See main article: 1920 United States presidential election.
| Election Name: | 1920 United States presidential election in Florida |
| Country: | Florida |
| Flag Year: | 1900 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Election Date: | November 2, 1920 |
| Previous Election: | 1916 United States presidential election in Florida |
| Previous Year: | 1916 |
| Next Election: | 1924 United States presidential election in Florida |
| Next Year: | 1924 |
| Image1: | James M. Cox 1920.jpg |
| Nominee1: | James Cox |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Home State1: | Ohio |
| Running Mate1: | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Electoral Vote1: | 6 |
| Popular Vote1: | 90,515 |
| Percentage1: | 62.13% |
| Nominee2: | Warren Harding |
| Running Mate2: | Calvin Coolidge |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Home State2: | Ohio |
| Electoral Vote2: | 0 |
| Percentage2: | 30.79% |
| Popular Vote2: | 44,853 |
| Map Size: | 400px |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Woodrow Wilson |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Warren Harding |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 1920 United States presidential election in Florida, was held on November 2, 1920. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for the president and vice-president.
Ever since the disfranchisement of blacks at the beginning of the 1890s, Florida had been a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. The disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by poll taxes in 1889[1] had left the Republican Party – between 1872 and 1888 dependent upon black votes – virtually extinct.
With the single exception of William Howard Taft's win in Calhoun County in 1908[2] the Democratic Party won every county in Florida in every presidential election from 1892 until 1916. Only twice – and never for more than one term – did any Republican serve in either house of the state legislature between 1896 and 1928.
Despite this Democratic dominance and the restrictions on the franchise of the poorer classes due to the poll tax, significant socialist movements were to develop and persist in Tampa[3] and to a lesser extent over other parts of the state, especially against the powerful Ku Klux Klan.[4] In 1919, 4,800 miners led by the Mineral Workers Union would go on strike for seven and a half months in Polk County. The reason for the strike were that they wanted an eight-hour work day and a minimum wage of 37 cents. Governor Sidney J. Catts called on the Florida National Guard and the Polk County Home Guard to end the strike. At the end of the strike, five strikers would die.[5]
There was also a powerful Prohibitionist movement in older North Florida, which saw the Prohibition Party even win the governorship for one term under the notorious anti-Catholic minister Sidney J. Catts.
