1928 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

The 1928 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 6, 1928 as part of the 1928 United States presidential election. Washington's voters selected seven voters to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1928 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

November 6, 1928
 
Nominee Herbert Hoover Al Smith
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California New York
Running mate Charles Curtis Joseph T. Robinson
Electoral vote 7 0
Popular vote 335,844 156,772
Percentage 67.06% 31.30%

County Results

President before election

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

Elected President

Herbert Hoover
Republican

With the economy growing very rapidly, and the scandals of the earlier decade such as the Teapot Dome scandal essentially removed from the public's mind at the time, the Republican Party was at the peak of its power. Incumbent President Calvin Coolidge could not be persuaded to run for a second full term, but to compensate for this the Democratic Party – with many prominent members like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and William Gibbs McAdoo refusing to run because they believed the party had no hope of winning[1] – nominated Al Smith, a devout Catholic, anti-Prohibition, and associated with the corrupt Tammany Hall political machine of his native New York.

The powerful anti-Catholicism of the Pacific Northwest,[2] which was largely settled by Scandinavians, meant that the large progressive third-party vote for Parley Christensen and Robert La Follette from the previous two elections was mainly turned over to Hoover,[3] although La Follette when he died in 1925 had endorsed Smith.[3] Minus significant third-party candidates Smith did triple the Democratic vote from the exceptionally low level of 1924, but Hoover increased the Republican proportion by fifteen percent – half the La Follette vote – as Smith could not carry the strongly unionized and socially progressive counties west of the Cascades.[2]

Consequently, Hoover was able to carry Washington by 36 percentage points in the first two-party contest in three elections. With 67.06% of the popular vote, Washington would prove to be Hoover's fourth strongest state after Kansas, Michigan and Maine.[4] Only in 1904 has Washington State been so Republican relative to the nation as a whole,[5] and then there was a sizable Socialist vote (though less powerful than the third-party votes of 1920 and 1924) for Eugene Debs.[6] Smith did nonetheless carry Ferry County, the first time since 1916 the Democratic Party had won any county in Washington – and indeed along with five counties in California[lower-alpha 1] the first Democratic wins since that election in any county within the three Pacific States of Washington, Oregon and California.

Until Donald Trump in 2016, Hoover was the last Republican to capture heavily unionized Grays Harbor County,[7] which he did by a large 34 percent margin. Hoover also won adjacent Pacific County by 36 percent, whereas only Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 managed to subsequently win Pacific County for the GOP until Trump in 2016.[7] Kitsap, Snohomish and Wahkiakum Counties would never vote Republican again until 1972.[8]

Results

1928 United States presidential election in Washington[9]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Herbert Hoover 335,844 67.06% 7
Democratic Alfred E. Smith 156,772 31.30% 0
Socialist Labor Verne L. Reynolds 4,068 0.81% 0
Socialist Norman Thomas 2,615 0.52% 0
Workers William Z. Foster 1,541 0.31% 0
Totals 500,841 100.0% 7

