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County results Holbrook: 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Vermont |
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The 1861 Vermont gubernatorial election for governor of Vermont was held on Tuesday, September 3.[1] In keeping with the "Mountain Rule", incumbent Republican Erastus Fairbanks, who had also served as governor from 1852 to 1853, was not a candidate for a third one-year term.[2][3] The Republican nominee was Frederick Holbrook, a former member of the Vermont Senate.[2] With the Democratic Party split nationally over the response to the American Civil War, Andrew Tracy, a former member of the United States House of Representatives, was nominated by the Union Party, which drew support from War Democrats and conservative Republicans.[4] Benjamin H. Smalley ran as a Peace Democrat, representing Democrats who favored a compromise with the states that had formed the Confederacy.[5]
Vermont continued to oppose slavery and support the Union, which was reflected in its support of Republican candidates.[2] Holbrook easily defeated both Democrats and won a one-year term that began on October 15.[2][6] Illness confined Holbrook at home for most of October,[7] and he delayed traveling to Montpelier to take his oath of office until October 22.[8]