1941 Virginia gubernatorial election

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1941 Virginia gubernatorial election

 1937 November 4, 1941 1945 
 
Nominee Colgate Darden Benjamin Muse
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 98,680 21,896
Percentage 80.6% 17.9%

County and independent city results
Darden:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Muse:      50–60%      60–70%

Governor before election

James H. Price
Democratic

Elected Governor

Colgate Darden
Democratic

In the 1941 Virginia gubernatorial election, incumbent Governor James H. Price, a Democrat, was unable to seek re-election due to term limits. U.S. Representative Colgate Darden was nominated by the Democratic Party to run against Republican former Virginia State Senator Benjamin Muse.

Background

For the previous four decades Virginia had almost completely disenfranchised its black and poor white populations through the use of a cumulative poll tax and literacy tests.[1] So restricted was suffrage that it has been calculated that a third of Virginia's electorate during the first half of the twentieth century comprised state employees and officeholders.[1] This limited electorate allowed Virginian politics to be controlled for four decades by the Byrd Organization, as progressive "antiorganization" factions were rendered impotent by the inability of almost all their potential electorate to vote.[2] Historical fusion with the "Readjuster" Democrats,[3] defection of substantial proportions of the Northeast-aligned white electorate of the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia over free silver,[4] and an early move towards a "lily white" Jim Crow party[3] meant Republicans retained a small but permanent number of legislative seats and local offices in the western part of the state.[5] Nevertheless, in gubernatorial elections during this period the Republican vote was mostly in the nature of a protest, and in most elections between 1925 and 1949 turnout was higher in the Democratic primary than the general election.[6]

Reconsolidation of Organization control

The preceding gubernatorial election, for the only time in the Byrd machine's history, had seen it defeated in the primaries[a] by the relatively liberal Price.[8] However, continuing conservative control of the state legislature and the complete failure of FDR's attempt to deny conservative Senators Byrd and Carter Glass federal patronage,[7] meant that Price could not deliver significant reforms. This was seen in Roosevelt's antiorganization nomination to the Western District federal court, Floyd H. Roberts being defeated 9–72,[9] and that Virginia's electorate is known to have been overwhelmingly opposed to Roberts.[7] FDR also failed to have an antiorganization man installed as Attorney for that same district court,[10] whilst organization leader Colgate Darden recaptured the Second Congressional District from New Dealer Norman R. Hamilton.

By the 1940 Democratic State Convention, the liberals from three years back had been completely routed,and even such old New Dealers as John W. Flannagan Jr. were supporting Byrd.[8] No strong opposition candidate could be found by Martin Hutchinson, and Darden's two primary opponents were state senators not allied with either party faction.[8]

Darden would win extremely easily in both the primary and the general election, with the ordinarily extremely low turnout being further reduced by the absence of many voters serving in World War II.[11]

Democratic nomination

Candidates

1941 Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Colgate W. Darden, Jr. 105,655 76.58%
Democratic Vivian L. Page 19,526 14.15%
Democratic Hudson Cary 12,793 9.27%
Majority 86,129 62.43%
Turnout 137,974 4.60%
Democratic hold Swing

General election

Candidates

Results

1941 Virginia gubernatorial election[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Colgate Darden 98,680 80.58% −2.20%
Republican Benjamin Muse 21,896 17.88% +2.10%
Communist Alice Burke 1,096 0.89% +0.11%
Socialist Hilliard Bernstein 787 0.64% +0.64%
Majority 76,784 62.70% −4.30%
Turnout 122,459 4.09%
Democratic hold Swing

