1896 Wisconsin gubernatorial election explained

The 1896 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1896.

Incumbent Republican Governor William H. Upham retired.^[1]

Republican nominee Edward Scofield defeated Democratic nominee Willis C. Silverthorn with 59.67% of the vote. Scofield's popular vote share was the highest in the state's history for a gubernatorial candidate to that point, reflecting the state's transition from a Republican-leaning but competitive state to one dominated by the Republicans.

General election

Candidates

Major party candidates

• Willis C. Silverthorn, Democratic, Democratic nominee for Wisconsin's 8th congressional district in 1880, Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Wisconsin in 1884
• Edward Scofield, Republican, former State Senator

Other candidates

• Joshua H. Berkey, Prohibition, temperance lecturer
• Christ Tuttrop, Socialist Labor
• Robert Henderson, National, Prohibitionist nominee for Wisconsin State Senate in 1892

Results by county

Scofield was the first Republican to ever win Dodge County, Manitowoc County, and Washington County; Dodge County would not vote Republican again until 1916. Scofield was also the first Republican since 1855 to carry Outagamie County, the first since 1857 to carry Jefferson County, and the first since 1861 to carry Kewaunee County.

County	Edward Scofield Republican		Willis C. Silverthorn Democratic		Joshua H. Berkey Prohibition		Christ Tuttrop Socialist Labor		Robert Henderson National		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%		%
	Adams		1,427		77.09%		397		21.45%		27		1.46%		0		0.00%	0	0.00%		1,030		55.65%		1,851
	Ashland		2,700		59.18%		1,784		39.11%		59		1.29%		15		0.33%	4	0.09%		916		20.08%		4,562
	Barron		2,765		64.88%		1,328		31.16%		165		3.87%		0		0.00%	4	0.09%		1,437		33.72%		4,262
	Bayfield		2,224		72.87%		776		25.43%		46		1.51%		5		0.16%	1	0.03%		1,448		47.44%		3,052
	Brown		5,324		57.13%		3,870		41.53%		88		0.94%		5		0.05%	32	0.34%		1,454		15.60%		9,319
	Buffalo		2,303		62.73%		1,302		35.47%		61		1.66%		1		0.03%	4	0.11%		1,001		27.27%		3,671
	Burnett		807		67.59%		355		29.73%		28		2.35%		3		0.25%	1	0.08%		452		37.86%		1,194
	Calumet		1,539		44.43%		1,897		54.76%		27		0.78%		1		0.03%	0	0.00%		-358		-10.33%		3,464
	Chippewa		3,587		53.95%		2,965		44.59%		89		1.34%		6		0.09%	2	0.03%		622		9.35%		6,649
	Clark		3,299		69.38%		1,341		28.20%		100		2.10%		12		0.25%	1	0.02%		1,958		41.18%		4,755
	Columbia		4,746		63.04%		2,457		32.64%		308		4.09%		5		0.07%	12	0.16%		2,289		30.41%		7,528
	Crawford		2,307		59.49%		1,526		39.35%		41		1.06%		2		0.05%	2	0.05%		781		20.14%		3,878
	Dane		8,747		54.34%		6,804		42.27%		518		3.22%		8		0.05%	15	0.09%		1,943		12.07%		16,098
	Dodge		5,573		52.02%		5,019		46.85%		108		1.01%		4		0.04%	9	0.08%		554		5.17%		10,713
	Door		2,402		71.74%		897		26.79%		48		1.43%		0		0.00%	1	0.03%		1,505		44.95%		3,348
