1892 Louisiana gubernatorial election

1892 Louisiana gubernatorial election

April 19, 1892

Nominee Murphy J. Foster Samuel D. McEnery Albert Leonard Party Independent Democrat Democratic Republican Popular vote 79,407 47,046 29,648 Percentage 44.54% 26.39% 16.63%   Nominee John E. Breaux R. H. Tannehill Party Independent Republican Populist Popular vote 12,409 9,792 Percentage 6.96% 5.49%

Parish Results Foster:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90%      >90% McEnry:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60% Leonard:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Breaux:      30-40%      70-80% Tannehill:      40-50%      50-60%      70-80%

Governor before election Francis T. Nicholls Democratic Elected Governor Murphy J. Foster Democratic

The 1892 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on April 19, 1892. Like most Southern states between Reconstruction and the civil rights era, Louisiana's Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in terms of electoral support. In addition, the Republican Party had split into two factions, each supporting a different candidate. As Louisiana had not yet adopted party primaries, this meant that the Democratic Party convention nomination vote was supposed to be the real contest over who would be governor. At the convention, pro-lottery former Governor Samuel D. McEnery was nominated. As a result of the nomination of a pro-lottery candidate, a group of anti-lottery Democrats nominated their own candidate, State Senator Murphy J. Foster. In addition to the four candidates already mentioned, the increasingly popular Populists nominated R. H. Tannehill and their candidate. Despite all of this, Senator Foster was elected with 45% of the vote with a comfortable 19% margin between him and McEnery, who placed second. This election marked the last time until 1979 that the official Democratic Party nominee was defeated.

Results

General Election, April 17

Party	Candidate	Votes received	Percent
Anti-Lottery Democrat	Murphy J. Foster	79,407	44.54%
Democratic	Samuel D. McEnery	47,046	26.39%
Republican	Albert H. Leonard	29,648	16.63%
Independent Republican	John E. Breaux	12,409	6.96%
Populist	R. H. Tannehill	9,792	5.49%

References

Preceded by 1888 gubernatorial election

Louisiana gubernatorial elections

Succeeded by 1896 gubernatorial election