Incumbent Republican Governor Harlan J. Bushfield declined to seek re-election to a third term and instead successfully ran for the U.S. Senate.

A crowded Republican primary developed to succeed him, and because no candidate received 35% of the vote, the nomination was decided at the state Republican convention, where former Attorney General Merrell Q. Sharpe, the second-place finisher in the primary, won the nomination.

[6] Merrell Q. Sharpe, who ran on a reform, "oust the state house" platform,[7] was seen by many observers as having a lead coming into the convention, despite placing second in the primary.

Influential state Republicans, chief among them Governor Bushfield, declined to publicly intervene.

On the third ballot, with Temmey's support halved and Scott's near zero, Sharpe easily won a majority, earning himself the nomination.