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1920 United States presidential election in California

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FieldValue
election_name1920 United States presidential election in California
countryCalifornia
flag_imageFlag of California (1911–1924).pngborder
typepresidential
ongoingno
previous_election1916 United States presidential election in California
previous_year1916
next_election1924 United States presidential election in California
next_year1924
turnout71.87% (of registered voters) 7.70 pp
47.26% (of eligible voters) 10.65 pp
election_dateNovember 2, 1920
image_sizex160px
image1Warren G Harding-Harris & Ewing crop.jpg
nominee1**Warren G. Harding**
party1Republican Party (United States)
home_state1Ohio
running_mate1**Calvin Coolidge**
electoral_vote1**13**
popular_vote1**624,992**
percentage1**66.20%**
image2James M. Cox 1920.jpg
nominee2James M. Cox
party2Democratic Party (United States)
home_state2Ohio
running_mate2Franklin D. Roosevelt
electoral_vote20
popular_vote2229,191
percentage224.28%
image3Eugene Debs portrait.jpeg
nominee3Eugene V. Debs
party3Socialist Party of America
home_state3Indiana
running_mate3Seymour Stedman
electoral_vote30
popular_vote364,076
percentage36.79%
map_image325px
map_size300px
map_captionCounty Results
titlePresident
before_electionWoodrow Wilson
before_partyDemocratic Party (United States)
after_electionWarren G. Harding
after_partyRepublican Party (United States)

Main article: 1920 United States presidential election

47.26% (of eligible voters) 10.65 pp Harding

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 – 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. Demand in the West for exclusion of Asian immigrants became even stronger than it had been before. Another issue was the anti-Cox position taken by the Ku Klux Klan, 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.

The West had been the chief presidential battleground ever since the "System of 1896" emerged following that election. For this reason, Cox chose to tour the entire nation 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. Moreover, the only attention Cox received in the Western press was severe criticism.

Results

PartyPledged toElectorVotesVotes cast944,050
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingJohn H. Rosseter624,992
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingW. L. Hollingsworth624,291
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingA. H. Hewitt624,067
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingA. J. Mathews624,041
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingGeorge M. Francis623,964
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingC. C. Young623,920
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingWylie M. Giffen623,778
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingLawrence J. Flaherty623,686
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingGeorge R. Davis623,670
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingMrs. Edward F. Glaser623,393
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingEd Fletcher623,333
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingMrs. D. C. Stephens623,279
Republican Party (United States)}}"Republican PartyWarren G. HardingMrs. Charles C. Teague623,172
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxE. L. Doheny229,191
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxRobert M. Fitzgerald228,994
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxFrancis J. Heney228,969
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxThomas Rutledge228,792
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxJohn A. Livingston228,728
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxL. O. Stephens228,719
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxArthur C. Huston228,693
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxJames F. Peck228,579
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxE. S. Heller228,568
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxMary E. Foy228,541
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxSarah Hagan228,509
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxPeter F. Zabala228,477
Democratic Party (United States)}}Democratic PartyJames M. CoxWilliam G. Irving228,458
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsR. W. Anderson64,076
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsIsabel King63,829
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsJoseph Lawrence63,813
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsMary Morgan63,784
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsFred Bergstrom63,778
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsFrithiof Sundman63,761
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsKarl Hellman63,750
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsBird E. Morehouse63,742
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsAnna Macy63,739
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsAbraham Levin63,713
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsA. T. Pruess63,693
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsClarissa Kneeland63,692
Socialist Party USA}}Socialist PartyEugene V. DebsAddie Benedict63,686
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsH. A. Johnson25,204
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsH. P. Stipp25,085
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsStella B. Irvine25,057
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsEdward Beach25,047
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsElam Biggs25,033
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsWiley J. Phillips24,973
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsAda Ferris24,953
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsF. A. Densmore24,934
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsE. F. Van Vlear24,930
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsT. K. Beard24,929
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsAnna M. De Yo24,895
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsJoseph Fusch24,886
Prohibition Party}}"Prohibition PartyAaron S. WatkinsO. U. Hull24,864
Independent}}"Write-inScattering587

