1924 United States presidential election in Florida explained

See main article: 1924 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1924 United States presidential election in Florida
Country:Florida
Flag Year:1900
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1920 United States presidential election in Florida
Previous Year:1920
Election Date:November 4, 1924
Next Election:1928 United States presidential election in Florida
Next Year:1928
Image1:John William Davis.jpg
Nominee1:John W. Davis
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:West Virginia
Running Mate1:Charles W. Bryan
Electoral Vote1:6
Popular Vote1:62,083
Percentage1:56.88%
Nominee2:Calvin Coolidge
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Massachusetts
Running Mate2:Charles G. Dawes
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:30,633
Percentage2:28.06%
Image4:Robert La Follette Sr crop.jpg
Nominee4:Robert M. La Follette
Color4:A2ED70
Party4:Progressive
Home State4:Wisconsin
Running Mate4:Burton K. Wheeler
Electoral Vote4:0
Popular Vote4:8,625
Percentage4:7.90%
Image5:Herman P. Faris.png
Nominee5:Herman Faris
Party5:Prohibition Party
Home State5:Missouri
Running Mate5:Marie C. Brehm
Electoral Vote5:0
Popular Vote5:5,498
Percentage5:5.04%
Map Size:400px
President
Before Election:Calvin Coolidge
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:Calvin Coolidge
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1924 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 4, 1924. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since the disfranchisement of blacks at the beginning of the 1890s, Florida had effectively 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 developed and persisted in Tampa[3] and to a lesser extent over other parts of the state, especially against the powerful Ku Klux Klan.[4] 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 presidential election saw Warren G. Harding, aided substantially by isolationist sentiment in the region,[5] gain more support in the former Confederacy than any Republican since black disfranchisement, in the process winning three Florida counties. Owing to a decline in voter turnout, and an easing of isolationist feelings, Coolidge was unable to match Harding’s percentage of the vote. However, vis-à-vis Harding's performance in this one-party southern state, Coolidge’s losing margin was 2.53 percentage points smaller, and he did make small gains amongst the small but increasing flow of Northeastern migrants moving to Florida’s hot climate. Although he did not manage to hold Broward County or Osceola County, where Harding gained pluralities in 1920, Coolidge did become the first Republican to ever carry Pinellas County.[6]

Despite the fact that the Republican Party had never gained 31 percent of Florida’s vote in a presidential election since the poll tax was introduced,[7] 1924 remains,, the last time a Republican presidential candidate has won an election without carrying Florida.[8] Passionate anti-Catholic feelings in the Piney Woods region[9] would turn the presidential electoral votes of this one-party state against urban Catholic Al Smith in 1928, and the state went on to become largely a bellwether in presidential elections. Since 1928 it has only backed a losing presidential candidate three times, each time a Republican: Richard Nixon in 1960, George H. W. Bush in 1992, and Donald Trump in 2020. Given that Bush and Trump were incumbent presidents and Nixon would be elected president eight years later, 1924 also marks the last time that Florida voted for a candidate who never won the presidency. It also marks the last time that Florida voted against an incumbent president who successfully won another term.

Florida proved to be the strongest state for Prohibition Party candidate Herman Faris, who won 5.04% of the popular vote, and even came with 5% of winning Dade County, ahead of Coolidge and Follette.[10]

