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

1. 4RHODE
ISLAND
GOVERNORS
W
HO
DIDN'T RUN
FOR
A
2
ND TERM

2. CHAFEE JUST 4TH RHODE ISLAND GOVERNOR
SINCE 1790 TO PASS ON 2ND TERM
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.

3. 1. BYRON DIMAN
(Law and Order)
The 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.

4. 2. ROYAL TAFT
(REPUBLICAN)
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. (During that era of Rhode
Island politics, governors were elected to
one-year terms.)

5. 3. WILLIAM FLYNN
(DEMOCRAT)
Flynn was narrowly elected to a two-year term in
1922 by 4.6 points over Republican Harold
Gross.
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.

6. 4. LINCOLN CHAFEE
(INDEPENDENT / DEMOCRAT)
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.

7. LEARN MORE AT:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/