The 1952 Maine gubernatorial election took place on September 8, 1952. Incumbent Republican

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Frederick G. Payne Frederick George Payne (July 24, 1904 – June 15, 1978) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a United States Senate, U.S. senator from Maine from 1953 to ...

was term limited and seeking election to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

Maine Senate The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the st ...

President Burton M. Cross faced off against Democratic challenger, former Congressman James C. Oliver (who served in Congress from 1937 to 1941 as a Republican) and Independent Republican

Neil S. Bishop Neil S. Bishop (November 10, 1903 – February 24, 1989) was an American dairy farmer, educator and politician from Maine. Bishop was born in Presque Isle, Maine, although his family moved when he was young to Bowdoinham, Maine. He served four ...

(whom Cross had defeated in the Republican primary) in the general election, easily defeating both men. Burton's election was the ninth consecutive victory for the Republicans in Maine gubernatorial races. The period after the election itself was rather unusual. Cross actually became Governor about two weeks prior to the start of his elected term of office — the outgoing Governor, Frederick G. Payne had resigned on December 25, 1952, to prepare for his term in the United States Senate. Cross, as President of the Senate became Governor through constitutional succession. Cross himself resigned as Senate President (and Governor) at 10:00am January 6, 1953 and was replaced for the next 25 hours by Nathaniel Haskell. At 11:00am on January 7, 1953, Cross' official elected term of office began. Oliver would remain active in Maine Democratic politics after his defeat, becoming the Democratic nominee for

Maine's 1st congressional district Maine's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Maine. The geographically smaller of the state's two congressional districts, the district covers the southern coastal area of the state. The district consists of ...

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, which would see him narrowly defeated both times by incumbent Robert Hale. He would best Hale in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

and return to Congress, but would be defeated for re-election in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

* Androscoggin (largest city: Lewiston)

Notes

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

September 1952 in the United States {{Maine-election-stub