1912 United States presidential election in California

The 1912 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5, 1912 as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1912 United States presidential election in California

November 5, 1912
Turnout71.68% (of registered voters)
45.11% (of eligible voters) [1]
 
Nominee Theodore Roosevelt Woodrow Wilson Eugene V. Debs
Party Republican Democratic Socialist
Alliance Progressive
Home state New York New Jersey Indiana
Running mate Hiram Johnson Thomas R. Marshall Emil Seidel
Electoral vote 11 2 0
Popular vote 283,612 283,436 79,201
Percentage 41.814% 41.808% 11.683%

County Results

President before election

William Howard Taft
Republican

Elected President

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

California narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, former president Theodore Roosevelt, over the Democratic nominee, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, though two electors cast their votes for Wilson. Although Roosevelt was the candidate of the “Bull Moose” Progressive Party nationally, in California and South Dakota he gained the support of the state Republican Party and acquired the "Republican" line, whilst the incumbent, and national GOP William Howard Taft nominee, did not appear on the ballot and was a write-in candidate.[lower-alpha 1] Roosevelt's running mate was incumbent Governor of California Hiram Johnson.

This was the closest presidential election in California history, with Roosevelt winning by just 174 votes out of 677,944 cast, a margin of 0.02567%. It remains the fourth-closest presidential race in any state in history, behind the controversial Florida election of 2000, Maryland in 1832, and Maryland in 1904, the latter of which also involved Roosevelt.[lower-alpha 2]

Although Wilson narrowly failed to win the state, he did become the first Democrat to carry Napa, Solano[lower-alpha 3] and Marin Counties since James Buchanan in 1856, the first to carry Sacramento County and Sierra County since Stephen A. Douglas in 1860, the first to win San Diego County since 1868, the first to ever carry Ventura County, which had been created in 1872, and the first to carry Sutter County since 1876.[2] Since this election, Solano County has voted Democratic in all but six Republican landslide elections of 1920, 1924, 1928, 1972, 1980 and 1984.

With 41.83% of the popular vote, California would prove to be Roosevelt's second-strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election after South Dakota.[3]

Results

1912 United States presidential election in California[4]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Theodore Roosevelt 283,610 41.83% 11
Democratic Woodrow Wilson 283,436 41.81% 2
Socialist Eugene V. Debs 79,201 11.68% 0
Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin 23,366 3.45% 0
No party Write-ins 4,417 0.65% 0
No party William Howard Taft (inc.) (write-in) 3,914 0.58% 0
Invalid or blank votes
Totals 677,944 100.00% 13
Voter turnout

