See main article: 1896 United States presidential election.
| Election Name: | 1896 United States presidential election in Montana |
| Type: | presidential |
| Country: | Montana |
| Flag Year: | 1889 |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1892 United States presidential election in Montana |
| Previous Year: | 1892 |
| Next Election: | 1900 United States presidential election in Montana |
| Next Year: | 1900 |
| Image1: | William Jennings Bryan 2 (cropped).jpg |
| Nominee1: | William Jennings Bryan |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Alliance1: | Populist Silver |
| Home State1: | Nebraska |
| Running Mate1: | Arthur Sewall (Democratic, Silver) Thomas E. Watson (Populist) |
| Electoral Vote1: | 3 |
| Popular Vote1: | 42,628 |
| Percentage1: | 79.93% |
| Nominee2: | William McKinley |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Home State2: | Ohio |
| Running Mate2: | Garret Hobart |
| Electoral Vote2: | 0 |
| Popular Vote2: | 10,509 |
| Percentage2: | 19.71% |
| Map Size: | 350px |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Grover Cleveland |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | William McKinley |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 1896 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 3, 1896, as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Montana overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan over the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley. Bryan won the state by a landslide margin of 60.22 percentage points. To date this is the best performance ever by a presidential candidate in Montana.
Bryan's support for many Populist goals resulted in him being nominated by both the Democratic Party and the People's Party (Populists), though with different running mates. One electoral vote from Montana was cast for the Populist Bryan-Watson ticket with Thomas E. Watson as vice-president and two votes were cast for the Bryan-Sewall ticket.
Bryan would later beat McKinley in the state again four years later but would lose the state to William Howard Taft in 1908. This is one of two elections where the Republican candidate won without the state, the other being in 1900. McKinley is the only Republican to win the White House without carrying Yellowstone County.
| 1896 United States presidential election in Montana[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | ||
| Democratic/Silver | William Jennings Bryan | 42,628 | 79.93% | 2 | ||
| Populist | William Jennings Bryan | 0 | 0.00% | 1 | ||
| Total | William Jennings Bryan | 42,628 | 79.93% | 3 | ||
| Republican | William McKinley | 10,509 | 19.71% | 0 | ||
| Prohibitionist | Joshua Levering | 193 | 0.36% | 0 | ||
| Totals | 53,330 | 100.00% | 3 | |||
| County | William Jennings Bryan Democratic | William McKinley Republican | Joshua Levering Prohibitionist | Margin | Total votes cast[2] | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Beaverhead | 1,246 | 88.56% | 154 | 10.95% | 7 | 0.50% | 1,092 | 77.61% | 1,407 | ||||||||||
| Carbon | 739 | 66.94% | 365 | 33.06% | 0 | 0.00% | 374 | 33.88% | 1,104 | ||||||||||
| Cascade | 2,920 | 75.10% | 953 | 24.51% | 15 | 0.39% | 1,967 | 50.59% | 3,888 | ||||||||||
| Chouteau | 701 | 52.67% | 624 | 46.88% | 6 | 0.45% | 77 | 5.79% | 1,331 | ||||||||||
| Custer | 676 | 48.15% | 723 | 51.50% | 5 | 0.36% | -47 | -3.35% | 1,404 | ||||||||||
| Dawson | 177 | 31.33% | 385 | 68.14% | 3 | 0.53% | -208 | -36.81% | 565 | ||||||||||
| Deer Lodge | 4,916 | 91.55% | 446 | 8.31% | 8 | 0.15% | 4,470 | 83.24% | 5,370 | ||||||||||
| Fergus | 834 | 53.39% | 725 | 46.41% | 3 | 0.19% | 109 | 6.98% | 1,562 | ||||||||||
| Flathead | 1,360 | 76.45% | 413 | 23.22% | 6 | 0.34% | 947 | 53.23% | 1,779 | ||||||||||
| Gallatin | 1,649 | 78.23% | 423 | 20.07% | 36 | 1.71% | 1,226 | 58.16% | 2,108 | ||||||||||
| Granite | 1,746 | 96.25% | 61 | 3.36% | 7 | 0.39% | 1,685 | 92.89% | 1,814 | ||||||||||
| Jefferson | 2,185 | 93.42% | 153 | 6.54% | 1 | 0.04% | 2,032 | 86.87% | 2,339 | ||||||||||
| Lewis and Clark | 3,939 | 78.53% | 1,057 | 21.07% | 20 | 0.40% | 2,882 | 57.46% | 5,016 | ||||||||||
| Madison | 1,633 | 83.40% | 315 | 16.09% | 10 | 0.51% | 1,318 | 67.31% | 1,958 | ||||||||||
| Meagher | 1,305 | 79.62% | 333 | 20.32% | 1 | 0.06% | 972 | 59.30% | 1,639 | ||||||||||
| Missoula | 2,259 | 85.89% | 365 | 13.88% | 6 | 0.23% | 1,894 | 72.02% | 2,630 | ||||||||||
| Park | 1,252 | 78.69% | 328 | 20.62% | 11 | 0.69% | 924 | 58.08% | 1,591 | ||||||||||
| Ravalli | 1,542 | 87.91% | 207 | 11.80% | 5 | 0.29% | 1,335 | 76.11% | 1,754 | ||||||||||
| Silver Bow | 9,992 | 88.46% | 1,275 | 11.29% | 29 | 0.26% | 8,717 | 77.17% | 11,296 | ||||||||||
| Sweet Grass | 298 | 50.42% | 292 | 49.41% | 1 | 0.17% | 6 | 1.02% | 591 | ||||||||||
| Teton | 321 | 52.20% | 293 | 47.64% | 1 | 0.16% | 28 | 4.55% | 615 | ||||||||||
| Valley | 204 | 53.83% | 175 | 46.17% | 0 | 0.00% | 29 | 7.65% | 379 | ||||||||||
| Yellowstone | 575 | 56.99% | 429 | 42.52% | 5 | 0.50% | 146 | 14.47% | 1,009 | ||||||||||
| Totals | 42,469 | 79.91% | 10,494 | 19.74% | 186 | 0.35% | 31,975 | 60.16% | 53,149 | ||||||||||