1867 Minnesota gubernatorial election


The 1867 Minnesota gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1867, to elect the governor of Minnesota. Incumbent governor William Rainey Marshall was reelected to a second term.

Candidates

Campaigns

The Democratic State Convention took place on July 10, 1867. Flandrau was nominated without opposition, and voted by acclamation. Flandrau was not actually present at the convention. The party took a clear stance against Black suffrage in the state, a policy Governor Marshall had attempted to pass previously. Like the Democratic nominee before him, Henry Mower Rice, Flandrau had difficulties in proving to the public he had no Confederate sympathies. Flandrau had an advantage, being a veteran, however never fought the Confederacy, only the Dakota in combat. Flandrau had also been an opponent of the war and refused to join the Union Army for any purpose of aggression against the Confederates, damaging his credibility further.
On September 7, 1867, the Republican State Convention took place. Every attending delegate had already pledged to re-nominate Marshall before the Convention even began. Marshall was renominated unanimously.
In mid-September of 1867, Flandrau gave a speech using racial slurs, garnering him national attention for his explicit opposition to protections for African-Americans and support for racial violence. Secretary of State William H. Seward urged Minnesotans not to vote for Flandrau.