Governor, 1944 Election

General

Date: November 7, 1944
Cycle: 1944
Office: Governor
State: Minnesota
District: Statewide
Candidate Gender Party Votes Percent Margin
Edward J. Thye Incumbent Man Republican 701,185 61.59 +23.81
Byron G. Allen Man Democratic-Farmer-Labor 430,132 37.78
Gerald York Man Industrial Government 7,151 0.63

Governor Thye, who succeeded Governor Harold Stassen after his resignation on April 27, 1943, was elected. Thye, a farmer from Northfield, was a former state Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture (1939-1942) and Lieutenant Governor (1943).

Allen owned a farm management and insurance business in Detroit Lakes, was an independent and Republican state Representative from Iowa (HD 77, 1927-1933), and director of the Iowa Old Age Assistance System (1934-1939). He was later appointed Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture (1955-1961) and assistant U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (1961-1969).

York was a resident of Duluth and nominated by petition.

Sources

  • The Legislative Manual of the State of Minnesota, 1945 (Abstract of Votes Polled for State Officers By Counties).