1875 Wisconsin gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:1875 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
Country:Wisconsin
Flag Year:1866
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1873 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
Previous Year:1873
Next Election:1877 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
Next Year:1877
Election Date:November 2, 1875
Nominee1:Harrison Ludington
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Alliance1:
Popular Vote1:85,155
Percentage1:50.07%
Nominee2:William Robert Taylor
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Alliance2:Reform Party (19th-century Wisconsin)
Popular Vote2:84,314
Percentage2:49.58%
Map Size:250px
Governor
Before Election:William Robert Taylor
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Harrison Ludington
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1875 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1875. Republican Party candidate Harrison Ludington was elected with 50% of the vote, narrowly defeating incumbent Democratic Governor William Robert Taylor.

Taylor was once again nominated as the consensus candidate of the "Reform Party," - a coalition of Democrats, Liberal Republicans, and Grangers. He was opposed by Ludington, who disagreed with the regulations placed on railroads and in turn received the support of railroad companies. The reelection defeat of Taylor prompted the dissolution of the Reform coalition, with the Grangers standing their own candidate under the Greenback Party in the following election.

Democratic (Reform) Party

William Robert Taylor was the incumbent Governor of Wisconsin, having been elected in the 1873 election. Previously, he had served as Trustee for the State Hospital of the Insane, the President of the state agriculture society, had been chairman of the Cottage Grove town board, and the Dane County board of supervisors, and had been a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly.

Republican Party

Harrison Ludington, at the time of the 1875 election, served as Mayor of Milwaukee. Previously he had been elected as a Milwaukee alderman for two terms, having been a businessman working in merchandising, lumber and construction until then.

Results

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 2, 1875