1940 United States presidential election in California explained

See main article: 1940 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1940 United States presidential election in California
Country:	California
Flag Image:	Flag of California (1924–1953).pngborder
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1936 United States presidential election in California
Previous Year:	1936
Next Election:	1944 United States presidential election in California
Next Year:	1944
Turnout:	81.44% (of registered voters) 1.92 pp 78.32% (of eligible voters) 7.76 pp^[1]
Election Date:	November 5, 1940
Image1:	FDRoosevelt1938.png
Nominee1:	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Party1:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:	New York
Running Mate1:	Henry A. Wallace
Electoral Vote1:	22
Popular Vote1:	1,877,618
Percentage1:	57.44%
Nominee2:	Wendell Willkie
Party2:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:	New York
Running Mate2:	Charles L. McNary
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	1,351,419
Percentage2:	41.34%
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 1940 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the 1940 United States presidential election. State voters chose 22 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California voted for the Democratic incumbent, Franklin Roosevelt, over the Republican challenger, businessman Wendell Willkie.

Willkie did nonetheless make considerable gains vis-à-vis the previous Republican nominee, Alf Landon, who remains the solitary Republican nominee to not carry a single county in the state. Willkie carried seven counties scattered across the state and gained ten percentage points on Landon's performance.

This is the last election where the Democrats won Sutter County, which, as of the 2020 presidential election,^[2] stands as the longest run voting for one party by any California county.^[3] Mono County would not vote Democratic again until John Kerry in 2004,^[4] and Orange County would not vote Democratic again until Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Results