Results by county or independent city

1941 Virginia gubernatorial election by county or independent city[16]
Colgate W. Darden Jr.
Democratic
Benjamin Muse
Republican
Alice Burke
Communist
Hilliard E. Bernstein
Socialist
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Accomack County 769 94.70% 36 4.43% 5 0.62% 2 0.25% 733 90.27% 812
Albemarle County 614 90.56% 59 8.70% 3 0.44% 2 0.29% 555 81.86% 678
Alleghany County 646 58.20% 452 40.72% 7 0.63% 5 0.45% 194 17.48% 1,110
Amelia County 214 82.95% 43 16.67% 1 0.39% 0 0.00% 171 66.28% 258
Amherst County 794 93.74% 31 3.66% 17 2.01% 5 0.59% 763 90.08% 847
Appomattox County 605 95.58% 26 4.11% 1 0.16% 1 0.16% 579 91.47% 633
Arlington County 2,302 82.27% 451 16.12% 25 0.89% 20 0.71% 1,851 66.15% 2,798
Augusta County 1,080 81.20% 242 18.20% 4 0.30% 4 0.30% 838 63.01% 1,330
Bath County 280 62.08% 163 36.14% 3 0.67% 5 1.11% 117 25.94% 451
Bedford County 795 85.85% 127 13.71% 4 0.43% 0 0.00% 668 72.14% 926
Bland County 433 59.64% 283 38.98% 4 0.55% 6 0.83% 150 20.66% 726
Botetourt County 779 73.77% 268 25.38% 8 0.76% 1 0.09% 511 48.39% 1,056
Brunswick County 508 97.69% 11 2.12% 1 0.19% 0 0.00% 497 95.58% 520
Buchanan County 1,482 75.27% 420 21.33% 33 1.68% 34 1.73% 1,062 53.94% 1,969
Buckingham County 411 91.33% 38 8.44% 0 0.00% 1 0.22% 373 82.89% 450
Campbell County 458 94.24% 19 3.91% 8 1.65% 1 0.21% 439 90.33% 486
Caroline County 299 91.16% 25 7.62% 1 0.30% 3 0.91% 274 83.54% 328
Carroll County 705 46.72% 762 50.50% 23 1.52% 19 1.26% -57 -3.78% 1,509
Charles City County 83 92.22% 4 4.44% 3 3.33% 0 0.00% 79 87.78% 90
Charlotte County 639 97.41% 12 1.83% 4 0.61% 1 0.15% 627 95.58% 656
Chesterfield County 590 84.89% 103 14.82% 2 0.29% 0 0.00% 487 70.07% 695
Clarke County 248 92.54% 18 6.72% 0 0.00% 2 0.75% 230 85.82% 268
Craig County 224 74.42% 75 24.92% 1 0.33% 1 0.33% 149 49.50% 301
Culpeper County 412 92.38% 31 6.95% 2 0.45% 1 0.22% 381 85.43% 446
Cumberland County 194 90.65% 19 8.88% 1 0.47% 0 0.00% 175 81.78% 214
Dickenson County 1,082 70.17% 429 27.82% 14 0.91% 17 1.10% 653 42.35% 1,542
Dinwiddie County 491 90.93% 49 9.07% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 442 81.85% 540
Elizabeth City County 356 90.36% 33 8.38% 2 0.51% 3 0.76% 323 81.98% 394
Essex County 104 90.43% 9 7.83% 1 0.87% 1 0.87% 95 82.61% 115
Fairfax County 2,298 80.74% 470 16.51% 49 1.72% 29 1.02% 1,828 64.23% 2,846
Fauquier County 651 90.04% 68 9.41% 3 0.41% 1 0.14% 583 80.64% 723
Floyd County 234 34.06% 446 64.92% 2 0.29% 5 0.73% -212 -30.86% 687
Fluvanna County 253 93.36% 16 5.90% 2 0.74% 0 0.00% 237 87.45% 271
Franklin County 889 83.08% 176 16.45% 4 0.37% 1 0.09% 713 66.64% 1,070
Frederick County 380 78.03% 106 21.77% 1 0.21% 0 0.00% 274 56.26% 487
Giles County 924 76.43% 265 21.92% 12 0.99% 8 0.66% 659 54.51% 1,209
Gloucester County 389 91.10% 35 8.20% 2 0.47% 1 0.23% 354 82.90% 427
Goochland County 323 92.29% 17 4.86% 6 1.71% 4 1.14% 306 87.43% 350
Grayson County 2,042 45.67% 2,379 53.21% 26 0.58% 24 0.54% -337 -7.54% 4,471
Greene County 127 82.47% 23 14.94% 2 1.30% 2 1.30% 104 67.53% 154
Greensville County 280 93.96% 17 5.70% 1 0.34% 0 0.00% 263 88.26% 298
