Edward Salomon National Union James T. Lewis National Union The 1863 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1863.

[1] The incumbent Governor, Edward Salomon, had ascended to office after the accidental drowning of his predecessor, Louis P. Harvey, in April 1862.

He was a former Democrat who had been elected Lieutenant Governor on the Union ticket in 1861.

As a Democrat, he had previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1854 to 1856, and represented Columbia County in the state legislature for two years—in the Assembly for the 1852 session, and in the Senate for the 1853 session.

Henry L. Palmer was a former Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, and had served three terms in the Assembly and one term in the Wisconsin State Senate prior to the 1863 election.