1907 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

• Curtis Guild Jr., incumbent Governor

The contest for the Republican nomination was seen as a referendum on the Roosevelt administration. The Massachusetts political establishment, led by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and Governor Guild, was solidly in support of Roosevelt, Lodge's close personal friend.{{cite news|title=Lodge Fighting Battle of His Life|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=18 Aug 1907|page=33}} Republican critics of Governor Guild included State Senator Arthur M. Taft, over the governor's allegedly insufficient support for the protective tariff.{{cite news|title=Taft's Speech Hits at Guild|work=Boston Daily Globe|date=21 July 1907|page=4}}

• Charles W. Bartlett, attorney and Democratic nominee for Governor in 1905
• Henry Melville Whitney, industrialist and Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor in 1905

In a poll taken of the Democratic state legislators in May, 25 favored Whitney and 8 favored Bartlett, with 5 scattering and 32 noncommittal.{{cite news|title=WHITNEY GIVEN A DECIDED LEAD|date=8 May 1907|page=1|work=Boston Daily Globe}}

The Democratic convention was held in Springfield on October 5. Whitney delegates gained control of the convention hall and barred Bartlett delegates from entry. The Bartlett delegates assembled themselves to nominate their candidate and adopt their own platform.{{cite news|title=The Democratic Convention|date=7 Oct 1907|work=Boston Daily Globe|page=10}} Bartlett's supporters were generally aligned with the presidential campaign of William Jennings Bryan, while Whitney's were in opposition to Bryan's third campaign for the Democratic nomination. Bartlett supporters also cited seniority and Whitney's support of the merger of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and Boston and Maine Corporation.{{cite news|title=SPLIT OVER H.M. WHITNEY. MacFarland Leaves Massachusetts Democratic State Committee.|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/07/02/101815408.html?pageNumber=1|access-date=24 August 2016|work=The New York Times|date=July 2, 1907}}

Whitney's nomination led Grenville MacFarland, the Chairman of the Democratic State Committee, to resign his post and his membership in the State Committee. MacFarland felt that Whitney represented corporate interests over "true Democratic principles" in his support of the merger of New York, New Haven and Hartford with Boston and Maine railroads.

• Charles W. Bartlett, attorney and Democratic nominee for Governor in 1905 (Anti-Merger)
• John W. Brown (Socialist)
• Thomas F. Brennan (Socialist Labor)
• Hervey S. Cowell (Prohibition)
• Curtis Guild Jr., incumbent Governor (Republican)
• Thomas Hisgen, petroleum businessman (Independence)
• Henry Melville Whitney, industrialist and Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor in 1905 (Democratic-Independent){{efn|In addition to the Democratic nomination, Whitney also ran on the Democratic Citizens and Independent Citizens tickets and had independent ballot access.}}

The split in the Democratic Party assured Guild of re-election in the normally Republican state.{{cite news|title=GOV. GUILD SEES VICTORY.: Democratic Split in Massachusetts Makes Republican Success Certain.|work=New York Times|date=3 Nov 1907|page=16}} Guild ran a quiet, positive campaign emphasizing his record in office, largely ignoring his three main opponents. He characterized his party's record as: "a larger amount of progress legislation, a larger amount of radical reorganization of state institutions, and for a larger amount of new appointments than has ever occurred before in any similar period in the whole history of the commonwealth."{{cite news|title=GUILD OPENS BAY STATE CAMPAIGN: He Asks For Re-election on Record of What Party Has Done|work=Boston Daily Globe}}

{{Election box begin

| title=1907 Massachusetts gubernatorial election{{cite web |title=1907 Massachusetts governor results|url=https://archive.org/details/numberofassessed19061910mass/page/n245/mode/2up|publisher=Office of the Secretary of State}}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Curtis Guild Jr. (incumbent)

|votes = 188,068

|percentage = 50.33%

|change = {{decrease}}1.63

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = Henry Melville Whitney

|votes = 70,842

|percentage = 18.96%

|change = {{decrease}}8.07

}}

{{Election box candidate

|party = Dem. Citizens

|candidate = Henry Melville Whitney

|votes = 6,691

|percentage = 1.79%

|change = N/A

}}

{{Election box candidate

|party = Ind. Citizens

|candidate = Henry Melville Whitney

|votes = 5,154

|percentage = 1.38%

|change = N/A

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Independent (politician)

|candidate = Henry Melville Whitney

|votes = 1,692

|percentage = 0.45%

|change = N/A

}}

{{Election box candidate

|party = Total

|candidate = Henry Melville Whitney

|votes = 168,162

|percentage = 22.58%

|change = N/A

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Independence Party (United States)

|candidate = Thomas Hisgen

|votes = 75,499

|percentage = 20.20%

|change = {{increase}}11.83

}}

{{Election box candidate

|party = Anti-Merger

|candidate = Charles W. Bartlett

|votes = 11,194

|percentage = 3.00%

|change = N/A

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Socialist Party (United States)

|candidate = John W. Brown

|votes = 7,621

|percentage = 2.04%

|change = {{increase}}0.19

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Prohibition Party (United States)

|candidate = Hervey S. Cowell

|votes = 3,810

|percentage = 1.02%

|change = {{decrease}}4.97

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Socialist Labor Party of America

|candidate = Thomas F. Brennan

|votes = 2,999

|percentage = 0.58%

|change = {{increase}}0.07

}}

{{Election box write-in with party link

|votes = 135

|percentage = 0.05%

|change = {{increase}}0.04

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 373,705

|percentage = 100.00%

}}

{{Election box end}}

• 1907 Massachusetts legislature

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Massachusetts elections}}

Governor

1907

Massachusetts

Category:November 1907 in the United States