1940 Georgia gubernatorial election

1940 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary

← 1938 September 11, 1940 1942 →

Nominee Eugene Talmadge Columbus Roberts Hosea Abit Nix Party Democratic Democratic Democratic Electoral vote 318 80 12 Popular vote 183,133 127,653 44,282 Percentage 51.58% 35.95% 12.47%

County results Talmadge:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90%      >90% Roberts:      40-50%      50-60% Nix:      40-50%      60-70%      70–80%

Governor before election Eurith D. Rivers Democratic Elected Governor Eugene Talmadge Democratic

Elections in Georgia
Federal government Presidential elections 1788–89 1804 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2020 U.S. Senate elections 1789 1792 1793 1794 1795 1798 1799 1800 1804 1806 1813 1816 1818 1819 1823 1824 1825 1828 1834 1837 1840 1843 1846 1847 1852 1858 1867 1871 1873 1877 1879 1883 1885 1888 1891 1894 1896 1900 1902 1909 1913 1914 1918 1920 1924 1926 1930 1932 1936 1938 1942 1944 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020 2022 2026 U.S. House elections 1789 1791 1792 1794 1796 1798 1800 1802 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 6 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 4 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 Special elections Senate 1796 1806 1807 1809 1813 1816 1818 1819 1821 1824 1828 1829 1833 1835 1837 1845 1880 1882 1894 1907 1911 1914 1922 1932 1972 2000 2020 House At-large 1801 1802 1803 1806 1812 1813 1816 1819 1824 1829 1831 1835 1836 1837 1841 1843 1844 1st 1792 1827 1879 1906 1931 2nd 1827 1910 1913 1953 3rd 1846 1896 1932 4th 1871 1872 1918 1939 5th 1870 1929 1946 1977 2020 6th 1870 1932 1999 2017 7th 1958 1983 8th 1873 1882 1917 1940 9th 1875 1877 2010 10th 1895 1933 2007
State government State elections 2006 2008 2010 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 Gubernatorial elections 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1849 1851 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1946 1948 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 2018 2022 Secretary of State elections 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 2022 State Senate elections 2010 2018 2020 House of Representatives elections 2010 2016 2018 2020
Ballot measures 2004 Amendment 1
Atlanta City elections 2009 Mayoral elections 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021
Savannah Mayoral elections 2015 2019
v t

The 1940 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1940, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Eurith D. Rivers was term-limited, and ineligible to run for a third term.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran with only token opposition 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 11, 1940. 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[]

• Hosea Abit Nix, attorney^[5] and unsuccessful candidate for Democratic nomination for Governor in 1932
• Columbus Roberts, businessman^[5]
• Eugene Talmadge, former Governor

Results[]

General election[]

In the general election, Talmadge faced token opposition.

Results[]

References[]

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 (1943). Georgia's Official Register, 1939-1941-1943 (PDF). Atlanta, GA: State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History.