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1920 United States presidential election in California

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Main article: 1920 United States presidential election
1920 United States presidential election in California
← 1916 November 2, 1920 1924 →
Turnout71.87% (of registered voters) Decrease 7.70 pp
47.26% (of eligible voters) Decrease 10.65 pp[1]
 
Nominee Warren G. Harding James M. Cox Eugene V. Debs
Party Republican Democratic Socialist
Home state Ohio Ohio Indiana
Running mate Calvin Coolidge Franklin D. Roosevelt Seymour Stedman
Electoral vote 13 0 0
Popular vote 624,992 229,191 64,076
Percentage 66.20% 24.28% 6.79%
County Results
Harding
  40-50%
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%
  90-100%

President before election

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

Elected President

Warren G. Harding
Republican

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The 1920 United States presidential election in California took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election in which all 48 states participated. California voters chose 13 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting Democratic nominee, Governor James M. Cox of Ohio and his running mate, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, against Republican challenger U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio and his running mate, Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts.

By the beginning of 1920 skyrocketing inflation and President Woodrow Wilson's focus upon his proposed League of Nations at the expense of domestic policy had helped make the incumbent president very unpopular[2] – besides which Wilson also had major health problems that had left First Lady Edith Wilson effectively running the nation.

Political unrest observed in the Palmer Raids and the "Red Scare" further added to the unpopularity of the Democratic Party, since this global political turmoil produced considerable fear of alien revolutionaries invading the country.[3] Demand in the West for exclusion of Asian immigrants became even stronger than it had been before.[4] Another issue was the anti-Cox position taken by the Ku Klux Klan,[5] at the time a dominant force in Southern Democratic politics, and Cox's inconsistent stance on newly passed Prohibition – he had been a "wet" before, but announced he would support Prohibition enforcement in August.[5]

The West had been the chief presidential battleground ever since the "System of 1896" emerged following that election.[6] For this reason, Cox chose to tour the entire nation[7] and after touring the Pacific Northwest Cox went to California to defend his proposed League of Nations. Cox argued that the League could have stopped the Asian conflicts – like the Japanese seizure of Shandong – but his apparent defence of Chinese immigrants in the Bay Area was very unpopular and large numbers of hecklers attacked the Democratic candidate.[8] Moreover, the only attention Cox received in the Western press was severe criticism.[8]

In September, several opinion polls were conducted, all predicting that Harding would carry California, which had been extremely close in the two preceding elections, by over one hundred thousand votes.[9] By the end of October, although no more opinion polls had been published, most observers were even more convinced that the Republicans would take complete control of all branches of government.[10] On election day, Warren Harding carried California by a margin much larger than early polls predicted, winning with 66.20 percent of the vote to James Cox's 24.28 percent. Harding became the first of only two presidential nominees to sweep all of California's counties; the only other one was Franklin D. Roosevelt, the losing 1920 vice-presidential candidate, sixteen years later. Harding's 66.20 percent of the vote was the largest fraction for any presidential candidate in California until Roosevelt won with 66.95 percent in 1936, though his 41.92-percentage-point margin of victory is the largest for any candidate in the state.

This was the first time Colusa County, the one of only two counties in the Pacific States to support Democratic nominee Alton B. Parker in 1904, ever voted Republican. The other such county, Mariposa County, backed a Republican for the first time since 1872.[11] Plumas County would never vote Republican again until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and Amador, El Dorado and Placer Counties would not vote Republican again until Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952.[11]

Results[edit]

