Sidney J. Catts, a pastor turned insurance salesman, originally entered the Democratic primary as a candidate for Governor.

The state Democratic organization was not at all pleased with this challenge from a novice and 'outsider' and the primary campaign was hotly contested.

'[1] Catts instead decided to run for governor on the Prohibition Party ticket and became the first, and so far only, man ever elected to a statewide office as a Prohibitionist.

This was the only time a non-Democrat was elected Governor in Florida for the 90 years between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the rise of a competitive two party system in the 1960s.

Catts proved to be much more of a colorful personality and a better campaigner than both of his major opponents, his hostile attacks on Roman Catholicism and German-Americans winning the support of the state's conservative voters.