The Lt. Guv

Candidates used to run separately for Governor and Lieutenant Governor in the primary election. And the winners of those races then ran as a single ticket in the general election.

The Democratic party winners in 1972 were Dan Walker for Governor and Neil Hartigan for Lt. Governor. 

Walker had beaten the Machine-endorsed candidate for Governor. Hartigan was the Machine-endorsed candidate for Lt. Governor and had beaten a challenger supported by Walker. But now, they would have to run as a team and either win together or lose together.

That may have been a good strategy, as both rode the coattails of the other in their respective strongholds. Walker’s campaign workers only talked to voters about Walker. Hartigan’s campaign workers only talked to voters about Hartigan.

And they won.