Results by county

County Herbert Clark Hoover
Republican
Alfred Emmanuel Smith
Democratic
Verne L. Reynolds[10]
Socialist Labor
Norman Mattoon Thomas[10]
Socialist
William Z. Foster[10]
Workers
Margin Total votes cast[11]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Adams 1,473 64.07% 807 35.10% 5 0.22% 9 0.39% 5 0.22% 666 28.97% 2,299
Asotin 1,812 69.37% 776 29.71% 10 0.38% 11 0.42% 3 0.11% 1,036 39.66% 2,612
Benton 2,650 69.94% 1,080 28.50% 20 0.53% 34 0.90% 5 0.13% 1,570 41.44% 3,789
Chelan 7,672 77.07% 2,239 22.49% 14 0.14% 24 0.24% 5 0.05% 5,433 54.58% 9,954
Clallam 3,319 65.53% 1,705 33.66% 13 0.26% 18 0.36% 10 0.20% 1,614 31.87% 5,065
Clark 7,786 62.58% 4,467 35.90% 59 0.47% 85 0.68% 45 0.36% 3,319 26.68% 12,442
Columbia 1,328 65.07% 689 33.76% 6 0.29% 14 0.69% 4 0.20% 639 31.31% 2,041
Cowlitz 5,882 68.76% 2,581 30.17% 18 0.21% 42 0.49% 31 0.36% 3,301 38.59% 8,554
Douglas 1,760 66.34% 862 32.49% 14 0.53% 15 0.57% 2 0.08% 898 33.85% 2,653
Ferry 640 45.75% 732 52.32% 9 0.64% 16 1.14% 2 0.14% -92 -6.57% 1,399
Franklin 1,339 61.96% 799 36.97% 9 0.42% 12 0.56% 2 0.09% 540 24.99% 2,161
Garfield 1,004 70.60% 412 28.97% 5 0.35% 1 0.07% 0 0.00% 592 41.63% 1,422
Grant 1,407 68.07% 641 31.01% 2 0.10% 13 0.63% 4 0.19% 766 37.06% 2,067
Grays Harbor 10,798 66.30% 5,258 32.29% 51 0.31% 79 0.49% 100 0.61% 5,540 34.01% 16,286
Island 1,487 71.25% 556 26.64% 10 0.48% 27 1.29% 7 0.34% 931 44.61% 2,087
Jefferson 1,472 63.83% 810 35.13% 4 0.17% 14 0.61% 6 0.26% 662 28.70% 2,306
King 96,263 65.63% 46,604 31.77% 2,336 1.59% 811 0.55% 664 0.45% 49,659 33.86% 146,678
Kitsap 6,544 62.97% 3,668 35.30% 60 0.58% 77 0.74% 43 0.41% 2,876 27.67% 10,392
Kittitas 3,207 59.48% 2,136 39.61% 7 0.13% 25 0.46% 17 0.32% 1,071 19.87% 5,392
Klickitat 1,936 65.41% 975 32.94% 15 0.51% 25 0.84% 8 0.27% 961 32.47% 2,960
Lewis 9,253 71.12% 3,591 27.60% 50 0.38% 79 0.61% 37 0.28% 5,662 43.52% 13,010
Lincoln 2,718 59.62% 1,807 39.64% 14 0.31% 15 0.33% 5 0.11% 911 19.98% 4,559
Mason 1,745 62.95% 992 35.79% 10 0.36% 21 0.76% 4 0.14% 753 27.16% 2,772
Okanogan 3,245 64.86% 1,722 34.42% 12 0.24% 17 0.34% 7 0.14% 1,523 30.44% 5,003
Pacific 3,247 67.41% 1,523 31.62% 7 0.15% 12 0.25% 28 0.58% 1,724 35.79% 4,817
Pend Oreille 1,206 59.58% 793 39.18% 11 0.54% 14 0.69% 0 0.00% 413 20.40% 2,024
Pierce 35,748 66.02% 17,402 32.14% 479 0.88% 313 0.58% 204 0.38% 18,346 33.88% 54,146
San Juan 814 66.72% 400 32.79% 2 0.16% 3 0.25% 1 0.08% 414 33.93% 1,220
Skagit 8,336 73.58% 2,848 25.14% 36 0.32% 59 0.52% 50 0.44% 5,488 48.44% 11,329
Skamania 631 55.99% 473 41.97% 5 0.44% 15 1.33% 3 0.27% 158 14.02% 1,127
Snohomish 16,516 67.39% 7,419 30.27% 325 1.33% 169 0.69% 78 0.32% 9,097 37.12% 24,507
Spokane 35,858 65.48% 18,527 33.83% 157 0.29% 169 0.31% 47 0.09% 17,331 31.65% 54,758
Stevens 3,813 63.05% 2,147 35.50% 23 0.38% 43 0.71% 22 0.36% 1,666 27.55% 6,048
Thurston 7,203 69.59% 3,013 29.11% 29 0.28% 79 0.76% 27 0.26% 4,190 40.48% 10,351
Wahkiakum 578 59.28% 382 39.18% 6 0.62% 8 0.82% 1 0.10% 196 20.10% 975
Walla Walla 6,774 70.08% 2,859 29.58% 14 0.14% 17 0.18% 2 0.02% 3,915 40.50% 9,666
Whatcom 14,621 76.87% 4,100 21.56% 149 0.78% 120 0.63% 31 0.16% 10,521 55.31% 19,021
Whitman 7,065 69.94% 2,969 29.39% 27 0.27% 35 0.35% 5 0.05% 4,096 40.55% 10,101
Yakima 16,694 73.07% 6,008 26.30% 45 0.20% 76 0.33% 25 0.11% 10,686 46.77% 22,848
Totals335,84467.06%156,77231.30%4,0680.81%2,6160.52%1,5400.31%179,07235.76%500,841

See also

Notes

References

  1. Paulson, Arthur C.; Electoral Realignment and the Outlook for American Democracy; p. 61 ISBN 1555536670
  2. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 502 ISBN 1400852293
  3. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 58-60 ISBN 0786422173
  4. "1928 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  5. Counting the Votes; Washington State
  6. Percent of Vote for Eugene V. Debs (1904)
  7. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  8. Menendez; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, pp. 332-333
  9. "1928 Presidential Election Results - Washington". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  10. Our Campaigns; WA US President 1928
  11. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 487-489 ISBN 0405077114
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