The 1920 election saw Harding make mild inroads into the absolute Democratic dominance of the state's politics, largely owing to considerable isolationist sentiment,[6] and major economic concerns following the decline of industries related to World War I.[7] He carried three counties in the south of the state, being only the second Republican to carry a Florida county since black disfranchisement, and begun tentative steps towards establishing a white GOP base in what was to become the "Sun Belt" after the development of air conditioning decades later. Eugene Debs, who had taken advantage of substantial radicalism in parts of South Florida to run second to Woodrow Wilson in the state in 1912, did not do nearly so well and was only marginally ahead of Prohibition candidate Watkins.
| County | James Middleton Cox Democratic | Warren Gamaliel Harding Republican | Eugene Victor Debs[8] Socialist | Aaron Sherman Watkins Prohibition | Margin | Total votes cast[9] | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-type="number" | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | data-sort-type="number" | % | |||||||||
| Alachua | 3,310 | 72.52% | 1,119 | 24.52% | 112 | 2.45% | 23 | 0.50% | 2,191 | 48.00% | 4,564 | ||||||||||||
| Baker | 346 | 68.11% | 115 | 22.64% | 19 | 3.74% | 28 | 5.51% | 231 | 45.47% | 508 | ||||||||||||
| Bay | 818 | 54.90% | 551 | 36.98% | 71 | 4.77% | 50 | 3.36% | 267 | 17.92% | 1,490 | ||||||||||||
| Bradford | 1,269 | 78.82% | 248 | 15.40% | 8 | 0.50% | 85 | 5.28% | 1,021 | 63.42% | 1,610 | ||||||||||||
| Brevard | 894 | 53.31% | 659 | 39.30% | 63 | 3.76% | 61 | 3.64% | 235 | 14.01% | 1,677 | ||||||||||||
| Broward | 415 | 41.54% | 442 | 44.24% | 107 | 10.71% | 35 | 3.50% | -27 | -2.70% | 999 | ||||||||||||
| Calhoun | 861 | 78.42% | 99 | 9.02% | 20 | 1.82% | 118 | 10.75% | 743 | 67.67% | 1,098 | ||||||||||||
| Citrus | 651 | 82.61% | 94 | 11.93% | 25 | 3.17% | 18 | 2.28% | 557 | 70.68% | 788 | ||||||||||||
| Clay | 558 | 49.69% | 486 | 43.28% | 38 | 3.38% | 41 | 3.65% | 72 | 6.41% | 1,123 | ||||||||||||
| Columbia | 1,248 | 80.88% | 162 | 10.50% | 68 | 4.41% | 65 | 4.21% | 1,086 | 70.38% | 1,543 | ||||||||||||
| Dade | 4,288 | 53.08% | 3,077 | 38.09% | 375 | 4.64% | 338 | 4.18% | 1,211 | 14.99% | 8,078 | ||||||||||||
| De Soto | 2,496 | 64.93% | 1,077 | 28.02% | 197 | 5.12% | 74 | 1.93% | 1,419 | 36.91% | 3,844 | ||||||||||||
| Duval | 13,650 | 64.21% | 6,628 | 31.18% | 450 | 2.12% | 529 | 2.49% | 7,022 | 33.03% | 21,257 | ||||||||||||
| Escambia | 3,485 | 65.20% | 1,227 | 22.96% | 205 | 3.84% | 428 | 8.01% | 2,258 | 42.24% | 5,345 | ||||||||||||
| Flagler | 206 | 55.08% | 74 | 19.79% | 73 | 19.52% | 21 | 5.61% | 132 | 35.29% | 374 | ||||||||||||
| Franklin | 587 | 62.05% | 276 | 29.18% | 24 | 2.54% | 59 | 6.24% | 311 | 32.87% | 946 | ||||||||||||
| Gadsden | 1,922 | 96.68% | 38 | 1.91% | 18 | 0.91% | 10 | 0.50% | 1,884 | 94.77% | 1,988 | ||||||||||||
| Hamilton | 706 | 74.39% | 151 | 15.91% | 15 | 1.58% | 77 | 8.11% | 555 | 58.48% | 949 | ||||||||||||
| Hernando | 622 | 76.04% | 132 | 16.14% | 29 | 3.55% | 35 | 4.28% | 490 | 59.90% | 818 | ||||||||||||
| Hillsborough | 6,976 | 56.49% | 3,772 | 30.54% | 968 | 7.84% | 633 | 5.13% | 3,204 | 25.95% | 12,349 | ||||||||||||
| Holmes | 869 | 54.31% | 537 | 33.56% | 42 | 2.63% | 152 | 9.50% | 332 | 20.75% | 1,600 | ||||||||||||
| Jackson | 2,443 | 78.70% | 508 | 16.37% | 67 | 2.16% | 86 | 2.77% | 1,935 | 62.33% | 3,104 | ||||||||||||
| Jefferson | 754 | 72.08% | 239 | 22.85% | 19 | 1.82% | 34 | 3.25% | 515 | 49.23% | 1,046 | ||||||||||||
| Lafayette | 618 | 86.55% | 69 | 9.66% | 10 | 1.40% | 17 | 2.38% | 549 | 76.89% | 714 | ||||||||||||
