachusetts | Charles P. Thompson | 54,586 (34.6%) | John Davis Long | 96,609 (61.2%) | 6,607 | R+26.6 |
| Minnesota | Richard W. Johnson | 37,168 (35.2%) | Lucius F. Hubbard | 65,025 (61.5%) | 3,493 | R+26.4 |
| Mississippi | Robert Lowry | 77,727 (59.9%) | none | Benjamin King (Independent Democrat) 52,009 (40.1%) |
D+59.9 | |
| Ohio | John W. Bookwalter | 288,426 (46.2%) | Charles Foster | 312,785 (50.1%) | 23,065 | R+3.9 |
| Rhode Island | Horace A. Kimball | 4,756 (29.5%) | Alfred H. Littlefield | 10,849 (67.2%) | 538 | R+37.7 |
| Virginia flip | John W. Daniel | 100,757 (47.0%) | none | William E. Cameron (Readjuster) 113,464 (53.0%) |
Ind. +5.9 | |
| Wisconsin | Nicholas D. Fratt | 69,797 (40.6%) | Jeremiah M. Rusk | 81,754 (47.6%) | Theodore D. Kanouse (Prohibition) 13,225 (7.7%) |
R+7.0 |
Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area, so its county detail is an estimate. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.