Halifax County 1,388 98.02% 14 0.99% 13 0.92% 1 0.07% 1,374 97.03% 1,416
Hanover County 696 84.67% 88 10.71% 24 2.92% 14 1.70% 608 73.97% 822
Henrico County 386 77.82% 98 19.76% 3 0.60% 9 1.81% 288 58.06% 496
Henry County 385 91.67% 30 7.14% 3 0.71% 2 0.48% 355 84.52% 420
Highland County 233 59.90% 150 38.56% 5 1.29% 1 0.26% 83 21.34% 389
Isle of Wight County 515 96.62% 17 3.19% 1 0.19% 0 0.00% 498 93.43% 533
James City County 91 91.00% 9 9.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 82 82.00% 100
King and Queen County 123 90.44% 8 5.88% 3 2.21% 2 1.47% 115 84.56% 136
King George County 132 85.71% 16 10.39% 4 2.60% 2 1.30% 116 75.32% 154
King William County 231 95.45% 11 4.55% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 220 90.91% 242
Lancaster County 256 87.97% 33 11.34% 0 0.00% 2 0.69% 223 76.63% 291
Lee County 2,331 81.16% 407 14.17% 81 2.82% 53 1.85% 1,924 66.99% 2,872
Loudoun County 720 92.78% 54 6.96% 2 0.26% 0 0.00% 666 85.82% 776
Louisa County 966 86.40% 125 11.18% 15 1.34% 12 1.07% 841 75.22% 1,118
Lunenburg County 316 96.34% 11 3.35% 1 0.30% 0 0.00% 305 92.99% 328
Madison County 229 74.59% 72 23.45% 4 1.30% 2 0.65% 157 51.14% 307
Mathews County 341 94.46% 19 5.26% 0 0.00% 1 0.28% 322 89.20% 361
Mecklenburg County 521 94.04% 28 5.05% 5 0.90% 0 0.00% 493 88.99% 554
Middlesex County 205 97.62% 5 2.38% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 200 95.24% 210
Montgomery County 810 73.04% 288 25.97% 5 0.45% 6 0.54% 522 47.07% 1,109
Nansemond County 426 97.93% 9 2.07% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 417 95.86% 435
Nelson County 1,077 91.66% 70 5.96% 21 1.79% 7 0.60% 1,007 85.70% 1,175
New Kent County 105 91.30% 9 7.83% 1 0.87% 0 0.00% 96 83.48% 115
Norfolk County 1,366 97.85% 24 1.72% 2 0.14% 4 0.29% 1,342 96.13% 1,396
Northampton County 407 97.14% 12 2.86% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 395 94.27% 419
Northumberland County 221 90.95% 18 7.41% 3 1.23% 1 0.41% 203 83.54% 243
Nottoway County 326 90.30% 33 9.14% 2 0.55% 0 0.00% 293 81.16% 361
Orange County 422 92.95% 24 5.29% 1 0.22% 7 1.54% 398 87.67% 454
Page County 987 77.53% 277 21.76% 3 0.24% 6 0.47% 710 55.77% 1,273
Patrick County 788 93.25% 47 5.56% 7 0.83% 3 0.36% 741 87.69% 845
Pittsylvania County 1,138 91.85% 80 6.46% 14 1.13% 7 0.56% 1,058 85.39% 1,239
Powhatan County 228 91.94% 18 7.26% 2 0.81% 0 0.00% 210 84.68% 248
Prince Edward County 400 91.12% 34 7.74% 2 0.46% 3 0.68% 366 83.37% 439
Prince George County 164 82.00% 33 16.50% 2 1.00% 1 0.50% 131 65.50% 200
Prince William County 362 90.27% 34 8.48% 4 1.00% 1 0.25% 328 81.80% 401
Princess Anne County 838 97.56% 21 2.44% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 817 95.11% 859
Pulaski County 1,037 87.07% 145 12.17% 4 0.34% 5 0.42% 892 74.90% 1,191
Rappahannock County 198 88.79% 23 10.31% 0 0.00% 2 0.90% 175 78.48% 223
Richmond County 182 93.81% 11 5.67% 1 0.52% 0 0.00% 171 88.14% 194
Roanoke County 1,273 67.32% 592 31.31% 18 0.95% 8 0.42% 681 36.01% 1,891
Rockbridge County 778 82.94% 155 16.52% 3 0.32% 2 0.21% 623 66.42% 938
