1934 Georgia gubernatorial election

The 1934 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1934, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.

1934 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary

September 12, 1934

Nominee Eugene Talmadge Claude Pittman Party Democratic Democratic Electoral vote 394 16 Popular vote 178,409 87,049 Percentage 65.95% 32.18%

Governor before election Eugene Talmadge Democratic Elected Governor Eugene Talmadge Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Governor Eugene Talmadge was re-elected to a second term.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed in the general election so therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered tantamount to election.

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary election was held on September 12, 1934. As Talmadge won a majority of county unit votes, there was no run-off.

County unit system

From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections.[1]

The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.[2][3]

Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis.[2][3]

Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.[4]

Candidates

• Ed Gilliam, attorney[5] and alderman of Atlanta[6]
• Claude Pittman, Georgia Superior Court judge[7]
• Eugene Talmadge, incumbent Governor

Results

Democratic primary[8][9][10]
Candidate	Votes	%	CUV
Eugene Talmadge	178,409	65.95	394
Claude Pittman	87,049	32.18	16
Ed Gilliam	5,073	1.88	0

General election

In the general election, Talmadge ran unopposed.

Results

1934 Georgia gubernatorial election[11][12][13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Eugene Talmadge	53,101	100.00%
Turnout			53,101	100.00%
	Democratic hold		Swing

References

1. "County Unit System". Georgia County Clerks Association. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
2. "Eugene Talmadge". The Jim Crow Encyclopedia. The African American Experience. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
3. "County Unit System, eh?". Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
4. Buchanan, Scott (13 June 2017). "County Unit System". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
5. "Governor races in South heated". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 24 June 1934. p. B-2. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
6. "Candidate: Alderman Ed A. Gilliam". Evening Star. Washington, D.C. 13 May 1934. p. F-2. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
7. Anderson, William (1975). The Wild Man from Sugar Creek: The Political Career of Eugene Talmadge. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-8071-0088-9.
8. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 107.
9. "GA Governor, 1934 - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
10. Georgia Register 1937, pp. 542-545.
11. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 48.
12. "GA Governor, 1934". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
13. Glashan 1979, pp. 68-69.
14. Georgia Register 1937, pp. 657.

Bibliography

• Gubernatorial Elections, 1787-1997. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998. ISBN 1-56802-396-0.
• Glashan, Roy R. (1979). American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1978. Meckler Books. ISBN 0-930466-17-9.
• Compiled by Mrs. J.E. Hays, State Historian and Director (1937). Georgia's Official Register, 1933-1935-1937 (PDF). Atlanta, GA: State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History.