South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1900

The 1900 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1900 to select the governor

Governor of South Carolina

The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...

of the state of South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

. Governor Miles Benjamin McSweeney

Miles Benjamin McSweeney

Miles Benjamin McSweeney was the 87th Governor of South Carolina from June 2, 1899, to January 20, 1903.McSweeney was born in Charleston and was forced to become a paperboy at the age of 10 in order to help support his family when his father died...

won the Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

primary and ran unopposed in the general election to win a term for governor in his own right.
The South Carolina Democratic Party

South Carolina Democratic Party

The South Carolina Democratic Party is the South Carolina affiliate of the United States Democratic Party. The Democratic party thrived during the Second Party System between 1832 and the mid-1850s and was one of the causes of the collapse of the Whig Party....

held their primary

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

for governor on August 28 and incumbent Governor McSweeney was the frontrunner. McSweeney favored the continuation of the state Dispensary

South carolina dispensary

The South Carolina Dispensary system was a state-run monopoly on liquor sales in the United States state of South Carolina which operated from 1893 to 1907 statewide and until 1916 in some counties. The system was the brainchild of Governor Benjamin Tillman, a farmer from Edgefield known as...

which brought the backing of influential Senator and former Governor Ben Tillman

Benjamin Tillman

Benjamin Ryan Tillman was an American politician who served as the 84th Governor of South Carolina, from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senator, from 1895 until his death in office. Tillman's views were a matter of national controversy.Tillman was a member of the Democratic Party...