Rockingham County 1,847 59.54% 1,168 37.65% 29 0.93% 58 1.87% 679 21.89% 3,102
Russell County 2,211 72.33% 780 25.52% 35 1.14% 31 1.01% 1,431 46.81% 3,057
Scott County 1,423 53.64% 1,147 43.23% 50 1.88% 33 1.24% 276 10.40% 2,653
Shenandoah County 1,247 47.31% 1,376 52.20% 5 0.19% 8 0.30% -129 -4.89% 2,636
Smyth County 1,620 61.74% 959 36.55% 27 1.03% 18 0.69% 661 25.19% 2,624
Southampton County 782 98.36% 13 1.64% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 769 96.73% 795
Spotsylvania County 255 91.40% 20 7.17% 1 0.36% 3 1.08% 235 84.23% 279
Stafford County 185 78.06% 49 20.68% 2 0.84% 1 0.42% 136 57.38% 237
Surry County 241 93.77% 15 5.84% 1 0.39% 0 0.00% 226 87.94% 257
Sussex County 419 95.88% 18 4.12% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 401 91.76% 437
Tazewell County 1,106 72.33% 375 24.53% 18 1.18% 30 1.96% 731 47.81% 1,529
Warren County 638 93.69% 41 6.02% 1 0.15% 1 0.15% 597 87.67% 681
Warwick County 115 87.79% 16 12.21% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 99 75.57% 131
Washington County 1,030 72.74% 356 25.14% 18 1.27% 12 0.85% 674 47.60% 1,416
Westmoreland County 304 91.29% 27 8.11% 2 0.60% 0 0.00% 277 83.18% 333
Wise County 3,145 89.83% 334 9.54% 12 0.34% 10 0.29% 2,811 80.29% 3,501
Wythe County 749 68.21% 339 30.87% 6 0.55% 4 0.36% 410 37.34% 1,098
York County 203 93.12% 11 5.05% 3 1.38% 1 0.46% 192 88.07% 218
Alexandria City 539 90.44% 47 7.89% 6 1.01% 4 0.67% 492 82.55% 596
Bristol City 1,087 93.30% 69 5.92% 6 0.52% 3 0.26% 1,018 87.38% 1,165
Buena Vista City 340 82.93% 65 15.85% 4 0.98% 1 0.24% 275 67.07% 410
Charlottesville City 498 91.38% 44 8.07% 3 0.55% 0 0.00% 454 83.30% 545
Clifton Forge City 676 78.06% 169 19.52% 11 1.27% 10 1.15% 507 58.55% 866
Danville City 640 93.16% 40 5.82% 6 0.87% 1 0.15% 600 87.34% 687
Fredericksburg City 974 91.71% 63 5.93% 20 1.88% 5 0.47% 911 85.78% 1,062
Hampton City 243 95.67% 9 3.54% 1 0.39% 1 0.39% 234 92.13% 254
Harrisonburg City 1,144 76.32% 332 22.15% 11 0.73% 12 0.80% 812 54.17% 1,499
Hopewell City 904 77.86% 216 18.60% 30 2.58% 11 0.95% 688 59.26% 1,161
Lynchburg City 828 88.56% 95 10.16% 5 0.53% 7 0.75% 733 78.40% 935
Martinsville City 821 86.60% 85 8.97% 27 2.85% 15 1.58% 736 77.64% 948
Newport News City 556 86.47% 73 11.35% 9 1.40% 5 0.78% 483 75.12% 643
Norfolk City 4,005 96.60% 118 2.85% 16 0.39% 7 0.17% 3,887 93.75% 4,146
Petersburg City 532 81.97% 113 17.41% 1 0.15% 3 0.46% 419 64.56% 649
Portsmouth City 1,465 93.79% 78 4.99% 10 0.64% 9 0.58% 1,387 88.80% 1,562
Radford City 676 74.70% 216 23.87% 5 0.55% 8 0.88% 460 50.83% 905
Richmond City 11,715 92.65% 724 5.73% 131 1.04% 75 0.59% 10,991 86.92% 12,645
Roanoke City 1,964 71.97% 713 26.13% 36 1.32% 16 0.59% 1,251 45.84% 2,729
South Norfolk City 305 95.31% 9 2.81% 1 0.31% 5 1.56% 296 92.50% 320
Staunton City 480 86.64% 71 12.82% 0 0.00% 3 0.54% 409 73.83% 554
Suffolk City 379 98.19% 6 1.55% 0 0.00% 1 0.26% 373 96.63% 386
Williamsburg City 96 91.43% 8 7.62% 0 0.00% 1 0.95% 88 83.81% 105
Winchester City 308 79.18% 81 20.82% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 227 58.35% 389
Totals98,68080.58%21,89617.88%1,0960.89%7870.64%76,78462.70%122,459

