1936 United States presidential election in California explained

See main article: 1936 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1936 United States presidential election in California
Country:	California
Flag Image:	Flag of California (1924–1953).pngborder
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1932 United States presidential election in California
Previous Year:	1932
Next Election:	1940 United States presidential election in California
Next Year:	1940
Turnout:	83.36% (of registered voters) 2.71 pp 70.56% (of eligible voters) 5.34 pp^[1]
Election Date:	November 3, 1936
Image1:	FDR in 1933 (cropped).jpg
Nominee1:	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Party1:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:	New York
Running Mate1:	John N. Garner
Electoral Vote1:	22
Popular Vote1:	1,766,836
Percentage1:	66.95%
Nominee2:	Alf Landon
Party2:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:	Kansas
Running Mate2:	Frank Knox
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	836,431
Percentage2:	31.70%
Map Size:	400px
President
Before Election:	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Before Party:	Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:	Franklin D. Roosevelt
After Party:	Democratic Party (United States)

The 1936 United States presidential election in California was held on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose twenty-two electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California voted for the Democratic candidate, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, in a landslide over the Republican challenger, Kansas Governor Alfred Mossman Landon, carrying every county and nearly sixty-seven percent of the vote to Landon’s 31.7%. Roosevelt’s percentage of the vote is the highest of any presidential candidate in California history, besting Warren G. Harding’s 66.2% in 1920.^[2] While his 35.25-percentage point margin of victory over Landon is the largest for any Democratic candidate, it is the second largest overall behind Harding’s 41.92% in 1920 and ahead of his cousin Theodore Roosevelt’s 34.9% in 1904.

, this is the last time that a presidential candidate from either political party completely swept all of California’s counties in an election. The only other candidate to manage this was Harding in his landslide 1920 victory.^[2]

Roosevelt was the last Democrat until Hillary Clinton in 2016 to carry Orange County in a presidential election, and the last until John Kerry in 2004 to carry Alpine County. Also, this was the only one of FDR’s four presidential campaigns where he carried Riverside County, which had never previously voted Democratic since its first election in 1896^[3] and would not do so again until Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. It would also be the first election in the state’s history where the Democratic Party won the state in two consecutive presidential elections.

This was the last election in California where presidential electors were chosen directly by the voters. Starting in 1940, the state adopted the modern "short ballot" where voters could only choose between the actual candidates' names, with the understanding that a vote for a candidate was a vote for their party's entire slate of electors.