| Lake | 1,720 | 67.72% | 734 | 28.90% | 52 | 2.05% | 34 | 1.34% | 986 | 38.82% | 2,540 | ||||||||||||
| Lee | 938 | 55.37% | 626 | 36.95% | 54 | 3.19% | 76 | 4.49% | 312 | 18.42% | 1,694 | ||||||||||||
| Leon | 1,412 | 71.75% | 452 | 22.97% | 58 | 2.95% | 46 | 2.34% | 960 | 48.78% | 1,968 | ||||||||||||
| Levy | 882 | 69.01% | 377 | 29.50% | 12 | 0.94% | 7 | 0.55% | 505 | 39.51% | 1,278 | ||||||||||||
| Liberty | 416 | 91.63% | 5 | 1.10% | 18 | 3.96% | 15 | 3.30% | 416 | 87.67% | 454 | ||||||||||||
| Madison | 920 | 93.31% | 30 | 3.04% | 14 | 1.42% | 22 | 2.23% | 890 | 90.27% | 986 | ||||||||||||
| Manatee | 1,790 | 62.43% | 884 | 30.83% | 70 | 2.44% | 123 | 4.29% | 906 | 31.60% | 2,867 | ||||||||||||
| Marion | 2,436 | 62.43% | 1,232 | 31.57% | 82 | 2.10% | 152 | 3.90% | 1,204 | 30.86% | 3,902 | ||||||||||||
| Monroe | 979 | 56.04% | 510 | 29.19% | 149 | 8.53% | 109 | 6.24% | 469 | 26.85% | 1,747 | ||||||||||||
| Nassau | 900 | 72.12% | 281 | 22.52% | 22 | 1.76% | 45 | 3.61% | 619 | 49.60% | 1,248 | ||||||||||||
| Okaloosa | 568 | 56.63% | 411 | 40.98% | 20 | 1.99% | 4 | 0.40% | 157 | 15.65% | 1,003 | ||||||||||||
| Okeechobee | 237 | 65.11% | 58 | 15.93% | 28 | 7.69% | 41 | 11.26% | 179 | 49.18% | 364 | ||||||||||||
| Orange | 2,035 | 55.48% | 1,447 | 39.45% | 123 | 3.35% | 63 | 1.72% | 588 | 16.03% | 3,668 | ||||||||||||
| Osceola | 728 | 38.91% | 1,035 | 55.32% | 41 | 2.19% | 67 | 3.58% | -307 | -16.41% | 1,871 | ||||||||||||
| Palm Beach | 1,488 | 38.29% | 1,892 | 48.69% | 308 | 7.93% | 198 | 5.10% | -404 | -10.40% | 3,886 | ||||||||||||
| Pasco | 1,166 | 61.89% | 630 | 33.44% | 53 | 2.81% | 35 | 1.86% | 536 | 28.45% | 1,884 | ||||||||||||
| Pinellas | 2,848 | 48.94% | 2,529 | 43.46% | 202 | 3.47% | 240 | 4.12% | 319 | 5.48% | 5,819 | ||||||||||||
| Polk | 3,918 | 65.86% | 1,782 | 29.95% | 159 | 2.67% | 90 | 1.51% | 2,136 | 35.91% | 5,949 | ||||||||||||
| Putnam | 1,557 | 53.41% | 1,181 | 40.51% | 89 | 3.05% | 88 | 3.02% | 376 | 12.90% | 2,915 | ||||||||||||
| Santa Rosa | 813 | 70.51% | 333 | 28.88% | 2 | 0.17% | 5 | 0.43% | 480 | 41.63% | 1,153 | ||||||||||||
| Seminole | 1,485 | 62.50% | 767 | 32.28% | 73 | 3.07% | 51 | 2.15% | 718 | 30.22% | 2,376 | ||||||||||||
| St. Johns | 1,810 | 56.30% | 1,221 | 37.98% | 94 | 2.92% | 90 | 2.80% | 589 | 18.32% | 3,215 | ||||||||||||
| St. Lucie | 1,167 | 58.44% | 707 | 35.40% | 64 | 3.20% | 59 | 2.95% | 460 | 23.04% | 1,997 | ||||||||||||
| Sumter | 921 | 79.74% | 219 | 18.96% | 8 | 0.69% | 7 | 0.61% | 702 | 60.78% | 1,155 | ||||||||||||
| Suwannee | 1,486 | 72.56% | 382 | 18.65% | 111 | 5.42% | 69 | 3.37% | 1,104 | 53.91% | 2,048 | ||||||||||||
| Taylor | 563 | 77.98% | 128 | 17.73% | 8 | 1.11% | 23 | 3.19% | 435 | 60.25% | 722 | ||||||||||||
| Volusia | 2,763 | 52.47% | 2,175 | 41.30% | 126 | 2.39% | 202 | 3.84% | 588 | 11.17% | 5,266 | ||||||||||||
| Wakulla | 530 | 79.34% | 119 | 17.81% | 3 | 0.45% | 16 | 2.40% | 411 | 61.53% | 668 | ||||||||||||
| Walton | 1,297 | 64.24% | 619 | 30.66% | 36 | 1.78% | 67 | 3.32% | 678 | 33.58% | 2,019 | ||||||||||||
| Washington | 750 | 61.98% | 307 | 25.37% | 87 | 7.19% | 66 | 5.45% | 443 | 36.61% | 1,210 | ||||||||||||
| Totals | 90,515 | 62.13% | 44,853 | 30.79% | 5,189 | 3.56% | 5,127 | 3.52% | 45,662 | 31.34% | 145,684 | ||||||||||||