1847 Massachusetts gubernatorial election
The 1847 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 8.
Incumbent Whig Governor George N. Briggs was re-elected to a fifth term in office over Democrat Caleb Cushing. This was the last election in which the Whig Party received a majority of the vote; after the emergence of the Free Soil Party in 1848, Whigs only won pluralities before fading away entirely by the 1857 election.
Democratic nomination
Candidates
- Henry W. Bishop
- Caleb Cushing, former U.S. Minister to China and U.S. representative from Newburyport
- Isaac Davis, state senator from Worcester and nominee for governor in 1845 and 1846
- David Henshaw, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy
General election
Candidates
- Francis Baylies, former U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Buenos Aires and U.S. representative from Taunton
- Caleb Cushing, former U.S. Minister to China and U.S. representative from Newburyport
- George N. Briggs, incumbent governor since 1844
- Samuel Edmund Sewall, Liberty nominee for governor since 1842