1916 United States presidential election in Oregon explained

See main article: 1916 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1916 United States presidential election in Oregon
Country:Oregon
Flag Year:1916
Flag Image:File:Flag of Oregon (1900–1925).gif
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Year:1912
Previous Election:1912 United States presidential election in Oregon
Next Year:1920
Next Election:1920 United States presidential election in Oregon
Election Date:November 7, 1916
Image1:Governor Charles Evans Hughes (cropped).jpg
Nominee1:Charles Evans Hughes
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:New York
Running Mate1:Charles W. Fairbanks
Electoral Vote1:5
Popular Vote1:126,813
Percentage1:48.47%
Nominee2:Woodrow Wilson
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:New Jersey
Running Mate2:Thomas R. Marshall
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:120,087
Percentage2:45.90%
Map Size:375px
President
Before Election:Woodrow Wilson
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Woodrow Wilson
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)

The 1916 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 7, 1916 as part of the 1916 United States presidential election in which all contemporary forty-eight states participated. Voters chose five electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Oregon had been in the 1900s solidified as a one-party Republican bastion, which it would remain at a Presidential level apart from the 1910s GOP split until Franklin D. Roosevelt rose to power in 1932,[1] and apart from a very short New Deal interlude at state level until the "Revolution of 1954". As of 1916, the state had not elected a Democratic Congressman since 1878, and between 1900 and 1954 Democratic representation in the Oregon legislature would never exceed fifteen percent except during the above-mentioned 1930s interlude,[2] so that Republican primaries would become the chief mode of competition.[3]

In 1912, a split in the Republican Party and the relatively limited appeal of Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Party in what was at the time the most Republican of the Pacific States allowed Woodrow Wilson to become only the second Democratic Presidential candidate after Horatio Seymour in 1868 to carry Oregon.[4]

For his 1916 re-election against a United GOP, Wilson campaigned on keeping the United States out of World War I,[5] and upon Progressive Era reforms like the income tax.[6] These reforms were much less popular in Yankee-settled Western Oregon – which had close cultural and political ties to New England – with the result that Oregon voted for the Republican nominee, Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes of New York, over the Democratic nominee, incumbent President Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. Hughes won Oregon by a close margin of 2.57%; however, alongside South Dakota, Oregon was the only state that Hughes won in the Great Plains or westward. Wilson’s historically based strength in sparsely populated and Ozark mountaineer-settled Eastern Oregon,[4] like that of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, was inadequate to counter this.

Results

Presidential CandidateRunning MatePartyElectoral Vote (EV)Popular Vote (PV)
Charles Evans Hughes of New YorkCharles W. FairbanksRepublican5[7] 126,81348.47%
Woodrow WilsonThomas R. MarshallDemocratic0120,08745.90%
Allan L. BensonGeorge KirkpatrickSocialist09,7113.71%
Frank HanlyIra LandrithProhibition04,7291.81%
Progressive03100.12%

Results by county

CountyCharles Evans Hughes
Republican
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Democratic
Allan Louis Benson
Socialist
James Franklin Hanly
Prohibition
No Candidate
Progressive "Bull Moose"
MarginTotal votes cast[8]
%%%%%%
Baker2,54137.16%3,89756.99%3244.74%691.01%70.10%-1,356-19.83%6,838
Benton2,90250.72%2,48843.48%1202.10%2073.62%50.09%4147.24%5,722
Clackamas6,34950.91%5,33442.77%5564.46%2221.78%100.08%1,0158.14%12,471
Clatsop2,56849.44%2,23943.11%3206.16%651.25%20.04%3296.33%5,194
Columbia2,02353.95%1,45138.69%1824.85%922.45%20.05%57215.25%3,750
Coos3,20943.61%3,35245.56%7089.62%741.01%150.20%-143-1.94%7,358
Crook1,67536.21%2,69958.34%2094.52%380.82%50.11%-1,024-22.14%4,626
Curry54145.62%51243.17%1189.95%80.67%70.59%292.45%1,186
Douglas3,92248.16%3,67945.18%4205.16%1171.44%50.06%2432.98%8,143
Gilliam55737.89%87059.18%251.70%171.16%10.07%-313-21.29%1,470
Grant94140.56%1,21052.16%1456.25%170.73%70.30%-269-11.59%2,320
Harney87237.52%1,23953.31%1898.13%220.95%20.09%-367-15.79%2,324
Hood River1,31448.33%1,18843.69%1585.81%582.13%10.04%1264.63%2,719
Jackson3,53839.41%4,87454.29%3213.58%2302.56%150.17%-1,336-14.88%8,978
Jefferson58136.13%90456.22%623.86%603.73%10.06%-323-20.09%1,608
Josephine1,66046.20%1,65646.09%2306.40%421.17%50.14%40.11%3,593
Klamath1,63144.37%1,85350.41%1704.62%180.49%40.11%-222-6.04%3,676
Lake79341.94%97151.35%985.18%271.43%20.11%-178-9.41%1,891
Lane7,25351.70%5,88041.92%6074.33%2611.86%270.19%1,3739.79%14,028
Lincoln1,16750.87%91539.89%1908.28%170.74%50.22%25210.99%2,294
Linn4,52446.26%4,67547.81%3183.25%2532.59%90.09%-151-1.54%9,779
Malheur1,68242.38%1,93748.80%2937.38%541.36%30.08%-255-6.42%3,969
Marion8,31655.48%5,69938.02%4733.16%4753.17%250.17%2,61717.46%14,988
Morrow74844.08%83048.91%925.42%261.53%10.06%-82-4.83%1,697
Multnomah41,45851.67%35,75544.56%1,8522.31%1,0831.35%870.11%5,7037.11%80,235
Polk2,89947.89%2,84446.98%1873.09%1201.98%40.07%550.91%6,054
Sherman71746.86%74748.82%181.18%483.14%00.00%-30-1.96%1,530
Tillamook1,54753.86%1,17540.91%953.31%531.85%20.07%37212.95%2,872
Umatilla3,66442.33%4,60653.22%2562.96%1221.41%70.08%-942-10.88%8,655
Union2,25339.77%3,08654.47%2594.57%631.11%40.07%-833-14.70%5,665
Wallowa1,19835.75%1,96058.49%1654.92%200.60%80.24%-762-22.74%3,351
Wasco2,24347.53%2,28748.46%1032.18%801.70%60.13%-44-0.93%4,719
Washington4,88856.16%3,36338.64%2192.52%2222.55%110.13%1,52517.52%8,703
Wheeler62951.73%57046.88%100.82%60.49%10.08%594.85%1,216
Yamhill4,01049.95%3,34241.63%2192.73%4435.52%140.17%6688.32%8,028
Totals126,81348.47%120,08745.90%9,7113.71%4,7291.81%3100.12%6,7262.57%261,650

See also

Notes and References

  1. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896', in Kleppner, Paul (editor), The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 176-179
  2. [Elmer Eric Schattschneider|Schattschneider, Elmer Eric]
  3. Murray, Keith; ‘Issues and Personalities of Pacific Northwest Politics, 1889-1950’, The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 3 (July 1950), pp. 213-233
  4. [Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips, Kevin P.]
  5. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 47
  6. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 497
  7. Web site: 1916 Presidential General Election Results – Oregon. Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. 27 December 2019.
  8. [Oregon Secretary of State]