The 1868 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held for two days from June 2 to June 3, 1868, to elect the governor of South Carolina; elections for statewide offices were held following the ratification of the South Carolina Constitution of 1868 on April 16. Republican Robert Kingston Scott won the election largely with the support of the newly enfranchised black vote and became the state's 74th governor.
Campaign
The Republican Party was formed in South Carolina in 1867 to contest the elections of 1868. Members were chiefly composed of former slaves, and much of their support was derived from the Union League. They nominated Robert Kingston Scott, an Ohioan and assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, as their candidate for governor. The platform of the state Republican Party for the election was to enact Radical Republican reconstruction of the state.
The Democratic Party, which had not been active in state politics since the Civil War, reorganized themselves for the election. They nominated William D. Porter for governor, although he declined the nomination; he remained on the ballot nonetheless. The state Democratic Party's platform for the election called for maintaining a policy of white supremacy and disapproval of South Carolina's newly ratified constitution.
General election
Robert Kingston Scott, who received an overwhelming amount of support from South Carolina's newly enfranchised black voters, defeated William D. Porter in a landslide to become the state's first Republican governor.