Results

+ General Election Results^[4]	Party		Pledged to	Elector	Votes
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Mrs. Hancock Banning	1,766,836
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	O. K. Cushing	1,766,013
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Leo J. Smith	1,765,958
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Daniel C. Murphy	1,765,919
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Charles L. Culbert	1,765,843
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Mrs. George J. Knox	1,765,807
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	W. R. Jacob	1,765,739
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	George F. Irvine	1,765,680
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Argyll Campbell	1,765,652
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Stephen P. Galvin	1,765,651
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	H. H. Whitting	1,765,634
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Doris McAdoo	1,765,598
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Lloyd Sheldon	1,765,528
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Daniel Green	1,765,429
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Archibald W. Livingston	1,765,340
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	John H. Burke	1,765,319
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Stanley S. Anderson	1,765,295
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	John Baumgartner	1,765,287
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	C. M. Brown	1,765,262
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	James B. Ogg	1,765,253
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Charles W. McQuarrie	1,765,193
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Franklin D. Roosevelt	E. O. Busenburg	1,764,603
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Joseph Scott	836,431
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Tallant Tubbs	836,060
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	James G. Anderson	835,954
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	A. E. Goddard	835,822
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Thomas M. Carlson	835,796
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Charles H. Segerstrom	835,787
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Thomas C. Meagher	835,767
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Albert A. Rosenshine	835,761
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Cecil B. DeMille	835,748
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Raymond Smith	835,745
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Ruth Comfort Mitchell Young	835,734
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Walter H. Duval	835,713
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Walter S. Hunsaker	835,713
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Louis B. Mayer	835,701
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Mrs. Newton Cleveland	835,689
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Frank J. Buckley	835,683
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Ruth Buchanan	835,651
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Charlotta A. Bass	835,618
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	A. E. Henning	835,618
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Gladys O'Donnell	835,586
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Charles E. Brouse	835,535
	Republican Party	Alfred M. Landon	Charles B. Wincote	835,392
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	W. P. Fassett	12,917
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Minnie Goldthwaite	12,839
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Joseph Fusch	12,835
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	H. A. Johnson	12,831
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Nellie S. Harriss	12,828
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Ethel Hubler	12,812
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Frank G. H. Stevens	12,809
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	W. H. Easterling	12,799
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	James P. M. Jensen	12,795
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	John C. Bell	12,794
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	B. C. Johnson	12,794
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Russell S. Dingley	12,793
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	M. Len Hutchins	12,790
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Percy F. Adams	12,789
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Virgil G. Hinshaw	12,789
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Florence Jeffs	12,779
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	William I. Hull	12,778
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	C. B. Griffin	12,775
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Lucius D. Dale	12,774
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	Errol O. Shour	12,770
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	O. U. Hull	12,759
bgcolor=		Prohibition Party	D. Leigh Colvin	L. B. Steward	12,753
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Ralph W. Musson	11,331
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Joseph A. Plecarpo	11,325
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Eva Randall	11,318
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Willard F. Smith	11,318
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Millie Shapiro	11,311
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Herbert L. Coggins	11,310
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Sybren Cornelius Zondervon	11,310
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Raymond H. Henderson	11,300
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Ernest Norback	11,300
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Edward V. Peterson	11,294
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Glen Trimble	11,290
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Milen Dempster	11,289
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	B. A. Zaremba	11,287
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Clarence Rust	11,285
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Catherine McCauley	11,284
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Lillian Elstein	11,283
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	A. Dutkiewicz	11,282
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Lyle Loomis	11,275
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Frank O. Rear	11,274
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	Trelfa Lund	11,270
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	P. Manisculo	11,270
bgcolor=		Socialist Party	Norman Thomas	George A. Garrett	11,267
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	William Schneiderman	10,877
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Louis Rosser	10,842
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Pettis Perry	10,841
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	George Maurer	10,839
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Peter J. Garrison	10,827
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Thomas Cooney	10,825
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	James Tormey	10,823
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Carroll Barnes	10,820
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	William J. Prater	10,820
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Bessie Keckler	10,818
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	E. L. Patterson	10,818
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Mini Carson	10,816
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Sam Jaye	10,816
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	D. L. Saunders	10,812
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Herbert S. Elstein	10,810
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Eleanor McLauchlan	10,810
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Leon Vannier	10,810
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Henry J. Rainer	10,809
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Harry Schneider	10,809
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Alex Noral	10,808
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	William A. Standridge	10,806
bgcolor=		Communist Party	Earl Browder	Atanasio E. Torres	10,793
	Write-in		Scattering	490
Votes cast				2,638,882

