 Sampson won the primary by a margin of 39,375.The Democratic Party was badly divided over the parimutuel betting issue as well as Prohibition, and a severance tax on coal.The prohibitionist and anti-gambling faction of the Democratic Party, with the help of "Louisville Courier-Journal" editor Robert Worth Bingham, united to make former governor and US Senator J. C. W. Beckham the party's gubernatorial nominee.