The 1906 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1906, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina, United States. Martin Frederick Ansel won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election to become the 89th governor of South Carolina.
The South Carolina Democratic Party held its primary for governor on August 28 and Martin Frederick Ansel emerged as the frontrunner. Ansel was vocal in his opposition to the Dispensary system set up by Ben Tillman and instead favored the local county option established by the Bryce law in 1904. His chief rival, progressive reformer Richard Irvine Manning III, sought to maintain a statewide Dispensary and work to remove all the corrupt officials in it. The public sentiment at the time felt that nobody with even the best intentions could clean up the Dispensary and therefore Ansel won the Democratic runoff on September 11 against Manning. He essentially became the next governor of South Carolina because there was no opposition in the general election.
Democratic Primary
Candidate
Votes
%
Martin Frederick Ansel
39,850
41.2
Richard Irvine Manning III
23,008
23.8
Coleman Livingston Blease
16,801
17.4
J.E. Brunson
9,982
10.3
John T. Sloan
3,348
3.5
John Joseph McMahan
2,231
2.3
A.C. Jones
898
0.9
W.A. Edwards
530
0.6
Democratic Primary Runoff
Candidate
Votes
%
±%
Martin Frederick Ansel
47,638
56.1
+14.9
Richard Irvine Manning III
37,245
43.9
+20.1
General election[]
The general election was held on November 6, 1906, and Martin Frederick Ansel was elected the next governor of South Carolina without opposition. Being a non-presidential election and few contested races, turnout was much less than the previous gubernatorial election.
South Carolina Gubernatorial Election, 1906
Party
Candidate
Votes
%
±%
Democratic
Martin Frederick Ansel
30,251
100.0
0.0
Majority
30,251
100.0
0.0
Turnout
30,251
Democratichold
1906 South Carolina gubernatorial election map, by percentile by county.