General Election Results[12]
Party Pledged to Elector Votes
Republican Party Warren G. Harding John H. Rosseter 624,992
Republican Party Warren G. Harding W. L. Hollingsworth 624,291
Republican Party Warren G. Harding A. H. Hewitt 624,067
Republican Party Warren G. Harding A. J. Mathews 624,041
Republican Party Warren G. Harding George M. Francis 623,964
Republican Party Warren G. Harding C. C. Young 623,920
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Wylie M. Giffen 623,778
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Lawrence J. Flaherty 623,686
Republican Party Warren G. Harding George R. Davis 623,670
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Mrs. Edward F. Glaser 623,393
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Ed Fletcher 623,333
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Mrs. D. C. Stephens 623,279
Republican Party Warren G. Harding Mrs. Charles C. Teague 623,172
Democratic Party James M. Cox E. L. Doheny 229,191
Democratic Party James M. Cox Robert M. Fitzgerald 228,994
Democratic Party James M. Cox Francis J. Heney 228,969
Democratic Party James M. Cox Thomas Rutledge 228,792
Democratic Party James M. Cox John A. Livingston 228,728
Democratic Party James M. Cox L. O. Stephens 228,719
Democratic Party James M. Cox Arthur C. Huston 228,693
Democratic Party James M. Cox James F. Peck 228,579
Democratic Party James M. Cox E. S. Heller 228,568
Democratic Party James M. Cox Mary E. Foy 228,541
Democratic Party James M. Cox Sarah Hagan 228,509
Democratic Party James M. Cox Peter F. Zabala 228,477
Democratic Party James M. Cox William G. Irving 228,458
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs R. W. Anderson 64,076
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Isabel King 63,829
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Joseph Lawrence 63,813
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Mary Morgan 63,784
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Fred Bergstrom 63,778
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Frithiof Sundman 63,761
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Karl Hellman 63,750
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Bird E. Morehouse 63,742
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Anna Macy 63,739
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Abraham Levin 63,713
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs A. T. Pruess 63,693
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Clarissa Kneeland 63,692
Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs Addie Benedict 63,686
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins H. A. Johnson 25,204
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins H. P. Stipp 25,085
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Stella B. Irvine 25,057
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Edward Beach 25,047
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Elam Biggs 25,033
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Wiley J. Phillips 24,973
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Ada Ferris 24,953
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins F. A. Densmore 24,934
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins E. F. Van Vlear 24,930
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins T. K. Beard 24,929
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Anna M. De Yo 24,895
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins Joseph Fusch 24,886
Prohibition Party Aaron S. Watkins O. U. Hull 24,864
Write-in Scattering 587
Votes cast[a] 944,050

Results by county[edit]