Results by county

CountyWarren G. Harding
RepublicanJames M. Cox
DemocraticEugene V. Debs
SocialistAaron S. Watkins
ProhibitionScattering
Write-inMarginTotal votes cast#%#%#%#%#%#%Total624,99266.20%229,19124.28%64,0766.79%25,2042.67%5870.06%395,80141.93%944,050
Alameda73,17769.11%21,46820.27%9,2668.75%1,9781.87%00.00%51,70948.83%105,889
Alpine6491.43%68.57%00.00%00.00%00.00%5882.86%70
Amador1,35064.13%63930.36%632.99%532.52%00.00%71133.78%2,105
Butte5,40965.69%2,26227.47%3394.12%2242.72%00.00%3,14738.22%8,234
Calaveras1,48063.96%64127.70%1114.80%823.54%00.00%83936.26%2,314
Colusa1,64561.24%90733.77%722.68%622.31%00.00%73827.48%2,686
Contra Costa9,04163.75%3,48324.56%1,4109.94%2481.75%00.00%5,55839.19%14,182
Del Norte59662.61%27929.31%495.15%282.94%00.00%31733.30%952
El Dorado1,63664.36%72628.56%1154.52%652.56%00.00%91035.80%2,542
Fresno14,62155.36%9,61336.39%1,4265.40%7532.85%00.00%5,00818.96%26,413
Glenn1,91664.19%90230.22%892.98%782.61%00.00%1,01433.97%2,985
Humboldt6,52869.89%1,77819.04%7638.17%2712.90%00.00%4,75050.86%9,340
Imperial4,69964.51%2,02227.76%3745.13%1892.59%00.00%2,67736.75%7,284
Inyo1,19557.20%68232.65%1808.62%321.53%00.00%51324.56%2,089
Kern7,07949.01%6,09542.20%9336.46%3372.33%00.00%9846.81%14,444
Kings2,80659.61%1,60434.08%1803.82%1172.49%00.00%1,20225.54%4,707
Lake99357.23%57132.91%754.32%965.53%00.00%42224.32%1,735
Lassen1,58266.22%64326.92%974.06%672.80%00.00%93939.31%2,389
Los Angeles178,11769.10%55,66121.59%14,6745.69%8,8123.42%5060.20%122,45647.51%257,770
Madera1,77955.46%1,14535.69%1815.64%1033.21%00.00%63419.76%3,208
Marin5,37568.80%1,68821.61%6328.09%1181.51%00.00%3,68747.19%7,813
Mariposa48455.38%32036.61%536.06%171.95%00.00%16418.76%874
Mendocino4,44365.83%1,78926.51%4015.94%1161.72%00.00%2,65439.32%6,749
Merced3,45762.99%1,53728.01%3316.03%1632.97%00.00%1,92034.99%5,488
Modoc99262.59%53533.75%362.27%221.39%00.00%45728.83%1,585
Mono17067.73%5622.31%228.76%31.20%00.00%11445.42%251
Monterey4,81767.76%1,77124.91%2633.70%2583.63%00.00%3,04642.85%7,109
Napa4,44870.99%1,44423.05%2744.37%1001.60%00.00%3,00447.94%6,266
Nevada2,05564.97%74723.62%2798.82%822.59%00.00%1,30841.35%3,163
Orange12,79771.52%3,50219.57%6323.53%9625.38%00.00%9,29551.95%17,893
Placer2,89459.44%1,55932.02%2885.91%1282.63%00.00%1,33527.42%4,869
Plumas99963.96%40325.80%1147.30%462.94%00.00%59638.16%1,562
Riverside9,12469.55%2,79821.33%6905.26%5063.86%00.00%6,32648.22%13,118
Sacramento15,63464.87%7,15029.67%9443.92%3721.54%00.00%8,48435.20%24,100
San Benito1,96565.00%90029.77%742.45%842.78%00.00%1,06535.23%3,023
San Bernardino12,51862.84%5,62028.21%8904.47%8934.48%00.00%6,89834.63%19,921
San Diego19,28663.78%8,47827.27%1,8125.83%9713.12%00.00%11,34836.50%31,087
San Francisco96,10565.18%32,63722.13%17,04911.56%1,6301.11%290.02%63,46843.04%147,450
San Joaquin12,00360.94%6,48732.93%6953.53%5132.60%00.00%5,51628.00%19,698
San Luis Obispo4,12361.31%1,60623.88%6439.56%3014.48%520.77%2,51737.43%6,725
San Mateo7,20570.52%1,95819.16%9569.36%980.96%00.00%5,24751.36%10,217
Santa Barbara6,97067.48%2,58625.04%4964.80%2772.68%00.00%4,38442.44%10,329
Santa Clara19,56568.09%6,48522.57%1,6675.80%1,0153.53%00.00%13,08045.52%28,732
Santa Cruz5,28566.28%1,95724.54%4125.17%3204.01%00.00%3,32841.74%7,974
Shasta2,10862.07%1,02830.27%2056.04%551.62%00.00%1,08031.80%3,396
Sierra50672.18%15822.54%243.42%131.85%00.00%34849.64%701
Siskiyou2,90960.05%1,50231.01%3376.96%961.98%00.00%1,40729.05%4,844
Solano7,10264.77%2,95426.94%7436.78%1661.51%00.00%4,14837.83%10,965
Sonoma10,37766.90%4,07026.24%6804.38%3852.48%00.00%6,30740.66%15,512
Stanislaus7,03861.61%3,05526.74%5825.09%7486.55%00.00%3,98334.87%11,423
Sutter1,86270.32%63624.02%692.61%813.06%00.00%1,22646.30%2,648
Tehama2,46261.81%1,07927.09%2315.80%2115.30%00.00%1,38334.72%3,983
Trinity62262.89%28528.82%757.58%70.71%00.00%33734.07%989
Tulare9,13661.26%4,83732.43%5273.53%4142.78%00.00%4,29928.83%14,914
Tuolumne1,28559.38%65930.45%1577.26%632.91%00.00%62628.93%2,164
Ventura5,23176.00%1,30518.96%1812.63%1662.41%00.00%3,92657.04%6,883
Yolo3,37561.95%1,78732.80%1332.44%1532.81%00.00%1,58829.15%5,448
Yuba2,01270.70%69624.46%822.88%561.97%00.00%1,31646.24%2,846