Results by county

County	Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic		Alf Landon Republican		D. Leigh Colvin Prohibition		Norman Thomas Socialist		Earl Browder Communist		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast
County		%		%		%		%		%		%		%	Total votes cast
	Alameda		149,323		63.63%		82,352		35.09%		725		0.31%		1,178	0.50%	1,108	0.47%	0	0.00%	66,971	28.54%	234,686
	Alpine		85		53.46%		74		46.54%		0		0.00%		0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	11	6.92%	159
	Amador		2,506		75.41%		777		23.38%		14		0.42%		20	0.60%	6	0.18%	0	0.00%	1,729	52.03%	3,323
	Butte		10,490		65.86%		5,103		32.04%		108		0.68%		130	0.82%	97	0.61%	0	0.00%	5,387	33.82%	15,928
	Calaveras		2,520		71.31%		960		27.16%		17		0.48%		26	0.74%	11	0.31%	0	0.00%	1,560	44.14%	3,534
	Colusa		2,965		70.38%		1,186		28.15%		34		0.81%		24	0.57%	4	0.09%	0	0.00%	1,779	42.23%	4,213
	Contra Costa		26,007		72.29%		9,604		26.70%		89		0.25%		178	0.49%	97	0.27%	0	0.00%	16,403	45.60%	35,975
	Del Norte		1,292		59.43%		853		39.24%		4		0.18%		18	0.83%	7	0.32%	0	0.00%	439	20.19%	2,174
	El Dorado		4,019		75.66%		1,228		23.12%		18		0.34%		39	0.73%	8	0.15%	0	0.00%	2,791	52.54%	5,312
	Fresno		42,859		77.75%		11,545		20.94%		334		0.61%		255	0.46%	133	0.24%	0	0.00%	31,314	56.80%	55,126
	Glenn		3,288		65.97%		1,620		32.50%		39		0.78%		32	0.64%	5	0.10%	0	0.00%	1,668	33.47%	4,984
	Humboldt		11,909		62.93%		6,808		35.97%		67		0.35%		93	0.49%	48	0.25%	0	0.00%	5,101	26.95%	18,925
	Imperial		7,560		60.75%		4,771		38.34%		49		0.39%		26	0.21%	38	0.31%	0	0.00%	2,789	22.41%	12,444
	Inyo		1,560		62.38%		912		36.47%		6		0.24%		20	0.80%	3	0.12%	0	0.00%	648	25.91%	2,501
	Kern		25,726		74.61%		8,345		24.20%		146		0.42%		219	0.64%	43	0.12%	0	0.00%	17,381	50.41%	34,479
	Kings		7,062		75.10%		2,226		23.67%		76		0.81%		35	0.37%	5	0.05%	0	0.00%	4,836	51.42%	9,404
	Lake		1,837		49.82%		1,797		48.74%		22		0.60%		24	0.65%	7	0.19%	0	0.00%	40	1.08%	3,687
	Lassen		4,193		79.47%		1,035		19.62%		18		0.34%		13	0.25%	17	0.32%	0	0.00%	3,158	59.86%	5,276
	Los Angeles		757,351		67.00%		357,401		31.62%		5,827		0.52%		4,159	0.37%	5,217	0.46%	460	0.04%	399,950	35.38%	1,130,415
	Madera		4,646		75.74%		1,387		22.61%		43		0.70%		36	0.59%	22	0.36%	0	0.00%	3,259	53.13%	6,134
	Marin		12,152		65.43%		6,211		33.44%		39		0.21%		85	0.46%	85	0.46%	0	0.00%	5,941	31.99%	18,572
	Mariposa		1,907		74.40%		621		24.23%		10		0.39%		22	0.86%	3	0.12%	0	0.00%	1,286	50.18%	2,563
	Mendocino		6,432		62.65%		3,670		35.75%		33		0.32%		68	0.66%	63	0.61%	0	0.00%	2,762	26.90%	10,266
	Merced		9,208		72.69%		3,230		25.50%		108		0.85%		91	0.72%	31	0.24%	0	0.00%	5,978	47.19%	12,668
	Modoc		1,828		64.57%		968		34.19%		16		0.57%		7	0.25%	12	0.42%	0	0.00%	860	30.38%	2,831
	Mono		458		64.78%		241		34.09%		0		0.00%		6	0.85%	2	0.28%	0	0.00%	217	30.69%	707
	Monterey		12,267		61.13%		7,565		37.70%		79		0.39%		101	0.50%	55	0.27%	0	0.00%	4,702	23.43%	20,067
	Napa		6,270		60.35%		3,973		38.24%		52		0.50%		78	0.75%	17	0.16%	0	0.00%	2,297	22.11%	10,390
	Nevada		5,128		71.91%		1,913		26.83%		16		0.22%		59	0.83%	15	0.21%	0	0.00%	3,215	45.08%	7,131
	Orange		29,836		55.00%		23,494		43.31%		535		0.99%		237	0.44%	149	0.27%	0	0.00%	6,342	11.69%	54,251
	Placer		7,959		76.62%		2,321		22.34%		35		0.34%		52	0.50%	21	0.20%	0	0.00%	5,638	54.27%	10,388
