1928 United States presidential election in Oregon explained

See main article: 1928 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1928 United States presidential election in Oregon
Country:	Oregon
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1924 United States presidential election in Oregon
Previous Year:	1924
Next Election:	1932 United States presidential election in Oregon
Next Year:	1932
Election Date:	November 6, 1928
Image1:	Herbert Hoover - NARA - 532049.jpg
Nominee1:	Herbert Hoover
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	California
Running Mate1:	Charles Curtis
Electoral Vote1:	5
Popular Vote1:	205,341
Percentage1:	64.18%
Nominee2:	Al Smith
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	New York
Running Mate2:	Joseph T. Robinson
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	109,223
Percentage2:	34.14%
Map Size:	375px
President
Before Election:	Calvin Coolidge
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Herbert Hoover
After Party:	Republican Party (United States)

The 1928 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 6, 1928, as part of the 1928 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Outside a few presidential and gubernatorial elections like that of 1922 influenced by the Ku Klux Klan, Oregon was a virtually one-party Republican state during the “System of 1896”,^[1] where the only competition was via Republican primaries.^[2] Apart from Woodrow Wilson’s two elections, during the first of which the GOP was severely divided, no Democrat since William Jennings Bryan in 1900 had carried a single county in the state.

In 1924 Oregon had nonetheless been the fifth-strongest of the fifteen Western and Plains States for Democrat John W. Davis behind Ozark mountaineer-dominated Nebraska, Mormon Utah and southern-leaning New Mexico and Arizona. Moreover, although maverick Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. fared less well than in the other Pacific States, he still gained nearly one in four of Oregon's ballots as an independent. However, when La Follette died in 1925 his family endorsed New York City Catholic Democrat Al Smith,^[3] towards whose faith Oregon's largely Puritan (in the northwest) or Ozark Methodist (in the south and east), Anglo-Saxon^[4] and fiercely anti-Catholic populace was strongly hostile.^[5] This had been seen in a notorious law outlawing private religious schools under Klan-supported Governor Walter M. Pierce, whose decision was viewed unconstitutional by both the Oregon Supreme Court in 1924 and federally in Pierce v. Society of Sisters a year later.^[6]

Despite this severe wariness,^[7] Smith did manage to win the state's Democratic presidential primary against token opposition from Missouri Senator James Reed^[8] and Montana Senator Thomas Walsh, whilst former Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover won the state's Republican primary unopposed with over six times as many voters.^[9] From the beginning polls showed opposition to Smith's Catholicism and anti-Prohibition views as very strong in Oregon,^[10] and neither major party would campaign in the state during the fall. October polls showed Hoover winning the state by a two-to-one margin and Smith gaining no more than a quarter of the La Follette vote. As of 2020, this is the final presidential election in Oregon in which a Republican carried all of the state's counties.^[11]

Whereas in more Catholic states of the northern “Frost Belt” like Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota Smith was able to revive a moribund Democratic Party at a presidential level,^[12] Oregon's smaller but still significant La Follette electorate concentrated in the lower Willamette Valley and arch-isolationist Southern Oregon balked at voting for a Catholic.^[13] Consequently, Republican nominee Hoover was able to gain 13.17 percent upon Calvin Coolidge’s 1924 performance in Oregon and become the fifth Republican in seven presidential elections to sweep all Oregon’s counties.

This would be the last occasion until Donald Trump in 2016 that Columbia County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.^{[14] [15]}

Results

Presidential Candidate	Running Mate	Party	Electoral Vote (EV)	Popular Vote (PV)
Herbert Hoover of California	Charles Curtis	Republican	5^[16]	205,341	64.18%
Al Smith	Joseph T. Robinson	Democratic	0	109,223	34.14%
Norman Thomas	James Maurer	Socialist Principles Independent	0	2,720	0.85%
Verne L. Reynolds	Jeremiah Crowley	Socialist Labor	0	1,564	0.49%
William Z. Foster	Benjamin Gitlow	Independent	0	1,094	0.34%