Notes

  1. Price was sufficiently popular among all sections of Virginia's extremely limited electorate that the Byrd machine did not run its own candidate against it.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Kousser, J. Morgan (1974). The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910. Yale University Press. pp. 178–181. ISBN 0-300-01696-4.
  2. Key, Valdimer Orlando (1949). Southern Politics in State and Nation. pp. 20–25.
  3. 1 2 Heersink, Boris; Jenkins, Jeffrey A. (March 19, 2020). Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. Cambridge University Press. pp. 217–221. ISBN 978-1107158436.
  4. Moger, Allen (1938). "The Rift in Virginia Democracy in 1896". The Journal of Southern History. 4 (3): 295–317. doi:10.2307/2191291. JSTOR 2191291.
  5. Phillips, Kevin P. (1969). The Emerging Republican Majority. Arlington House. pp. 193, 219. ISBN 0870000586.
  6. Heinemann, Ronald (August 4, 2023). "Prelude to Revolution: The Rise and Fall of the Byrd Organization, 1925–49". In Rozell, Mark; Milliken, John G. (eds.). The New Dominion: The Twentieth-Century Elections That Shaped Modern Virginia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813949727.
  7. 1 2 3 Hall, Alvin L. (July 1974). "Politics and Patronage: Virginia's Senators and the Roosevelt Purges of 1938". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 82 (3). Virginia Historical Society: 331–350.
  8. 1 2 3 Sweeney, James R. (June 1999). "'Sheep without a Shepherd': The New Deal Faction in the Virginia Democratic Party". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 29 (2): 438–459.
  9. "Confirmation of the Nomination of Floyd H. Roberts, of Virginia, to Be United States District Judge for the Western District of Virginia". VoteView. UCLA Department of Political Science.
  10. Koeniger, A. Cash (March 1982). "The New Deal and the States: Roosevelt Versus the Byrd Organization in Virginia". The Journal of American History. 68 (4). Oxford University Press: 876–896.
  11. Sabato, Larry (1977). The Democratic Party primary in Virginia: Tantamount to election no longer (Report). University of Virginia Institute of Government. p. 110.
  12. "Mrs. Roosevelt Speaks Tonight". Washington Daily News. February 1, 1941. p. 8.
  13. "VA Governor D Primary – August 05, 1941". Our Campaigns.
  14. Sherman, Richard B. (1992). The Case of Odell Waller and Virginia Justice, 1940-1942. University of Tennessee Press. p. 229. ISBN 9780870497339.
  15. "Roanoke Probe Is Required". The World-News. Roanoke City, Virginia. March 10, 1941. p. 2.
  16. 1 2 "Virginia Governor Race, November 04, 1941". Our Campaigns.