County Warren G. Harding
Republican 		James M. Cox
Democratic 		Eugene V. Debs
Socialist 		Aaron S. Watkins
Prohibition 		Scattering
Write-in 		Margin Total votes cast[b]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Alameda 73,177 69.11% 21,468 20.27% 9,266 8.75% 1,978 1.87% 0 0.00% 51,709 48.83% 105,889
Alpine 64 91.43% 6 8.57% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 58 82.86% 70
Amador 1,350 64.13% 639 30.36% 63 2.99% 53 2.52% 0 0.00% 711 33.78% 2,105
Butte 5,409 65.69% 2,262 27.47% 339 4.12% 224 2.72% 0 0.00% 3,147 38.22% 8,234
Calaveras 1,480 63.96% 641 27.70% 111 4.80% 82 3.54% 0 0.00% 839 36.26% 2,314
Colusa 1,645 61.24% 907 33.77% 72 2.68% 62 2.31% 0 0.00% 738 27.48% 2,686
Contra Costa 9,041 63.75% 3,483 24.56% 1,410 9.94% 248 1.75% 0 0.00% 5,558 39.19% 14,182
Del Norte 596 62.61% 279 29.31% 49 5.15% 28 2.94% 0 0.00% 317 33.30% 952
El Dorado 1,636 64.36% 726 28.56% 115 4.52% 65 2.56% 0 0.00% 910 35.80% 2,542
Fresno 14,621 55.36% 9,613 36.39% 1,426 5.40% 753 2.85% 0 0.00% 5,008 18.96% 26,413
Glenn 1,916 64.19% 902 30.22% 89 2.98% 78 2.61% 0 0.00% 1,014 33.97% 2,985
Humboldt 6,528 69.89% 1,778 19.04% 763 8.17% 271 2.90% 0 0.00% 4,750 50.86% 9,340
Imperial 4,699 64.51% 2,022 27.76% 374 5.13% 189 2.59% 0 0.00% 2,677 36.75% 7,284
Inyo 1,195 57.20% 682 32.65% 180 8.62% 32 1.53% 0 0.00% 513 24.56% 2,089
Kern 7,079 49.01% 6,095 42.20% 933 6.46% 337 2.33% 0 0.00% 984 6.81% 14,444
Kings 2,806 59.61% 1,604 34.08% 180 3.82% 117 2.49% 0 0.00% 1,202 25.54% 4,707
Lake 993 57.23% 571 32.91% 75 4.32% 96 5.53% 0 0.00% 422 24.32% 1,735
Lassen 1,582 66.22% 643 26.92% 97 4.06% 67 2.80% 0 0.00% 939 39.31% 2,389
Los Angeles 178,117 69.10% 55,661 21.59% 14,674 5.69% 8,812 3.42% 506 0.20% 122,456 47.51% 257,770
Madera 1,779 55.46% 1,145 35.69% 181 5.64% 103 3.21% 0 0.00% 634 19.76% 3,208
Marin 5,375 68.80% 1,688 21.61% 632 8.09% 118 1.51% 0 0.00% 3,687 47.19% 7,813
Mariposa 484 55.38% 320 36.61% 53 6.06% 17 1.95% 0 0.00% 164 18.76% 874
Mendocino 4,443 65.83% 1,789 26.51% 401 5.94% 116 1.72% 0 0.00% 2,654 39.32% 6,749
Merced 3,457 62.99% 1,537 28.01% 331 6.03% 163 2.97% 0 0.00% 1,920 34.99% 5,488
Modoc 992 62.59% 535 33.75% 36 2.27% 22 1.39% 0 0.00% 457 28.83% 1,585
Mono 170 67.73% 56 22.31% 22 8.76% 3 1.20% 0 0.00% 114 45.42% 251
Monterey 4,817 67.76% 1,771 24.91% 263 3.70% 258 3.63% 0 0.00% 3,046 42.85% 7,109
Napa 4,448 70.99% 1,444 23.05% 274 4.37% 100 1.60% 0 0.00% 3,004 47.94% 6,266
Nevada 2,055 64.97% 747 23.62% 279 8.82% 82 2.59% 0 0.00% 1,308 41.35% 3,163
Orange 12,797 71.52% 3,502 19.57% 632 3.53% 962 5.38% 0 0.00% 9,295 51.95% 17,893
Placer 2,894 59.44% 1,559 32.02% 288 5.91% 128 2.63% 0 0.00% 1,335 27.42% 4,869
Plumas 999 63.96% 403 25.80% 114 7.30% 46 2.94% 0 0.00% 596 38.16% 1,562
Riverside 9,124 69.55% 2,798 21.33% 690 5.26% 506 3.86% 0 0.00% 6,326 48.22% 13,118
Sacramento 15,634 64.87% 7,150 29.67% 944 3.92% 372 1.54% 0 0.00% 8,484 35.20% 24,100
San Benito 1,965 65.00% 900 29.77% 74 2.45% 84 2.78% 0 0.00% 1,065 35.23% 3,023
San Bernardino 12,518 62.84% 5,620 28.21% 890 4.47% 893 4.48% 0 0.00% 6,898 34.63% 19,921
San Diego 19,286 63.78% 8,478 27.27% 1,812 5.83% 971 3.12% 0 0.00% 11,348 36.50% 31,087
San Francisco 96,105 65.18% 32,637 22.13% 17,049 11.56% 1,630 1.11% 29 0.02% 63,468 43.04% 147,450
San Joaquin 12,003 60.94% 6,487 32.93% 695 3.53% 513 2.60% 0 0.00% 5,516 28.00% 19,698
San Luis Obispo 4,123 61.31% 1,606 23.88% 643 9.56% 301 4.48% 52 0.77% 2,517 37.43% 6,725
San Mateo 7,205 70.52% 1,958 19.16% 956 9.36% 98 0.96% 0 0.00% 5,247 51.36% 10,217
Santa Barbara 6,970 67.48% 2,586 25.04% 496 4.80% 277 2.68% 0 0.00% 4,384 42.44% 10,329
Santa Clara 19,565 68.09% 6,485 22.57% 1,667 5.80% 1,015 3.53% 0 0.00% 13,080 45.52% 28,732
Santa Cruz 5,285 66.28% 1,957 24.54% 412 5.17% 320 4.01% 0 0.00% 3,328 41.74% 7,974
Shasta 2,108 62.07% 1,028 30.27% 205 6.04% 55 1.62% 0 0.00% 1,080 31.80% 3,396
Sierra 506 72.18% 158 22.54% 24 3.42% 13 1.85% 0 0.00% 348 49.64% 701
Siskiyou 2,909 60.05% 1,502 31.01% 337 6.96% 96 1.98% 0 0.00% 1,407 29.05% 4,844
Solano 7,102 64.77% 2,954 26.94% 743 6.78% 166 1.51% 0 0.00% 4,148 37.83% 10,965
Sonoma 10,377 66.90% 4,070 26.24% 680 4.38% 385 2.48% 0 0.00% 6,307 40.66% 15,512
Stanislaus 7,038 61.61% 3,055 26.74% 582 5.09% 748 6.55% 0 0.00% 3,983 34.87% 11,423
Sutter 1,862 70.32% 636 24.02% 69 2.61% 81 3.06% 0 0.00% 1,226 46.30% 2,648
Tehama 2,462 61.81% 1,079 27.09% 231 5.80% 211 5.30% 0 0.00% 1,383 34.72% 3,983
Trinity 622 62.89% 285 28.82% 75 7.58% 7 0.71% 0 0.00% 337 34.07% 989
Tulare 9,136 61.26% 4,837 32.43% 527 3.53% 414 2.78% 0 0.00% 4,299 28.83% 14,914
Tuolumne 1,285 59.38% 659 30.45% 157 7.26% 63 2.91% 0 0.00% 626 28.93% 2,164
Ventura 5,231 76.00% 1,305 18.96% 181 2.63% 166 2.41% 0 0.00% 3,926 57.04% 6,883
Yolo 3,375 61.95% 1,787 32.80% 133 2.44% 153 2.81% 0 0.00% 1,588 29.15% 5,448
Yuba 2,012 70.70% 696 24.46% 82 2.88% 56 1.97% 0 0.00% 1,316 46.24% 2,846
Total 624,992 66.20% 229,191 24.28% 64,076 6.79% 25,204 2.67% 587 0.06% 395,801 41.93% 944,050