1940 United States presidential election in California^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Franklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent)	1,877,618	57.44%	22
	Republican	Wendell Willkie	1,351,419	41.34%	0
	Progressive	Norman Thomas	16,506	0.50%	0
	Communist	Earl Russell Browder	13,586	0.42%	0
	Prohibition	Roger Babson	9,400	0.29%	0
	No party	Write-ins	262	0.01%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			3,268,791	100.00%	22
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic		Wendell Willkie Republican		Norman Thomas Progressive		Earl Browder Communist		Roger Babson Prohibition		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%		%		%
	Alameda		148,224		55.21%		116,961		43.56%	1,618	0.60%		1,285		0.48%		408		0.15%		0		0.00%		31,263		11.64%		268,496
	Alpine		62		32.98%		125		66.49%	0	0.00%		1		0.53%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		-63		-33.51%		188
	Amador		2,762		66.14%		1,372		32.85%	15	0.36%		9		0.22%		18		0.43%		0		0.00%		1,390		33.29%		4,176
	Butte		10,684		58.15%		7,433		40.46%	117	0.64%		77		0.42%		61		0.33%		0		0.00%		3,251		17.70%		18,372
	Calaveras		2,405		58.90%		1,649		40.39%	21	0.51%		4		0.10%		4		0.10%		0		0.00%		756		18.52%		4,083
	Colusa		2,655		59.48%		1,774		39.74%	15	0.34%		5		0.11%		15		0.34%		0		0.00%		881		19.74%		4,464
	Contra Costa		30,900		61.75%		18,627		37.22%	238	0.48%		209		0.42%		63		0.13%		3		0.01%		12,273		24.53%		50,040
	Del Norte		1,034		44.92%		1,233		53.56%	26	1.13%		5		0.22%		4		0.17%		0		0.00%		-199		-8.64%		2,302
	El Dorado		4,144		66.44%		2,019		32.37%	37	0.59%		15		0.24%		22		0.35%		0		0.00%		2,125		34.07%		6,237
	Fresno		48,866		69.07%		21,079		29.79%	354	0.50%		143		0.20%		308		0.44%		0		0.00%		27,787		39.27%		70,750
	Glenn		3,095		54.96%		2,473		43.92%	31	0.55%		2		0.04%		30		0.53%		0		0.00%		622		11.05%		5,631
	Humboldt		12,329		55.98%		9,470		43.00%	92	0.42%		78		0.35%		55		0.25%		0		0.00%		2,859		12.98%		22,024
	Imperial		7,728		52.53%		6,854		46.59%	64	0.44%		25		0.17%		41		0.28%		0		0.00%		874		5.94%		14,712
	Inyo		1,820		54.65%		1,483		44.53%	12	0.36%		3		0.09%		12		0.36%		0		0.00%		337		10.12%		3,330
	Kern		32,202		61.78%		19,445		37.30%	219	0.42%		106		0.20%		154		0.30%		0		0.00%		12,757		24.47%		52,126
	Kings		8,307		67.43%		3,911		31.75%	41	0.33%		9		0.07%		52		0.42%		0		0.00%		4,396		35.68%		12,320
	Lake		1,897		45.70%		2,215		53.36%	23	0.55%		5		0.12%		11		0.26%		0		0.00%		-318		-7.66%		4,151
	Lassen		4,367		69.17%		1,902		30.13%	20	0.32%		11		0.17%		13		0.21%		0		0.00%		2,465		39.05%		6,313
	Los Angeles		822,718		58.13%		574,266		40.58%	6,971	0.49%		6,914		0.49%		4,151		0.29%		249		0.02%		248,452		17.56%		1,415,269
	Madera		5,749		67.61%		2,653		31.20%	32	0.38%		35		0.41%		34		0.40%		0		0.00%		3,096		36.41%		8,503
	Marin		11,365		50.20%		10,974		48.47%	151	0.67%		130		0.57%		20		0.09%		0		0.00%		391		1.73%		22,640
	Mariposa		1,935		64.44%		1,035		34.47%	13	0.43%		11		0.37%		9		0.30%		0		0.00%		900		29.97%		3,003
	Mendocino		7,055		56.13%		5,345		42.53%	70	0.56%		66		0.53%		33		0.26%		0		0.00%		1,710		13.60%		12,569
	Merced		10,501		62.57%		6,101		36.35%	84	0.50%		27		0.16%		71		0.42%		0		0.00%		4,400		26.22%		16,784
	Modoc		2,232		61.49%		1,371		37.77%	14	0.39%		4		0.11%		6		0.17%		3		0.08%		861		23.72%		3,630
	Mono		523		52.56%		459		46.13%	2	0.20%		5		0.50%		6		0.60%		0		0.00%		64		6.43%		995
	Monterey		14,758		55.00%		11,810		44.01%	120	0.45%		76		0.28%		69		0.26%		0		0.00%		2,948		10.99%		26,833
	Napa		6,771		52.68%		5,924		46.09%	60	0.47%		34		0.26%		64		0.50%		0		0.00%		847		6.59%		12,853
	Nevada		5,782		66.01%		2,863		32.69%	57	0.65%		27		0.31%		30		0.34%		0		0.00%		2,919		33.33%		8,759
	Orange		28,236		43.44%		36,070		55.49%	255	0.39%		82		0.13%		354		0.54%		0		0.00%		-7,834		-12.05%		64,997
	Placer		8,402		67.56%		3,887		31.26%	73	0.59%		35		0.28%		39		0.31%		0		0.00%		4,515		36.31%		12,436
	Plumas		3,418		72.11%		1,270		26.79%	34	0.72%		10		0.21%		8		0.17%		0		0.00%		2,148		45.32%		4,740
