1854 Connecticut gubernatorial election

{{Short description|none}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}

{{Infobox election

| election_name = 1854 Connecticut gubernatorial election

| country = Connecticut

| type = Presidential

| ongoing = no

| previous_election = 1853 Connecticut gubernatorial election

| previous_year = 1853

| next_election = 1855 Connecticut gubernatorial election

| next_year = 1855

| election_date = April 3, 1854

| image1 = Governor Henry Dutton (3x4a).jpg

| nominee1 = Henry Dutton

| party1 = Whig Party (United States)

| popular_vote1 = 19,465

| percentage1 = 31.89%

| electoral_vote1 = 140

| image2 = 3x4.svg

| nominee2 = Samuel Ingham

| party2 = Democratic Party (United States)

| popular_vote2 = 28,338

| percentage2 = 46.43%

| electoral_vote2 = 93

| image3 = Charles Chapman (Connecticut Congressman) (3x4a).jpg

| nominee3 = Charles Chapman

| party3 = Temperance

| popular_vote3 = 10,672

| percentage3 = 17.49%

| map_image = 220px

| map_size = 220px

| map_caption = County Results
Ingham: {{legend0|#A5B0FF|40–50%}} {{legend0|#7996E2|50–60%}}

| title = Governor

| before_election = Charles H. Pond (acting)

| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)

| after_election = Henry Dutton

| after_party = Whig Party (United States)

}}

{{Elections in Connecticut}}

The 1854 Connecticut gubernatorial election was held on April 3, 1854.{{cite news |author= |date=April 2, 1854 |title=The Election in Connecticut |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82003410/1854-04-02/ed-1/seq-2/ |work=The daily union |location=Washington, D.C. |page=2 |access-date=1 May 2022 }}{{cite news |author= |date=April 3, 1854 |title=The Connecticut election |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1854-04-03/ed-1/seq-4/ |work=The New York herald |location=New York, N.Y. |page=4 |access-date=1 May 2022 }}{{cite news |author= |date=April 3, 1854 |title=Personal |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045461/1854-04-03/ed-1/seq-2/ |work=Daily evening star |location=Washington, D.C. |page=2 |access-date=1 May 2022 }} Former state legislator and Whig Party nominee Henry Dutton defeated former congressman and Democratic nominee Samuel Ingham and former congressman Charles Chapman with 31.89% of the vote.

Although Ingham won a large plurality of the vote, he did not receive a majority. As a result, the Connecticut General Assembly elected the governor, per the state constitution. Dutton won the vote over Ingham, 140 to 93, in the General Assembly, and became the governor. This was the first of two elections in which Ingham would receive a plurality of more than 10% in the popular vote and lose the election, the second being 1856.

Dutton won even though he earned a smaller percentage of the popular vote than the previous four elections that the Whigs lost, winning with fewer than one third of the votes. The deterioration of the Whig vote share was similar to the national party collapse, as part of the political transition from the Second Party System to the Third Party System. This was the last time the Whigs won election to the governor's office, the last time the Whigs would finish second in the popular vote, and the last such election in which the Free Soil Party participated.