1878 Texas gubernatorial election

← 1876 November 5, 1878 1880 →

Candidate Oran Milo Roberts W. H. Hamman Anthony Banning Norton Party Democratic Greenback Republican Popular vote 158,302 55,002 23,712 Percentage 66.7% 21.2% 10.0%

County results Roberts:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      90–100% Hamman:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Norton:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      80–90% Tie:      30–40% No Data/Vote:

Acting Governor before election Richard B. Hubbard Democratic Governor-elect Oran Milo Roberts Democratic

The 1878 Texas gubernatorial election was held to elect the Governor of Texas. Democratic candidate and Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court Oran Milo Roberts defeated Greenback William H. Hamman and Republican Anthony Banning Norton by a wide margin.

At the Democratic state convention in July, incumbent governor Richard B. Hubbard competed against former governor James Throckmorton and both failed to secure a nomination due to the rules of the convention. Justice Oran Roberts was selected as the compromise candidate by a conference committee.^[1][2]

The newly formed Greenback Party, a populist agrarian party focused on monetary issues, ran their first ticket for state offices and nominated William H. Hamman of Robertson County to be their nominee for governor.^[3]

The leadership of the state Republican Party initially contemplated supporting the Greenback ticket instead of running their own slate of candidates and spliting the opposition vote, but a convention was held in which Anthony Banning Norton of Dallas was nominated to lead a full ticket.^[4]

The national questions of protective tarriffs, the monetary questions of silver and greenbacks, and immigration were the focus of the campaigns.^[4]

Following the adoption of the 1876 state constitution, Texas became a part of the "Solid South" and the Democratic party was overwhelmingly favored in state elections. On election day, November 5, 1878, Democratic candidate Oran Roberts won the election by a wide margin. He was sworn in as the 16th governor of Texas on January 21, 1879.

Results

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1878 Texas gubernatorial election^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Oran Milo Roberts	158,302	66.76%	8.4
	Greenback	William H. Hamman	55,002	21.20%	N/A
	Republican	Anthony Banning Norton	23,712	10.00%	14.9
	Write-in		99	0.04%	0.04
Total votes			237,115	100.00%