	Riverside		20,003		47.20%		21,779		51.39%	197	0.46%		56		0.13%		345		0.81%		0		0.00%		-1,776		-4.19%		42,380
	Sacramento		51,351		68.09%		23,201		30.76%	452	0.60%		225		0.30%		187		0.25%		0		0.00%		28,150		37.33%		75,416
	San Benito		2,441		49.99%		2,407		49.29%	17	0.35%		11		0.23%		7		0.14%		0		0.00%		34		0.70%		4,883
	San Bernardino		37,520		54.47%		30,511		44.30%	320	0.46%		138		0.20%		389		0.56%		0		0.00%		7,009		10.18%		68,878
	San Diego		71,188		55.57%		55,434		43.27%	684	0.53%		348		0.27%		456		0.36%		0		0.00%		15,754		12.30%		128,110
	San Francisco		185,607		59.51%		122,449		39.26%	1,513	0.49%		1,935		0.62%		374		0.12%		0		0.00%		63,158		20.25%		311,878
	San Joaquin		26,536		52.55%		23,403		46.34%	239	0.47%		141		0.28%		179		0.35%		0		0.00%		3,133		6.20%		50,498
	San Luis Obispo		8,499		53.39%		7,204		45.25%	79	0.50%		67		0.42%		71		0.45%		0		0.00%		1,295		8.13%		15,920
	San Mateo		29,831		52.38%		26,539		46.60%	290	0.51%		211		0.37%		80		0.14%		0		0.00%		3,292		5.78%		56,951
	Santa Barbara		17,237		54.41%		14,107		44.53%	182	0.57%		91		0.29%		61		0.19%		0		0.00%		3,130		9.88%		31,678
	Santa Clara		40,449		49.63%		40,100		49.20%	458	0.56%		294		0.36%		195		0.24%		0		0.00%		349		0.43%		81,496
	Santa Cruz		10,683		47.51%		11,453		50.93%	175	0.78%		71		0.32%		104		0.46%		0		0.00%		-770		-3.42%		22,486
	Shasta		8,662		68.03%		3,909		30.70%	66	0.52%		71		0.56%		25		0.20%		0		0.00%		4,753		37.33%		12,733
	Sierra		1,057		66.98%		511		32.38%	7	0.44%		2		0.13%		1		0.06%		0		0.00%		546		34.60%		1,578
	Siskiyou		7,714		63.17%		4,387		35.92%	56	0.46%		18		0.15%		36		0.29%		1		0.01%		3,327		27.24%		12,212
	Solano		15,054		70.58%		6,081		28.51%	83	0.39%		53		0.25%		57		0.27%		0		0.00%		8,973		42.07%		21,328
	Sonoma		15,230		47.04%		16,819		51.94%	145	0.45%		119		0.37%		60		0.19%		6		0.02%		-1,589		-4.91%		32,379
	Stanislaus		16,494		51.96%		14,803		46.63%	155	0.49%		58		0.18%		236		0.74%		0		0.00%		1,691		5.33%		31,746
	Sutter		4,195		57.11%		3,089		42.06%	26	0.35%		15		0.20%		20		0.27%		0		0.00%		1,106		15.06%		7,345
	Tehama		3,618		54.59%		2,913		43.95%	53	0.80%		13		0.20%		31		0.47%		0		0.00%		705		10.64%		6,628
	Trinity		1,431		63.83%		780		34.79%	12	0.54%		15		0.67%		4		0.18%		0		0.00%		651		29.04%		2,242
	Tulare		20,129		55.96%		15,414		42.85%	209	0.58%		41		0.11%		178		0.49%		0		0.00%		4,715		13.11%		35,971
	Tuolumne		3,541		62.96%		2,004		35.63%	27	0.48%		29		0.52%		23		0.41%		0		0.00%		1,537		27.33%		5,624
	Ventura		15,182		57.00%		11,225		42.15%	84	0.32%		64		0.24%		79		0.30%		0		0.00%		3,957		14.86%		26,634
	Yolo		6,380		58.78%		4,373		40.29%	63	0.58%		19		0.18%		19		0.18%		0		0.00%		2,007		18.49%		10,854
	Yuba		4,660		64.57%		2,471		34.24%	35	0.48%		33		0.46%		18		0.25%		0		0.00%		2,189		30.33%		7,217
Total	1,877,618	57.44%	1,351,419	41.34%	16,506	0.50%	13,586	0.42%	9,400	0.29%	262	0.01%	526,199	16.10%	3,268,791

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Alpine
• Del Norte
• Lake
• Orange
• Riverside
• Santa Cruz
• Sonoma

Electors

Up through 1936, voters in California chose presidential electors directly. Starting in 1940, however, California adopted the modern "short ballot" where voters select from the actual candidates' names and each vote is treated as being for a candidate and his or her party's entire slate of electors. The individuals below were nominated by each party to serve as the state's members of the 1940 Electoral College should their party's ticket win the state:^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018 . California Secretary of State . May 5, 2022.
2. News: California Election Results. The New York Times. November 3, 2020.
3. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
4. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868–2004, p. 131
5. Book: State of California Statement of Vote, General Election, November 5, 1940. State Printing Office. California Secretary of State. Sacramento, California . 4-6 . 17 July 2024.