Results by county

County Theodore Roosevelt
Republican
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Democratic
Eugene Victor Debs
Socialist
Eugene Wilder Chafin
Prohibition
Various candidates
Write-ins
Margin
% # % # % # % # % # % #
Riverside 50.94% 5,146 29.33% 2,963 10.25% 1,036 8.25% 834 1.23% 124 21.61% 2,183
Los Angeles 45.73% 75,593 33.34% 55,110 12.04% 19,895 4.95% 8,190 3.94% 6,508 12.39% 20,483
Alameda 47.47% 31,542 36.75% 24,418 14.04% 9,332 1.75% 1,160 10.72% 7,124
Humboldt 42.20% 3,609 33.76% 2,887 20.83% 1,781 2.07% 177 1.15% 98 8.44% 722
Santa Barbara 46.78% 3,395 38.84% 2,819 8.53% 619 4.92% 357 0.94% 68 7.94% 576
Santa Clara 46.97% 10,868 39.64% 9,173 8.94% 2,068 3.56% 824 0.89% 206 7.33% 1,695
Orange 45.03% 5,143 38.58% 4,406 7.85% 896 7.46% 852 1.09% 124 6.45% 737
Del Norte 44.60% 376 38.32% 323 12.34% 104 4.74% 40 6.28% 53
Imperial 42.17% 1,420 38.46% 1,295 13.25% 446 5.73% 193 0.39% 13 3.71% 125
Contra Costa 42.38% 3,539 39.40% 3,290 15.57% 1,300 2.17% 181 0.48% 40 2.98% 249
Santa Cruz 42.77% 3,059 40.20% 2,875 12.47% 892 4.52% 323 0.04% 3 2.57% 184
Alpine 45.00% 36 42.50% 34 2.50% 2 0.00% 0 10.00% 8 2.50% 2
San Bernardino 40.42% 6,202 38.03% 5,835 12.39% 1,901 8.04% 1,233 1.12% 172 2.39% 367
San Luis Obispo 42.73% 2,373 40.48% 2,248 12.68% 704 3.85% 214 0.25% 14 2.25% 125
Placer 43.91% 1,913 41.84% 1,823 11.04% 481 2.87% 125 0.34% 15 2.07% 90
Plumas 42.78% 762 41.66% 742 13.25% 236 1.68% 30 0.62% 11 1.12% 20
Stanislaus 39.78% 3,143 39.58% 3,127 9.48% 749 10.94% 864 0.22% 17 0.20% 16
Tulare 42.21% 4,283 42.31% 4,293 12.15% 1,233 2.61% 265 0.72% 73 -0.10% -10
Fresno 42.71% 8,839 42.96% 8,891 11.01% 2,278 2.85% 590 0.47% 98 -0.25% -52
Ventura 42.52% 2,055 43.62% 2,108 8.81% 426 3.50% 169 1.55% 75 -1.10% -53
Marin 42.97% 2,750 44.52% 2,849 11.45% 733 1.06% 68 -1.55% -99
Sierra 41.71% 483 44.47% 515 11.49% 133 1.12% 13 1.21% 14 -2.76% -32
Solano 41.95% 3,353 45.66% 3,650 9.77% 781 2.11% 169 0.50% 40 -3.71% -297
Napa 42.52% 2,432 46.55% 2,662 8.36% 478 2.20% 126 0.37% 21 -4.03% -230
Yuba 43.36% 1,132 47.57% 1,242 7.12% 186 1.30% 34 0.65% 17 -4.21% -110
Monterey 42.02% 3,081 46.26% 3,392 7.60% 557 4.11% 301 0.01% 1 -4.24% -311
Mendocino 39.61% 2,237 44.39% 2,507 13.31% 752 2.50% 141 0.19% 11 -4.78% -270
Sonoma 40.89% 5,806 45.78% 6,500 10.52% 1,494 2.58% 367 0.23% 32 -4.89% -694
Lassen 39.59% 559 45.61% 644 10.48% 148 2.41% 34 1.91% 27 -6.02% -85
San Mateo 40.44% 2,825 46.47% 3,246 11.84% 827 1.15% 80 0.10% 7 -6.03% -421
Butte 38.14% 3,365 45.66% 4,028 10.54% 930 5.54% 489 0.11% 10 -7.52% -663
San Benito 40.96% 1,054 48.70% 1,253 6.96% 179 2.88% 74 0.51% 13 -7.74% -199
San Diego 36.46% 7,922 44.79% 9,731 13.22% 2,873 5.24% 1,139 0.29% 63 -8.33% -1,809
Shasta 34.93% 1,636 43.55% 2,040 20.03% 938 1.15% 54 0.34% 16 -8.62% -404
Madera 38.98% 943 47.71% 1,154 9.34% 226 3.68% 89 0.29% 7 -8.73% -211
Merced 37.16% 1,571 46.78% 1,978 10.43% 441 5.39% 228 0.24% 10 -9.62% -407
San Francisco 38.17% 38,610 48.40% 48,953 12.21% 12,354 1.14% 1,158 0.07% 73 -10.23% -10,343
Sutter 41.11% 846 51.65% 1,063 3.84% 79 3.16% 65 0.24% 5 -10.54% -217
Tehama 36.01% 1,218 47.16% 1,595 11.47% 388 4.97% 168 0.38% 13 -11.15% -377
Nevada 34.40% 1,381 46.11% 1,851 16.14% 648 2.77% 111 0.57% 23 -11.71% -470
Trinity 34.44% 343 46.29% 461 18.27% 182 0.90% 9 0.10% 1 -11.85% -118
Sacramento 39.23% 7,534 51.39% 9,869 8.09% 1,553 1.11% 213 0.19% 36 -12.16% -2,335
Kings 35.94% 1,419 49.82% 1,967 10.28% 406 3.95% 156 -13.88% -548
Siskiyou 34.99% 1,740 49.57% 2,465 12.73% 633 2.09% 104 0.62% 31 -14.58% -725
Glenn 37.21% 906 54.41% 1,325 5.17% 126 2.75% 67 0.45% 11 -17.20% -419
Kern 33.88% 3,647 51.73% 5,569 12.08% 1,300 1.69% 182 0.62% 67 -17.85% -1,922
Modoc 35.47% 608 54.90% 941 6.94% 119 2.63% 45 0.06% 1 -19.43% -333
Mono 28.73% 106 49.32% 182 18.16% 67 2.98% 11 0.81% 3 -20.59% -76
Lake 30.10% 649 51.86% 1,118 12.34% 266 5.71% 123 -21.76% -469
Yolo 33.35% 1,332 56.06% 2,239 7.54% 301 2.83% 113 0.23% 9 -22.71% -907
Inyo 26.49% 431 49.54% 806 18.75% 305 4.73% 77 0.49% 8 -23.05% -375
San Joaquin 31.40% 4,314 58.00% 7,969 7.24% 995 3.10% 426 0.25% 35 -26.60% -3,655
Tuolumne 28.76% 755 55.58% 1,459 13.83% 363 1.45% 38 0.38% 10 -26.82% -704
El Dorado 28.40% 776 59.04% 1,613 10.18% 278 1.79% 49 0.59% 16 -30.64% -837
Mariposa 26.15% 306 58.89% 689 11.79% 138 1.45% 17 1.71% 20 -32.74% -383
Colusa 29.26% 810 63.58% 1,760 4.01% 111 3.03% 84 0.11% 3 -34.32% -950
Calaveras 24.28% 750 60.51% 1869 12.92% 399 2.14% 66 0.16% 5 -36.23% -1,119
Amador 27.33% 684 64.80% 1,622 5.39% 135 2.28% 57 0.20% 5 -37.47% -938

Notes

  1. Other incumbent Presidents not on the ballot in all states have been Benjamin Harrison in Florida in 1892, Taft in South Dakota during this 1912 election, Harry S. Truman in Alabama in 1948, and Lyndon B. Johnson also in Alabama in 1964.
  2. Although Roosevelt won Maryland by fifty-one votes, voters in Maryland in those days voted for individual electors and only one Republican, elector, Charles Bonaparte, survived the tally. The other seven top vote recipients were Democrats.
  3. "Southern Democrat" John Breckinridge (Buchanan's Vice-President) did carry Solano County in 1860

References

  1. https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2018-general/sov/04-historical-voter-reg-participation.pdf
  2. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 153-155 ISBN 0786422173
  3. "1912 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  4. "1912 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
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