1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota

The 1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota

November 3, 1896
 
Nominee William McKinley William J. Bryan
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Ohio Nebraska
Running mate Garret Hobart Arthur Sewall
Electoral vote 3 0
Popular vote 26,335 20,686
Percentage 55.57% 43.65%

County Results

President before election

Grover Cleveland
Democratic

Elected President

William McKinley
Republican

Although the state had been carried by a fusion ticket under the “Populist” label in 1892, unlike the other Mountain and Plains states, North Dakota was largely Catholic or Lutheran and opposed Populist and Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan’s evangelistic Protestantism.[1] In spite of the fact that this predominantly wheat-growing state was severely hit by drought, high interest rates and problems of poor transportation,[2] hostility to Bryan’s fundamentalism amongst the Russian-Germans of the southern part of the state was intense, while the Catholic Church under the influence of John Ireland also condemned Bryan’s free silver policy at the same time as Bryan toured North Dakota in October.[3] There was also fear that if Bryan were elected the nation would split as severely as it had in 1861 after the election of Abraham Lincoln,[4] and Archbishop Ireland pointed out that Bryan’s election might create class war.

For these reasons, Bryan was able to carry only the rural Scandinavian-American counties in the Red River Valley and the north of the state adjacent to Minnesota and Canada. In the predominantly German remainder of the state, Republican nominees, former Ohio Governor William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey established a Republican dominance of the state’s presidential politics that would prove permanent except during the Prohibition and New Deal era.

McKinley won North Dakota by a margin of 11.92 percentage points, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state. He repeat this much more decisively four years later, and Bryan would prove the only Democrat to carry any of North Dakota’s counties until Woodrow Wilson in 1912[5] and the only one to obtain a majority in a North Dakota county until Wilson in 1916. This is the only election ever where North Dakota and Kansas didn't choose the same candidate.[lower-alpha 1]

Results

1896 United States presidential election in North Dakota[6]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican William McKinley 26,335 55.57% 3
Democratic William Jennings Bryan 20,686 43.65% 0
Prohibition Joshua Levering 358 0.76% 0
Write-ins Scattered 12 0.03% 0
Totals 47,391 100.00% 3
Voter turnout

Results by county

County[7] William McKinley
Republican
William Jennings Bryan
Democratic
John Granville Woolley
Prohibition
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Barnes 986 49.62% 977 49.17% 24 1.21% 9 0.45% 1,987
Benson 549 70.11% 227 28.99% 7 0.89% 322 41.12% 783
Billings 78 73.58% 27 25.47% 1 0.94% 51 48.11% 106
Bottineau 369 48.36% 389 50.98% 5 0.66% -20 -2.62% 763
Burleigh 729 68.13% 338 31.59% 3 0.28% 391 36.54% 1,070
Cass 3,050 58.80% 2,089 40.27% 48 0.93% 961 18.53% 5,187
Cavalier 730 38.42% 1,158 60.95% 12 0.63% -428 -22.53% 1,900
Dickey 619 51.07% 587 48.43% 6 0.50% 32 2.64% 1,212
Eddy 278 53.15% 243 46.46% 2 0.38% 35 6.69% 523
Emmons 300 63.69% 168 35.67% 3 0.64% 132 28.03% 471
Foster 216 59.83% 143 39.61% 2 0.55% 73 20.22% 361
Grand Forks 2,432 55.72% 1,893 43.37% 40 0.92% 539 12.35% 4,365
Griggs 318 46.42% 360 52.55% 7 1.02% -42 -6.13% 685
Kidder 176 62.86% 104 37.14% 0 0.00% 72 25.71% 280
La Moure 460 53.30% 401 46.47% 2 0.23% 59 6.84% 863
Logan 70 73.68% 25 26.32% 0 0.00% 45 47.37% 95
McHenry 217 56.51% 166 43.23% 1 0.26% 51 13.28% 384
McIntosh 336 83.58% 66 16.42% 0 0.00% 270 67.16% 402
McLean 124 61.08% 79 38.92% 0 0.00% 45 22.17% 203
Mercer 115 80.42% 28 19.58% 0 0.00% 87 60.84% 143
Morton 752 65.51% 393 34.23% 3 0.26% 359 31.27% 1,148
Nelson 616 50.45% 603 49.39% 2 0.16% 13 1.06% 1,221
Oliver 59 50.43% 58 49.57% 0 0.00% 1 0.85% 117
Pembina 1,687 47.57% 1,807 50.96% 52 1.47% -120 -3.38% 3,546
Pierce 222 74.50% 75 25.17% 1 0.34% 147 49.33% 298
Ramsey 869 55.78% 665 42.68% 12 0.77% 204 13.09% 1,558[lower-alpha 2]
Ransom 766 56.49% 579 42.70% 11 0.81% 187 13.79% 1,356
Richland 1,843 61.13% 1,160 38.47% 12 0.40% 683 22.65% 3,015
Rolette 306 47.44% 331 51.32% 8 1.24% -25 -3.88% 645
Sargent 587 47.84% 636 51.83% 4 0.33% -49 -3.99% 1,227
Stark 530 70.86% 216 28.88% 2 0.27% 314 41.98% 748
Steele 572 63.49% 322 35.74% 7 0.78% 250 27.75% 901
Stutsman 705 54.44% 578 44.63% 12 0.93% 127 9.81% 1,295
Towner 303 42.74% 394 55.57% 12 1.69% -91 -12.83% 709
Traill 1,673 70.68% 674 28.47% 20 0.84% 999 42.21% 2,367
Walsh 1,707 44.18% 2,134 55.23% 23 0.60% -427 -11.05% 3,864
Ward 299 60.28% 193 38.91% 4 0.81% 106 21.37% 496
Wells 584 64.25% 317 34.87% 8 0.88% 267 29.37% 909
Williams 103 54.79% 83 44.15% 2 1.06% 20 10.64% 188
Totals26,33555.57%20,68643.65%3580.76%5,64911.92%47,391

Notes

  1. In 1892, when Kansas gave all its votes to James B. Weaver, North Dakota, although giving a plurality to Weaver, split its votes one each between Weaver, Democrat Grover Cleveland and Republican Benjamin Harrison.
  2. 12 write-in votes were recorded from this county.

References

  1. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 418 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
  2. Barry Eichengreen, Michael R. Haines, Matthew S. Jaremski and David Leblang. "Populists at the Polls: Economic Factors in the 1896 Presidential Election" (PDF). National Bureau of Economic Research.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Harpine, William D.; From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign, pp. 166-167 ISBN 9781585444502
  4. Patrick J. Kelly. "The Election of 1896 and the Restructuring of Civil War Memory" (PDF). Kent State University Press.
  5. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 271-273 ISBN 0786422173
  6. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – North Dakota
  7. Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1896 (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)
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