Results by county

County	Herbert Clark Hoover Republican		Alfred Emmanuel Smith Democratic		Norman Mattoon Thomas Socialist Principles Independent		Verne L. Reynolds Socialist Labor		William Z. Foster Independent		Margin		Total votes cast^[17]
		%		%		%		%		%		%
	Baker		3,721		65.52%		1,861		32.77%		64		1.13%		22		0.39%		11		0.19%		1,860		32.75%		5,679
	Benton		4,605		75.55%		1,412		23.17%		37		0.61%		17		0.28%		24		0.39%		3,193		52.39%		6,095
	Clackamas		9,216		59.51%		5,918		38.22%		157		1.01%		130		0.84%		65		0.42%		3,298		21.30%		15,486
	Clatsop		4,087		63.33%		2,208		34.21%		31		0.48%		37		0.57%		91		1.41%		1,879		29.11%		6,454
	Columbia		3,519		65.21%		1,775		32.89%		34		0.63%		44		0.82%		24		0.44%		1,744		32.32%		5,396
	Coos		4,929		60.66%		3,040		37.41%		62		0.76%		67		0.82%		28		0.34%		1,889		23.25%		8,126
	Crook		877		63.46%		487		35.24%		10		0.72%		4		0.29%		4		0.29%		390		28.22%		1,382
	Curry		694		59.16%		453		38.62%		14		1.19%		4		0.34%		8		0.68%		241		20.55%		1,173
	Deschutes		2,815		60.83%		1,702		36.78%		29		0.63%		77		1.66%		5		0.11%		1,113		24.05%		4,628
	Douglas		5,609		70.52%		2,191		27.55%		51		0.64%		55		0.69%		48		0.60%		3,418		42.97%		7,954
	Gilliam		880		62.50%		515		36.58%		6		0.43%		2		0.14%		5		0.36%		365		25.92%		1,408
	Grant		1,411		74.03%		469		24.61%		13		0.68%		10		0.52%		3		0.16%		942		49.42%		1,906
	Harney		952		60.60%		600		38.19%		8		0.51%		6		0.38%		5		0.32%		352		22.41%		1,571
	Hood River		1,806		65.22%		905		32.68%		18		0.65%		15		0.54%		25		0.90%		901		32.54%		2,769
	Jackson		8,053		75.43%		2,463		23.07%		88		0.82%		41		0.38%		31		0.29%		5,590		52.36%		10,676
	Jefferson		481		59.31%		308		37.98%		6		0.74%		8		0.99%		8		0.99%		173		21.33%		811
	Josephine		2,625		71.31%		959		26.05%		44		1.20%		36		0.98%		17		0.46%		1,666		45.26%		3,681
	Klamath		4,453		61.28%		2,721		37.44%		32		0.44%		31		0.43%		30		0.41%		1,732		23.83%		7,267
	Lake		1,014		63.61%		549		34.44%		10		0.63%		9		0.56%		12		0.75%		465		29.17%		1,594
	Lane		13,647		74.96%		4,213		23.14%		179		0.98%		93		0.51%		73		0.40%		9,434		51.82%		18,205
	Lincoln		2,100		57.33%		1,464		39.97%		46		1.26%		32		0.87%		21		0.57%		636		17.36%		3,663
	Linn		5,877		67.62%		2,645		30.43%		72		0.83%		45		0.52%		52		0.60%		3,232		37.19%		8,691
	Malheur		2,164		67.35%		1,016		31.62%		18		0.56%		11		0.34%		4		0.12%		1,148		35.73%		3,213
	Marion		11,754		61.96%		6,998		36.89%		102		0.54%		69		0.36%		48		0.25%		4,756		25.07%		18,971
	Morrow		1,093		64.87%		543		32.23%		23		1.36%		14		0.83%		12		0.71%		550		32.64%		1,685
	Multnomah		75,731		61.64%		45,177		36.77%		1,219		0.99%		447		0.36%		285		0.23%		30,554		24.87%		122,859
	Polk		3,244		64.44%		1,724		34.25%		30		0.60%		20		0.40%		16		0.32%		1,520		30.19%		5,034
	Sherman		759		66.35%		375		32.78%		2		0.17%		5		0.44%		3		0.26%		384		33.57%		1,144
	Tillamook		2,570		66.75%		1,204		31.27%		32		0.83%		28		0.73%		16		0.42%		1,366		35.48%		3,850
	Umatilla		5,277		67.83%		2,390		30.72%		59		0.76%		34		0.44%		20		0.26%		2,887		37.11%		7,780
	Union		3,219		59.13%		2,154		39.57%		26		0.48%		30		0.55%		15		0.28%		1,065		19.56%		5,444
	Wallowa		1,326		56.86%		935		40.09%		39		1.67%		19		0.81%		13		0.56%		391		16.77%		2,332
	Wasco		2,746		60.85%		1,699		37.65%		30		0.66%		21		0.47%		17		0.38%		1,047		23.20%		4,513
	Washington		6,162		62.37%		3,544		35.87%		91		0.92%		55		0.56%		27		0.27%		2,618		26.50%		9,879
	Wheeler		677		75.06%		224		24.83%		1		0.11%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		453		50.22%		902
	Yamhill		5,248		67.97%		2,382		30.85%		38		0.49%		25		0.32%		28		0.36%		2,866		37.12%		7,721
Totals	205,341	64.18%	109,223	34.14%	2,720	0.85%	1,564	0.49%	1,094	0.34%	96,118	30.04%	319,942

See also

• United States presidential elections in Oregon

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. Murray, Keith; ‘Issues and Personalities of Pacific Northwest Politics, 1889-1950’, The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 3 (July 1950), pp. 213-233
3. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 59
4. [Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips, Kevin P.]
5. Book: Allerfeldt, Kristofer . Kristofer Allerfeldt . Race, Radicalism, Religion, and Restriction: Immigration in the Pacific Northwest, 1890-1924 . 2003 . Praeger . 59–62 . 978-0-275-97854-9.
6. Fox, Robert A. and Buchanan, Nina K. (editors); The Wiley Handbook of School Choice
7. Lyon, william C.; ‘Smith Is Favoured in the Northwest’;
8. ‘Smith Retains Lead Over Walsh in Oregon’; New York Times, 19 May 1928, p. 3
9. Wood, T.R. ‘Explaining the Smith Vote: Republican Swing to Governor May Not Outnumber Hoover Democrats’, Letter to The New York Times, May 23, 1928
10. ‘Found Hoover Strong: Brooklyn Republican Reports Opposition to Smith in West’; New York Times, July 27, 1928, p. 2
11. ‘Digest Poll Gives Hoover 44 States’; New York Times, October 19, 1928, p. 4
12. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 426
13. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 486
14. Web site: Wheel. Robert. The 2016 Streak Breakers. Center for Politics. Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball. 13 November 2016.
15. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
16. Web site: 1928 Presidential General Election Results – Oregon. Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. 23 December 2013.
17. Our Campaigns; OR US Presidential Election Race, November 06, 1928