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket
  2. ^ Based on the highest elector on each ticket

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 44 ISBN 0801860059
  3. ^ Leuchtenburg, William E.; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, p. 75 ISBN 0226473724
  4. ^ Vought, Hans P. ; The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents And The Immigrant, 1897-1933, p. 167 ISBN 0865548870
  5. ^ a b Brake, Robert J.; 'The porch and the stump: Campaign strategies in the 1920 presidential election'; Quarterly Journal of Speech, 55(3), pp. 256-267
  6. ^ Faykosh, Joseph D., Bowling Green State University; The Front Porch of the American People: James Cox and the Presidential Election of 1920 (thesis), p. 68
  7. ^ Faykosh, The Front Porch of the American People (thesis), p. 69
  8. ^ a b Faykosh, The Front Porch of the American People (thesis), p. 74
  9. ^ 'Predict Republican Victory in California: Senator Harding Pleases Delegation; Majority of 100,000 Forecast'; Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1920, p. 12
  10. ^ 'Republicans Going to Win: Prospects of a Complete Victory'; The Observer, October 31, 1920, p. 13
  11. ^ a b Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 153-155 ISBN 0786422173
  12. ^ Statement of Vote at General Election held on November 2, 1920 in the State of California. Sacramento, California. pp. 8–15. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
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