Election 1908 Results
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1908 governor election results by state and county
William Howard Taft won the presidency in 1908, but Democrats took governorships in Ohio, Indiana, Colorado and Montana in a series of close races.
34 governor races were held in 1908. Democrats won 15 and Republicans 19.
The closest were Ohio (D+1.7), Michigan (R+1.8) and Illinois (R+2.0). 5 governorships changed party: Colorado to the Democrats, Indiana to the Democrats, Missouri to the Republicans, Nebraska to the Democrats and Rhode Island to the Republicans.
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 1908 governor elections
William Howard Taft beat William Jennings Bryan for the presidency in 1908, and Republicans won 20 of the 33 governor races. Democrats did better at the state level than at the top of the ticket, winning several close contests in the Midwest and West. In Ohio, Taft's home state, Judson Harmon beat Andrew L. Harris by about 2 points. Thomas R. Marshall won Indiana by about 2 points over James E. Watson and later served two terms as Woodrow Wilson's vice president. Edwin L. Norris won Montana and John F. Shafroth took Colorado for the Democrats, and John Burke was re-elected in North Dakota. Republicans gained Missouri, where Herbert S. Hadley won by about 4 points to become the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction, and regained Rhode Island. Charles Evans Hughes won a second term in New York by about 4 points. In Illinois, Charles S. Deneen beat Adlai E. Stevenson, the former vice president, by about 2 points, and Fred M. Warner held Michigan by a similar margin.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | George W. Donaghey | 110,418 (68.1%) | John I. Worthington | 44,863 (27.7%) | 6,916 | D+40.4 |
| Colorado flip | John F. Shafroth | 130,141 (49.4%) | Jesse F. McDonald | 118,953 (45.2%) | 14,286 | D+4.3 |
| Connecticut | A. Heaton Robertson | 82,260 (43.5%) | George L. Lilley | 98,179 (51.9%) | 8,628 | R+8.4 |
| Delaware | Rowland G. Paynter | 22,794 (47.6%) | Simeon S. Pennewill | 24,905 (52.0%) | 225 | R+4.4 |
| Florida | Albert W. Gilchrist | 33,036 (78.8%) | John M. Cheney | 6,453 (15.4%) | A. J. Pettigrew (Socialist) 2,427 (5.8%) |
D+63.4 |
| Georgia | Joseph Mackey Brown | 112,292 (90.5%) | none | Yancy Carter (Independent) 11,746 (9.5%) |
D+90.5 | |
| Idaho | Moses Alexander | 40,145 (41.6%) | James H. Brady | 47,864 (49.6%) | Ernest Untermann (Socialist) 6,155 (6.4%) |
R+8.0 |
| Illinois | Adlai E. Stevenson I | 526,912 (45.6%) | Charles S. Deneen | 550,076 (47.6%) | 77,624 | R+2.0 |
| Indiana flip | Thomas R. Marshall | 348,843 (48.9%) | James E. Watson | 334,040 (46.9%) | 29,816 | D+2.1 |
| Iowa | Frederick E. White | 196,929 (41.8%) | Beryl F. Carroll | 256,980 (54.6%) | 16,744 | R+12.8 |
| Kansas | Jeremiah D. Botkin | 162,385 (43.3%) | Walter R. Stubbs | 196,692 (52.5%) | 15,700 | R+9.2 |
| Louisiana | Jared Y. Sanders Sr. | 60,066 (87.1%) | Henry Newton Pharr | 7,617 (11.1%) | 1,247 | D+76.1 |
| Maine | Obadiah Gardner | 66,282 (46.5%) | Bert M. Fernald | 73,537 (51.5%) | 2,837 | R+5.1 |
| Massachusetts | James H. Vahey | 168,162 (38.0%) | Eben S. Draper | 228,318 (51.6%) | William N. Osgood (Independence) 23,101 (5.2%) |
R+13.6 |
| Michigan | Lawton T. Hemans | 252,611 (46.6%) | Fred M. Warner | 262,141 (48.4%) | 27,015 | R+1.8 |
| Minnesota | John Albert Johnson | 175,136 (51.9%) | Jacob F. Jacobson | 147,997 (43.9%) | 14,133 | D+8.1 |
| Missouri flip | William S. Cowherd | 340,053 (47.5%) | Herbert S. Hadley | 355,932 (49.7%) | 19,732 | R+2.2 |
| Montana | Edwin L. Norris | 32,282 (47.3%) | Edward Donlan | 30,792 (45.2%) | Harry Hazelton (Socialist) 5,112 (7.5%) |
D+2.2 |
| Nebraska flip | Ashton C. Shallenberger | 132,960 (49.9%) | George L. Sheldon | 125,976 (47.3%) | 7,533 | D+2.6 |
| New Hampshire | Clarence E. Carr | 41,386 (46.7%) | Henry B. Quinby | 44,630 (50.4%) | 2,533 | R+3.7 |
| New York | Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler | 735,189 (44.8%) | Charles Evans Hughes | 804,651 (49.1%) | 99,663 | R+4.2 |
| North Carolina | William W. Kitchin | 145,102 (57.3%) | J. Elwood Cox | 107,760 (42.6%) | 313 | D+14.8 |
| North Dakota | John Burke | 49,398 (51.1%) | C. A. Johnson | 46,849 (48.4%) | 490 | D+2.6 |
| Ohio | Judson Harmon | 552,569 (49.2%) | Andrew L. Harris | 533,197 (47.5%) | 37,432 | D+1.7 |
| Rhode Island flip | Olney Arnold | 31,406 (42.7%) | Aram J. Pothier | 38,676 (52.6%) | 3,427 | R+9.9 |
| South Carolina | Martin F. Ansel | 61,060 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| South Dakota | Andrew E. Lee | 44,876 (39.4%) | Robert S. Vessey | 62,989 (55.3%) | 6,034 | R+15.9 |
| Tennessee | Malcolm R. Patterson | 132,961 (53.8%) | George N. Tillman | 112,665 (45.6%) | 1,413 | D+8.2 |
| Texas | Thomas Mitchell Campbell | 218,956 (72.8%) | John N. Simpson | 73,305 (24.4%) | 8,540 | D+48.4 |
| Utah | Jesse William Knight | 43,375 (38.9%) | William Spry | 52,913 (47.4%) | John A. Street (American) 11,472 (10.3%) |
R+8.6 |
| Vermont | James E. Burke | 15,953 (24.8%) | George H. Prouty | 45,598 (70.8%) | 2,828 | R+46.1 |
| Washington | John Pattison | 58,126 (33.0%) | Samuel G. Cosgrove | 110,190 (62.6%) | 7,828 | R+29.6 |
| West Virginia | Louis Bennett Sr. | 118,909 (46.1%) | William E. Glasscock | 130,807 (50.7%) | 8,275 | R+4.6 |
| Wisconsin | John A. Aylward | 165,977 (36.9%) | James O. Davidson | 242,935 (54.0%) | Harvey Dee Brown (Social Democratic) 28,583 (6.4%) |
R+17.1 |
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.