The 1952 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1952. Republican incumbent C. Elmer Anderson defeated Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party challenger Orville Freeman. At this point, it was the eighth consecutive Minnesota gubernatorial election won by the Republican Party.
C. Elmer Anderson became governor in 1951 after the resignation of Luther Youngdahl to become a federal judge. Anderson was running to be elected in his own right.
Republican primary
Anderson was nominated. Sigrid Schmidt was the first Republican woman to run for governor, and the second woman in general. Mabel Caroline Wiesner, a DFLer, was the first woman to run, in 1944. Schmidt campaigned against water fluoridation, and claimed to have contact with extraterrestrials.
Candidates
Nominated
- C. Elmer Anderson, incumbent
Eliminated in primary
- Paul Indykiewicz, welder
- Stafford King, state auditor
- John C. Peterson, painter
- Sigrid Schmidt, homemaker
- August Scramstad, railroad tower worker
Democratic-Farmer-Labor primary
Freeman was nominated, defeating Ryan in a landslide.
Candidates
Nominated
- Orville Freeman, DFL party chairman
Eliminated in primary
- Ed Ryan, Hennepin County sheriff
Candidates
- C. Elmer Anderson, incumbent (Republican)
- Eldrid Bauers, stationary engineer (Industrial Government)
- Martin Fredrickson, farmer (Progressive)
- Orville Freeman, DFL chairman (DFL)
Campaigns
In September, Freeman challenged Anderson to a debate. Anderson declined, stating that his campaign schedule was already set and it was too late in the campaign to change it. If the debate had happened, it would have been the first gubernatorial debate in Minnesota.
Freeman's campaign was mostly based on Anderson's lack of active campaigning. Freeman responded with extensive and details policy plans. His policy programs were called "Freeman Programs", and included increasing aid to schools so $100 was invested in every student, removing limits on old-age pension and providing housing to those of a needy age, conducting a survey of all industry in the state and send the results to universities so new industry could be developed from existing infrastructure, establishing a well-planned forestry and reforestation program, and creating a public health program to help those with debilitating physical injuries and disabilities adjust into society.
Results
Aftermath
Despite Anderson's comfortable margin of victory, matching the results of the concurrent presidential election, the result was nowhere as decisive as polling had suggested and was actually an underperformance compared to his predecessor's two years prior. Anderson's opponent, Orville Freeman, would challenge him again in 1954 and win an upset victory to become the state's first governor from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, as well as the first Democratic governor since 1936: Freeman also won in 1956 and 1958, but fell short in 1960. Freeman was compensated for this by the ascendant president Kennedy, who nominated him for the position of Secretary of Agriculture.