	Plumas		2,707		78.81%		680		19.80%		14		0.41%		14	0.41%	20	0.58%	0	0.00%	2,027	59.01%	3,435
	Riverside		17,011		49.88%		16,674		48.89%		200		0.59%		181	0.53%	41	0.12%	0	0.00%	337	0.99%	34,107
	Sacramento		47,265		78.53%		12,119		20.14%		241		0.40%		303	0.50%	247	0.41%	9	0.01%	35,146	58.40%	60,184
	San Benito		2,565		61.93%		1,515		36.58%		12		0.29%		31	0.75%	19	0.46%	0	0.00%	1,050	25.35%	4,142
	San Bernardino		33,955		59.55%		22,219		38.97%		461		0.81%		212	0.37%	169	0.30%	0	0.00%	11,736	20.58%	57,016
	San Diego		64,628		63.45%		35,686		35.04%		579		0.57%		524	0.51%	437	0.43%	0	0.00%	28,942	28.42%	101,854
	San Francisco		196,197		74.04%		65,436		24.69%		1,227		0.46%		757	0.29%	1,366	0.52%	18	0.01%	130,761	49.34%	265,001
	San Joaquin		29,078		73.20%		10,172		25.61%		159		0.40%		210	0.53%	104	0.26%	0	0.00%	18,906	47.59%	39,723
	San Luis Obispo		7,889		61,13%		4,812		37.28%		90		0.70%		75	0.58%	40	0.31%	0	0.00%	3,077	23.84%	12,906
	San Mateo		27,087		65.67%		13,650		33.09%		81		0.20%		253	0.61%	177	0.43%	0	0.00%	13,437	32.58%	41,248
	Santa Barbara		15,923		61.14%		9,728		37.35%		91		0.35%		164	0.63%	138	0.53%	1	0.00%	6,195	23.79%	26,045
	Santa Clara		38,346		58.48%		26,498		40.41%		160		0.24%		399	0.61%	173	0.26%	0	0.00%	11,848	18.07%	65,576
	Santa Cruz		9,326		52.08%		8,260		46.12%		82		0.46%		120	0.67%	120	0.67%	0	0.00%	1,066	5.95%	17,908
	Shasta		5,236		69.72%		2,159		28.75%		42		0.56%		35	0.47%	38	0.51%	0	0.00%	3,077	40.97%	7,510
	Sierra		1,152		76.44%		340		22.56%		6		0.40%		4	0.27%	5	0.33%	0	0.00%	812	53.88%	1,507
	Siskiyou		6,865		69.28%		2,919		29.46%		42		0.42%		50	0.50%	33	0.33%	0	0.00%	3,946	39.82%	9,909
	Solano		13,459		78.05%		3,603		20.89%		66		0.38%		69	0.40%	47	0.27%	0	0.00%	9,856	57.16%	17,244
	Sonoma		17,273		60.17%		11,185		38.96%		65		0.23%		83	0.29%	100	0.35%	0	0.00%	6,088	21.21%	28,706
	Stanislaus		15,341		63.13%		8,613		35.44%		190		0.78%		80	0.33%	78	0.32%	0	0.00%	6,728	27.68%	24,302
	Sutter		4,019		70.04%		1,613		28.11%		35		0.61%		56	0.98%	15	0.26%	0	0.00%	2,406	41.93%	5,738
	Tehama		3,687		59.68%		2,376		38.46%		64		1.04%		43	0.70%	8	0.13%	0	0.00%	1,311	21.22%	6,178
	Trinity		1,424		67.11%		655		30.87%		13		0.61%		7	0.33%	23	1.08%	0	0.00%	769	36.24%	2,122
	Tulare		18,956		67.66%		8,624		30.78%		265		0.95%		115	0.41%	55	0.20%	0	0.00%	10,332	36.88%	28,015
	Tuolumne		3,303		72.72%		1,199		26.40%		5		0.11%		28	0.62%	7	0.15%	0	0.00%	2,104	46.32%	4,542
	Ventura		13,384		63.14%		7,579		35.75%		97		0.46%		94	0.44%	42	0.20%	2	0.01%	5,805	27.38%	21,198
	Yolo		5,992		68.94%		2,594		29.84%		44		0.51%		47	0.54%	15	0.17%	0	0.00%	3,398	39.09%	8,692
	Yuba		4,125		74.18%		1,332		23.95%		27		0.49%		46	0.83%	31	0.56%	0	0.00%	2,793	50.22%	5,561
Total	1,766,836	66.95%	836,431	31.70%	12,917	0.49%	11,331	0.43%	10,877	0.41%	490	0.02%	930,405	35.26%	2,638,882

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Riverside

Notes and References

Web site: Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018 . California Secretary of State . 2022-05-05.
Thomas, G. Scott; The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History, p. 421
Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 152-155
Book: Statement of Vote at General Election Held On November 3, 1936 in the State of California. State Printing Office. California Secretary of State. Sacramento, California . 4-23 . 17 July 2024.