Results

Results by county

CountyJohn William Davis
Democratic
John Calvin Coolidge
Republican
Robert Marion La Follette Sr.
Progressive
Herman Preston Farris
Prohibition
Gilbert Owen Nations
American
Total votes cast[11]
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" %
Alachua1,99571.40%52818.90%1746.23%551.97%421.50%2,794
Baker21556.73%12432.72%256.60%82.11%71.85%379
Bay83867.15%31825.48%453.61%372.96%100.80%1,248
Bradford53981.67%9414.24%172.58%60.91%40.61%660
Brevard87257.94%51534.22%885.85%181.20%120.80%1,505
Broward42142.87%40741.45%868.76%464.68%222.24%982
Calhoun40678.23%5610.79%377.13%20.39%183.47%519
Charlotte32160.00%16731.21%305.61%132.43%40.75%535
Citrus42383.76%305.94%499.70%20.40%10.20%505
Clay33957.17%17128.84%7111.97%71.18%50.84%593
Collier14882.22%158.33%52.78%116.11%10.56%180
Columbia77681.60%858.94%616.41%242.52%50.53%951
Dade3,47432.83%2,75326.01%1,0149.58%3,17029.95%1721.63%10,583
Desoto64170.05%23025.14%101.09%293.17%50.55%915
Dixie25794.14%145.13%00.00%20.73%00.00%273
Duval5,90851.93%3,29128.93%1,21010.64%3773.31%5905.19%11,376
Escambia2,29052.74%1,27429.34%61514.16%1132.60%501.15%4,342
Flagler20254.30%7520.16%6517.47%308.06%00.00%372
Franklin41776.51%10920.00%162.94%10.18%20.37%545
Gadsden68184.91%475.86%658.10%30.37%60.75%802
Glades21261.10%8323.92%257.20%174.90%102.88%347
Hamilton61975.30%14317.40%334.01%161.95%111.34%822
Hardee79568.24%26422.66%675.75%282.40%110.94%1,165
Hendry13276.74%2112.21%116.40%21.16%63.49%172
Hernando30074.81%5914.71%368.98%51.25%10.25%401
Highlands45757.56%26533.38%587.30%91.13%50.63%794
Hillsborough4,47062.26%1,58522.08%76510.65%1992.77%1612.24%7,180
Holmes65855.90%37732.03%1179.94%151.27%100.85%1,177
Jackson1,77180.76%32014.59%823.74%100.46%100.46%2,193
Jefferson56683.11%669.69%436.31%40.59%20.29%681
Lafayette35888.18%338.13%112.71%30.74%10.25%406
Lake1,38153.12%94836.46%1586.08%542.08%592.27%2,600
Lee84552.10%55234.03%804.93%593.64%865.30%1,622
Leon94785.32%928.29%443.96%201.80%70.63%1,110
Levy52464.22%21426.23%556.74%141.72%91.10%816
Liberty19386.16%188.04%104.46%10.45%20.89%224
Madison53890.73%233.88%305.06%10.17%10.17%593
Manatee1,06455.04%62932.54%1819.36%351.81%241.24%1,933
Marion1,52873.43%35917.25%944.52%763.65%241.15%2,081
Monroe83567.78%26221.27%1139.17%110.89%110.89%1,232
Nassau61780.65%10613.86%324.18%40.52%60.78%765
Okaloosa64267.37%18319.20%838.71%394.09%60.63%953
Okeechobee18266.91%5720.96%196.99%114.04%31.10%272
Orange1,88345.84%1,65340.24%2165.26%1433.48%2135.19%4,108
Osceola88450.20%58933.45%653.69%683.86%1558.80%1,761
Palm Beach1,54341.25%1,72646.14%37510.02%00.00%972.59%3,741
Pasco78053.57%47232.42%1439.82%432.95%181.24%1,456
Pinellas2,63343.57%2,87247.53%3025.00%1522.52%841.39%6,043
Polk3,07057.97%1,53028.89%4618.70%1713.23%641.21%5,296
Putnam88954.41%57435.13%895.45%452.75%372.26%1,634
St. Johns1,02354.30%51727.44%1879.93%623.29%955.04%1,884
St. Lucie72250.92%52436.95%15010.58%100.71%120.85%1,418
Santa Rosa69370.64%22923.34%383.87%121.22%90.92%981
Sarasota20444.16%18740.48%4710.17%183.90%61.30%462
Seminole94559.58%37223.46%25315.95%80.50%80.50%1,586
Sumter48170.94%10815.93%7310.77%91.33%71.03%678
Suwannee97783.65%1119.50%705.99%60.51%40.34%1,168
Taylor47678.29%10016.45%71.15%193.13%60.99%608
Union32292.53%164.60%72.01%10.29%20.57%348
Volusia2,04251.11%1,63140.83%2045.11%751.88%431.08%3,995
Wakulla33285.35%348.74%153.86%71.80%10.26%389
Walton82570.39%22018.77%564.78%413.50%302.56%1,172
Washington56267.55%20624.76%374.45%212.52%60.72%832
Totals62,08356.87%30,63328.06%8,6257.90%5,4985.04%2,3192.12%109,158

See also

Notes and References

  1. [Joel H. Silbey|Silbey, Joel H.]
  2. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896–1932 (second edition); pp. 156-157 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press
  3. Ford, Edward J.; ‘Life on the Campaign Trail: a Political Anthropology of Local Politics’ (thesis), published 2008 by University of South Florida, pp. 114-118
  4. Gregory, Raymond F.; Norman Thomas: The Great Dissenter, pp. 150-151
  5. Phillips, Kevin; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 210-211, 261
  6. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868–2004, pp. 218-219
  7. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Florida
  8. News: Smiley . David . Trump can't win reelection without winning Florida. And he's acting like it. . Miami Herald . 25 May 2019 . 7 July 2019.
  9. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 212, 214
  10. Web site: 1924 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
  11. Florida Department of State. Division of Elections, Official Vote, State of Florida, General Election, 1924 (Tallahassee, 1924)