	Douglas		4,113		61.29%		2,498		37.22%		87		1.30%		8		0.12%	5	0.07%		1,615		24.06%		6,711
	Dunn		3,340		67.89%		1,430		29.07%		143		2.91%		5		0.10%	2	0.04%		1,910		38.82%		4,920
	Eau Claire		4,447		62.92%		2,397		33.91%		220		3.11%		1		0.01%	3	0.04%		2,050		29.00%		7,068
	Florence		491		79.32%		122		19.71%		5		0.81%		0		0.00%	0	0.00%		369		59.61%		619
	Fond du Lac		6,089		53.87%		5,033		44.53%		170		1.50%		7		0.06%	4	0.04%		1,056		9.34%		11,303
	Forest		408		68.69%		169		28.45%		15		2.53%		0		0.00%	2	0.34%		239		40.24%		594
	Grant		5,281		57.53%		3,685		40.14%		205		2.23%		3		0.03%	6	0.07%		1,596		17.39%		9,180
	Green		3,054		54.60%		2,331		41.68%		193		3.45%		11		0.20%	4	0.07%		723		12.93%		5,593
	Green Lake		2,091		55.94%		1,581		42.30%		62		1.66%		4		0.11%	0	0.00%		510		13.64%		3,738
	Iowa		3,080		56.68%		2,145		39.47%		196		3.61%		2		0.04%	9	0.17%		935		17.21%		5,434
	Iron		1,290		71.67%		478		26.56%		30		1.67%		1		0.06%	1	0.06%		812		45.11%		1,800
	Jackson		2,707		74.88%		792		21.91%		108		2.99%		2		0.06%	6	0.17%		1,915		52.97%		3,615
	Jefferson		4,275		52.76%		3,672		45.32%		150		1.85%		3		0.04%	3	0.04%		603		7.44%		8,103
	Juneau		2,805		61.00%		1,714		37.28%		64		1.39%		8		0.17%	7	0.15%		1,091		23.73%		4,598
	Kenosha		2,806		60.80%		1,750		37.92%		53		1.15%		5		0.11%	0	0.00%		1,056		22.88%		4,615
	Kewaunee		1,812		51.36%		1,702		48.24%		14		0.40%		0		0.00%	0	0.00%		110		3.12%		3,528
	La Crosse		6,201		64.36%		3,215		33.37%		204		2.12%		8		0.08%	7	0.07%		2,986		30.99%		9,635
	Lafayette		2,910		54.92%		2,265		42.74%		119		2.25%		1		0.02%	4	0.08%		645		12.17%		5,299
	Langlade		1,394		57.25%		1,018		41.81%		22		0.90%		1		0.04%	0	0.00%		376		15.44%		2,435
	Lincoln		1,675		46.92%		1,849		51.79%		43		1.20%		3		0.08%	0	0.00%		-174		-4.87%		3,570
	Manitowoc		4,401		51.87%		3,995		47.09%		65		0.77%		12		0.14%	11	0.13%		406		4.79%		8,484
	Marathon		3,668		46.05%		4,198		52.70%		73		0.92%		25		0.31%	2	0.03%		-530		-6.65%		7,966
	Marinette		4,358		69.69%		1,808		28.91%		76		1.22%		9		0.14%	2	0.03%		2,550		40.78%		6,253
	Marquette		1,475		63.06%		840		35.91%		23		0.98%		0		0.00%	1	0.04%		635		27.15%		2,339
	Milwaukee		35,463		55.16%		27,464		42.72%		643		1.00%		679		1.06%	40	0.06%		7,999		12.44%		64,289
	Monroe		3,669		59.52%		2,374		38.51%		108		1.75%		1		0.02%	12	0.19%		1,295		21.01%		6,164
	Oconto		2,911		68.88%		1,253		29.65%		54		1.28%		5		0.12%	3	0.07%		1,658		39.23%		4,226
	Oneida		1,405		68.91%		604		29.62%		30		1.47%		0		0.00%	0	0.00%		801		39.28%		2,039
	Outagamie		5,379		55.12%		4,196		43.00%		150		1.54%		8		0.08%	26	0.27%		1,183		12.12%		9,759
	Ozaukee		1,546		43.26%		1,988		55.62%		29		0.81%		10		0.28%	1	0.03%		-442		-12.37%		3,574
	Pepin		1,295		72.71%		442		24.82%		42		2.36%		1		0.06%	1	0.06%		853		47.89%		1,781
	Pierce		3,697		69.75%		1,415		26.70%		182		3.43%		3		0.06%	2	0.04%		2,282		43.06%		5,300
