Chafee Just 4th Rhode Island Governor Since 1790 to Pass On 2nd Term

Facing a tough reelection bid in 2014, Lincoln Chafee throws up the white flag – a historical rarity among 1st term Rhode Island governors

Independent turned Democrat Lincoln Chafee announced on Wednesday that he would not seek a second term as Governor of Rhode Island in 2014.

Chafee, who eked out a 2.5-point victory over Republican John Robitaille in 2010 with just 36.1 percent of the vote as an independent, had perhaps hoped to bolster his reelection chances by switching his party affiliation to Democrat earlier this year.

However, beset by low approval ratings and iffy reelection odds, Chafee has instead opted to sit out of the 2014 race and not run for a second term.

And that is a rarity in Rhode Island politics.

A Smart Politics review of Rhode Island gubernatorial election results finds that Chafee has become just the fourth governor who did not run for a second term out of the five-dozen elected into office since statehood in 1790.

The last governor of the Ocean State who said ‘no’ to a second term was Democrat William Flynn in 1924.

Flynn was narrowly elected to a two-year term in 1922 by 4.6 points over Republican Harold Gross.

Unlike Chafee, who will not be on the ballot for any office in 2014, Flynn chose to run for the U.S. Senate in 1924 instead, but lost both the special and general elections for the seat that November.

After Flynn, each of the 17 subsequent governors before Chafee ran for a second term, and all but three were victorious in doing so:

· Democrat Robert Quinn was defeated by Republican William Vanderbilt in 1938 by 12.0 points.

· Vanderbilt lost to Democrat J. Howard McGrath in 1940 by 11.8 points.

· Republican Christopher Del Sesto was defeated in 1960 by 13.3 points by Democrat John Notte.

Before Flynn, the previous Rhode Island governor who failed to run for a second term was Republican Royal Taft 35 years prior in 1889.

During that era of Rhode Island politics, governors were elected to one-year terms.

Taft won the Election of 1888 by ousting Democratic incumbent Governor John Davis by 8.0 points.

However, Taft declined nomination for a second term in 1889.

The third and final Rhode Island governor to call it quits after just one term was Law and Order Governor Byron Diman.

Diman, a former state representative and Lieutenant Governor, defeated Democratic incumbent Charles Jackson by less than 100 votes in the Election of 1846, but fell just shy of the required majority.

However, the General Assembly nonetheless selected Diman as governor of the Ocean State.

Although Diman chose not to run for a second term in 1847 he did later serve again in the legislature – this time in the Rhode Island Senate.

So that’s the list of elected governors who did not seek a second term: Diman, Taft, Flynn, and now Chafee.

That means, prior to Chafee, 57 of 60 elected governors from Rhode Island ran for a second full term since statehood, or 95 percent.

Of those 57 governors who ran for a second term, 48 were reelected versus just nine who were defeated.

In addition to the three governors named above (Quinn, McGrath, and Del Sesto), incumbents who lost their second term were:

· 1839: Whig William Sprague received the most votes but failed to win a majority and the state legislature ended up naming Whig Samuel King governor instead.

· 1846: Liberation governor turned Democrat Charles Jackson lost his reelection bid by 0.6 points to Law and Order nominee Byron Diman.

· 1860: Republican Thomas Turner failed to win his party’s nomination with Seth Padelford getting the nod instead.

· 1888: Democrat John Davis lost by 8.0 points to Republican Royal Taft.

· 1890: Republican Herbert Ladd lost by 3.7 points to former Democratic Governor John Davis.

· 1922: Republican Emory San Souci lost his party’s nomination to Harold Gross.

With Chafee out of the race Democrats are still expected to hold this seat in the deep blue state.

Fate of Rhode Island Governors Up for a Second Full Term In Office

Year	Incumbent	Party	Result
2014	Lincoln Chafee	Independent / Democrat	Did not run
2006	Don Carcieri	Republican	Won
1998	Lincoln Almond	Republican	Won
1992	Bruce Sundlun	Democrat	Won
1986	Edward DiPrete	Republican	Won
1978	J. Joseph Garrahy	Democrat	Won
1974	Philip Noel	Democrat	Won
1970	Frank Licht	Democrat	Won
1964	John Chafee	Republican	Won
1960	Christopher Del Sesto	Republican	Lost
1952	Dennis Roberts	Democrat	Won
1948	John Pastore**	Democrat	Won
1942	J. Howard McGrath	Democrat	Won
1940	William Vanderbilt	Republican	Lost
1938	Robert Quinn	Democrat	Lost
1934	Theodore Green	Democrat	Won
1930	Norman Case**	Republican	Won
1926	Aram Pothier*	Republican	Won
1924	William Flynn	Democrat	Did not run
1922	Emory San Souci	Republican	Lost nomination
1916	R. Livingston Beeckman	Republican	Won
1909	Aram Pothier	Republican	Won
1907	James Higgins	Democrat	Won
1905	George Utter	Republican	Won
1903	Lucius Garvin	Democrat	Won
1901	William Gregory	Republican	Won
1898	Elisha Dyer, Jr.	Republican	Won
1896	Charles Lippett	Republican	Won
1893	D. Russell Brown	Republican	Won
1890	Herbert Ladd	Republican	Lost
1889	Royal Taft	Republican	Did not run
1888	John Davis	Democrat	Lost
1886	George Wetmore	Republican	Won
1884	Augustus Bourn	Republican	Won
1881	Alfred Littlefield	Republican	Won
1878	Charles Van Zandt	Republican	Won
1876	Henry Lippitt	Republican	Won
1874	Henry Howard	Republican	Won
1870	Seth Padelford	Republican	Won
1867	Ambrose Burnside	Republican	Won
1864	James Smith	Union Republican	Won
1861	William Sprague II	Democrat / Union	Won
1860	Thomas Turner	Republican	Lost nomination
1858	Elisha Dyer	Republican	Won
1855	William Hoppin	Whig	Won
1852	Philip Allen	Democrat	Won
1850	Henry Anthony	Whig	Won
1848	Elisha Harris	Whig	Won
1847	Byron Diman	Law & Order	Did not run
1846	Charles Jackson	Liberation / Democrat	Lost
1844	James Fenner*	Law & Order	Won
1841	Samuel King	Whig	Won
1839	William Sprague	Whig	Lost
1834	John Francis	Democrat	Won
1832	Lemuel Arnold	National Republican	Won
1825	James Fenner	Jeffersonian Republican	Won
1822	William Gibbs	Jeffersonian Republican	Won
1818	Nehemiah Knight	Jeffersonian Republican	Won
1812	William Jones	Federalist	Won
1808	James Fenner	Jeffersonian Republican	Won
1791	Arthur Fenner	Anti-Federalist	Won

* Denotes governor who served interrupted terms (each administration counted separately). ** Denotes cycle for the second full term of governors who succeeded into the office. Note: Excludes governors who were never elected into office. Table compiled by Smart Politics.

Follow Smart Politics on Twitter.