The 1896 Delaware gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1896. Shortly after his victory in the
1894 gubernatorial election, Republican Governor
Joshua H. Marvil died. State Senate Speaker
William T. Watson, a Democrat, became Governor and a new election for a full four-year term was scheduled in 1896. Though Watson was considered a potential candidate for re-election,[1] the Democratic convention instead nominated
Ebe W. Tunnell, the 1894 nominee for Governor; despite his protests that he would decline the nomination,[2] Tunnell ultimately accepted it.[3]
The Republican Party, meanwhile, split in the election and nominated two separate candidates for Governor: the faction of the Republican Party affiliated with wealthy industrialist
J. Edward Addicks split off from the main Party and nominated
John H. Hoffecker the President of the
Smyrna Town Council.[4] The anti-Addicks faction, which held the official Republican banner, nominated former State Representative
John C. Higgins.[5] The fragmentation continued throughout the campaign, and despite rumors that the fractions would reunite and nominate a single candidate, they did not do so.[6]
The split ended up destroying the Republican Party's chances of regaining the governorship; Tunnell defeated Hoffecker and Higgins by a wide margin, though he fell far short of a majority. This ended up being the final election that occurred under the
1831 Constitution; the
1897 Constitution was drafted the following year and ratified prior to the
1900 gubernatorial election.
