The Pittsburgh Press (October 2, 1946)
Background of news –
The state governorships
By Bertram Benedict
In all the speculation about Republican chances of gaining control of Congress in the coming November elections, scant attention is being paid to the possible effect of the gubernatorial elections on national politics. Yet it may be that the GOP presidential nominee in 1948 (also the Democratic, if President Truman doesn’t run again) will come from among the state governors elected in 1946.
After all, nobody paid much attention to Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton University, as a national political figure until in 1910 he was elected governor of New Jersey. Twenty months later he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president.
In 1882, Grover Cleveland, then mayor of Buffalo, was elected governor of New York; otherwise he hardly would have been nominated for president two years later.
In 1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt became strong presidential possibility the very day he scraped through to the New York governorship by the narrow margin of 25,000 votes in a year in which his party met disaster in the national elections.
Plenty of precedents
In the last three decades, both major political parties have gone more and more frequently to governors’ mansions for their presidential nominees. In 1944, Thomas E. Dewey. In 1936, Alf M. Landon. In 1932, Mr. Roosevelt. In 1928, Alfred E. Smith. In 1920, James M. Cox. In 1912, Mr. Wilson.
During that time, only one major-party presidential nominee came out of Congress – Warren G. Harding in 1920.
A state governor usually can stick to his knitting and avoid taking a stand on national controversial issues that will cost him support in some quarter. If a member of Congress, on the other hand, has voted for anti-strike legislation, he has lost votes with labor; if he has voted against anti-strike legislation, he has lost support within the business community and among the farmers.
Did he vote against OPA? “Boo!” Did he vote for OPA? Also “Boo!”
However, a senator or a representative may have voted on the British loan, or extension of the draft, or public housing, he lost support somewhere.
33 to be decided
In the coming November, 33 governorships are to be decided (Maine voted in September). Of these, the result in California is foreordained, because in the primaries Gov. Warren won the designation of both parties. The results in five southern states are also foreordained.
Of the remaining 27 states where a real contest for the governorship may occur this year, 11 voted for Democratic governors last time – Arizona, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Wyoming. Of the 11, Ohio went Republican for president in 1944.
The midterm elections usually show a swing away from the party in power at Washington both in the congressional and the gubernatorial elections. In 1942, five states replaced Democratic governors by Republicans – California, Connecticut, Idaho, Michigan, New York, while only one state, Wyoming, replaced a GOP governor by a Democrat.