	Polk		2,848		74.89%		886		23.30%		65		1.71%		3		0.08%	1	0.03%		1,962		51.59%		3,803
	Portage		3,476		53.28%		2,955		45.29%		85		1.30%		2		0.03%	6	0.09%		521		7.99%		6,524
	Price		1,444		70.71%		553		27.08%		38		1.86%		6		0.29%	1	0.05%		891		43.63%		2,042
	Racine		5,733		56.77%		4,101		40.61%		241		2.39%		5		0.05%	19	0.19%		1,632		16.16%		10,099
	Richland		2,635		54.16%		2,088		42.92%		139		2.86%		2		0.04%	1	0.02%		547		11.24%		4,865
	Rock		8,224		67.48%		3,657		30.01%		292		2.40%		10		0.08%	4	0.03%		4,567		37.47%		12,187
	Sauk		4,594		61.16%		2,637		35.11%		263		3.50%		9		0.12%	8	0.11%		1,957		26.06%		7,511
	Sawyer		506		55.97%		371		41.04%		27		2.99%		0		0.00%	0	0.00%		135		14.93%		904
	Shawano		3,019		64.34%		1,604		34.19%		55		1.17%		11		0.23%	3	0.06%		1,415		30.16%		4,692
	Sheboygan		6,543		62.99%		3,426		32.98%		88		0.85%		313		3.01%	18	0.17%		3,117		30.01%		10,388
	St. Croix		3,424		56.13%		2,479		40.64%		187		3.07%		6		0.10%	4	0.07%		945		15.49%		6,100
	Taylor		1,355		63.32%		759		35.47%		20		0.93%		2		0.09%	4	0.19%		596		27.85%		2,140
	Trempealeau		3,300		67.87%		1,390		28.59%		161		3.31%		5		0.10%	6	0.12%		1,910		39.28%		4,862
	Vernon		4,378		71.50%		1,638		26.75%		98		1.60%		3		0.05%	4	0.07%		2,740		44.75%		6,123
	Vilas		731		61.02%		459		38.31%		8		0.67%		0		0.00%	0	0.00%		272		22.70%		1,198
	Walworth		5,292		70.14%		1,889		25.04%		348		4.61%		3		0.04%	13	0.17%		3,403		45.10%		7,545
	Washburn		765		73.42%		253		24.28%		22		2.11%		2		0.19%	0	0.00%		512		49.14%		1,042
	Washington		2,833		53.08%		2,461		46.11%		30		0.56%		6		0.11%	7	0.13%		372		6.97%		5,337
	Waukesha		5,331		60.61%		3,282		37.32%		177		2.01%		2		0.02%	3	0.03%		2,049		23.30%		8,795
	Waupaca		5,456		75.54%		1,593		22.05%		139		1.92%		3		0.04%	32	0.44%		3,863		53.48%		7,223
	Waushara		3,207		84.71%		470		12.41%		105		2.77%		0		0.00%	4	0.11%		2,737		72.29%		3,786
	Winnebago		7,835		58.97%		5,213		39.24%		213		1.60%		14		0.11%	11	0.08%		2,622		19.74%		13,286
	Wood		2,766		57.84%		1,952		40.82%		52		1.09%		6		0.13%	6	0.13%		814		17.02%		4,782
Total	264,981	59.67%	169,257	38.11%	8,144	1.83%	1,306	0.29%	407	0.09%	95,724	21.55%	444,110

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Dodge
• Jefferson
• Kewaunee
• Langlade
• Manitowoc
• Outagamie
• Washington

Bibliography

• Book: Glashan, Roy R. . American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978 . Meckler Books . 1979 . 0-930466-17-9 .
• Book: Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997 . Washington, D.C. . Congressional Quarterly Inc. . 1998 . 1-56802-396-0 . .
• Book: Casson . Henry . 1897 . The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin . The Henry Gugler Company . Milwaukee . .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Governor William Upham | Painting | Wisconsin Historical Society. wisconsinhistory.org. 21 July 2021.