1908 Mexican elections

U.M.P. candidate Anthony Flores.

The 1908 Mexican elections took place in February 1908 for the purpose of choosing the President and Congress of the United States of Mexico. The election campaign saw the revival of political parties in the U.S.M., which had been suppressed by Chief of State Benito Hermión after his seizure of power in 1881.

Incumbent President Anthony Flores, who had been elected six years before with the backing of Kramer Associates, had established a new political party, the United Mexican Party. Sobel notes that the U.M.P. was based on an alliance between businessmen in California and Jefferson (that is, Kramer Associates and its subordinate businesses) and the U.S.M.'s peasants, mostly Mexicanos from Chiapas and Durango. The major differences between the U.M.P. and their nineteenth century predecessors, the Continentalist Party, were that the newer party was mildly isolationist, and favored state intervention on behalf of the poor. Although Sobel does not explicitly say so, the latter was probably a continuation of Hermión's Free Society programs. The restoration of civil liberties under Flores and growing prosperity in the U.S.M. led Flores to campaign for re-election in 1908 under the slogan "security in your home and prosperity in the land."

Liberty Party candidate Frank Everhart.

The opposition to Flores had revived the nineteenth century Liberty Party. The post-restoration Liberty Party included Mexico's remaining independent businessmen and farmers, along with professionals and intellectuals. Its platform called for the abolition of slavery, government support for small businesses, and a high tariff to protect infant industries. Libertarians claimed that the U.M.P.'s social welfare policies were a cynical attempt by wealthy Anglos in the north to discourage Mexicanos from the southern states from moving to Jefferson and California. Sobel denies that the U.M.P. was under the control of Kramer Associates, insisting that Kramer money went to "friendly" politicians of both parties. However, the Libertarians did make the claim, and accused K.A. of having backed the Hermión dictatorship for the sake of its own enrichment. The Libertarians nominated Frank Everhart as their presidential nominee. Sobel does not say what political offices, if any, Everhart held, or which Mexican state he was from.

Sobel has little to say about the campaign itself other than to note that Flores easily won re-election over Everhart, winning 12,045,360 votes (61.5%) to 7,540,723 (38.5%) for Everhart. He does not give state-level vote totals for the two candidates.