The 1906 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1906, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina, United States. Martin Frederick Ansel won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election to become the 89th governor of South Carolina.
Democratic primary The South Carolina Democratic Party held its primary for governor on August 28 and Martin Frederick Ansel emerged as the frontrunner. Ansel was vocal in his opposition to the Dispensary system set up by Ben Tillman and instead favored the local county option established by the Bryce law in 1904. His chief rival, progressive reformer Richard Irvine Manning III, sought to maintain a statewide Dispensary and work to remove all the corrupt officials in it. The public sentiment at the time felt that nobody with even the best intentions could clean up the Dispensary and therefore Ansel won the Democratic runoff on September 11 against Manning. He essentially became the next governor of South Carolina because there was no opposition in the general election.
Democratic PrimaryCandidateVotes% Martin Frederick Ansel 39,850 41.2 Richard Irvine Manning III 23,008 23.8 Coleman Livingston Blease 16,801 17.4 J.E. Brunson 9,982 10.3 John T. Sloan 3,348 3.5 John Joseph McMahan 2,231 2.3 A.C. Jones 898 0.9 W.A. Edwards 530 0.6
Democratic Primary RunoffCandidateVotes%±% Martin Frederick Ansel 47,638 56.1 +14.9 Richard Irvine Manning III 37,245 43.9 +20.1
General election The general election was held on November 6, 1906, and Martin Frederick Ansel was elected the next governor of South Carolina without opposition. Being a non-presidential election and few contested races, turnout was much less than the previous gubernatorial election.
| colspan=5 |Democratic hold
See also Governor of South Carolina List of governors of South Carolina South Carolina gubernatorial elections
References
External links SCIway Biography of Martin Frederick Ansel