South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1882

The 1882 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1882 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Hugh Smith Thompson was nominated by the Democrats and ran against J. Hendrix McLane, a Greenback-Labor candidate. Thompson easily won the general election and became the 81st governor of South Carolina.

Governor Johnson Hagood chose not to seek reelection in 1882 and two former generals in the Confederate Army emerged as the frontrunners, Lieutenant Governor John Kennedy and Comptroller General John Bratton. Both men were loyal followers of Wade Hampton, neither had supported Martin Witherspoon Gary, and both were dedicated Democrats. However, many in the state wanted a new direction and the candidacy of George D. Tillman quickly gained pace. Others feared that an intra-party fight over the nomination would bring back Radical Republican rule and only the return of Senator Hampton could save the party. Even so, both Tillman and Hampton declined and chose to continue their representation in the Congress.

Hugh Smith Thompson, the state Superintendent of Education since 1876, had declined to be a candidate for governor and instead lobbied for the presidency of South Carolina College. However, with the opening of the state Democratic convention in August, Thompson was nominated for governor alongside Kennedy and Bratton. After the second ballot with momentum in Thompson's favor, both Kennedy and Bratton withdrew their names thus allowing Thompson to be the Democrats nominee for the general election.

...
Wikipedia