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

  • Amador
  • Butte
  • Calaveras
  • Colusa
  • Contra Costa
  • El Dorado
  • Fresno
  • Glenn
  • Imperial
  • Inyo
  • Kern
  • Kings
  • Lake
  • Lassen
  • Madera
  • Mariposa
  • Merced
  • Modoc
  • Mono
  • Monterey
  • Nevada
  • Placer
  • Plumas
  • Sacramento
  • San Benito
  • San Francisco
  • San Joaquin
  • San Luis Obispo
  • Santa Barbara
  • Santa Cruz
  • Shasta
  • Sierra
  • Siskiyou
  • Solano
  • Stanislaus
  • Sutter
  • Tehama
  • Trinity
  • Tulare
  • Tuolumne
  • Yolo
  • Yuba

Analysis

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. 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. 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. 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.

Notes

References

References

  1. "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018".
  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. 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. Faykosh, ''The Front Porch of the American People'' (thesis), p. 74
  9. (1968). "Statement of Vote at General Election held on November 2, 1920 in the State of California".
  10. 'Predict Republican Victory in California: Senator Harding Pleases Delegation; Majority of 100,000 Forecast'; ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', September 16, 1920, p. 12
  11. 'Republicans Going to Win: Prospects of a Complete Victory'; ''[[The Observer]]'', October 31, 1920, p. 13
  12. Menendez, Albert J.; ''The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004'', pp. 153-155 {{ISBN. 0786422173
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