1912 United States presidential election in Minnesota explained

Election Name:1912 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Country:Minnesota
Flag Year:1893
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1908 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Previous Year:1908
Next Election:1916 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Next Year:1916
Election Date:November 5, 1912
Image1:Unsuccessful 1912 2.jpg
Nominee1:Theodore Roosevelt
Party1:Progressive
Home State1:New York
Running Mate1:Hiram Johnson
Color1:A2ED70
Electoral Vote1:12
Popular Vote1:125,856
Percentage1:37.66%
Nominee2:Woodrow Wilson
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:New Jersey
Running Mate2:Thomas R. Marshall
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:106,426
Percentage2:31.84%
Image4:Unsuccessful 1912.jpg
Nominee4:William Howard Taft
Party4:Republican Party (United States)
Home State4:Ohio
Running Mate4:Nicholas Murray Butler
Electoral Vote4:0
Popular Vote4:64,334
Percentage4:19.25%
Image5:Eugene Debs portrait.jpeg
Nominee5:Eugene V. Debs
Party5:Socialist Party of America
Home State5:Indiana
Running Mate5:Emil Seidel
Electoral Vote5:0
Popular Vote5:27,505
Percentage5:8.23%
Map Size:350px
President
Before Election:William Howard Taft
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:Woodrow Wilson
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)

The 1912 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 5, 1912 as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Minnesota voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

Minnesota was won by the Progressive candidate, former President Theodore Roosevelt, won the state over the Democratic candidate, New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson, by a margin of 19,430 votes, or 5.82%, while Republican incumbent President William Howard Taft came in third, with just 19.25% of the vote, and perennial Socialist candidate Eugene V. Debs came in fourth while winning the votes of 8.23% of Minnesota voters. Nationally, Wilson won the election, with 435 electoral votes and a landslide 14.44% lead over Roosevelt in the popular vote, while Taft finished third, with 23.17% of the vote, and Debs won a personal record 5.99% of the national popular vote.

Nationally, the 1912 election was the first United States presidential election since 1860 in which there were four candidates who each won more than five percent of the popular vote, and the first since 1852 in which the ticket of a party other than the Democratic and Republican parties finished second (as well as the last,). It was the only presidential election in American history in which an incumbent President faced both his immediate predecessor and his immediate successor in the general election. As a result of the 1912 election, Woodrow Wilson became the second of only two Democrats elected president between 1860 and 1932. It was also the first presidential election in which all 48 of the contiguous United States participated.

The 1912 election was the first presidential election held since statehood in which the Republican ticket lost in Minnesota, and the only presidential election in which a party other than the Democratic and Republican parties won Minnesota's electoral votes. It was the only presidential election since statehood in which the Republican ticket failed to carry a single county in Minnesota, and the only presidential election in which the Republican ticket finished less than second in the state. Taft's 19.25% still ranks as the lowest percentage of the popular vote any Republican presidential nominee has ever won in Minnesota.

The 1912 election also marked the high water point for the Socialist Party of America, both nationally and in Minnesota. No Socialist Party candidate—before or since—has ever won a higher percentage of the national popular vote than Debs did in 1912, and no Socialist Party candidate for any office has won a higher percentage of the statewide vote in Minnesota. In Minnesota, Debs carried two counties (Beltrami and Lake); nationally, he carried two more (Crawford County, Kansas and Burke County, North Dakota).

Minnesota would not go against the Republican Party in a presidential election again until Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt won the state in 1932.

With 37.66% of the popular vote, Minnesota would prove to be Roosevelt's fourth-strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election after South Dakota, California and Michigan.[1]

Results

1912 United States presidential election in Minnesota[2]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
ProgressiveTheodore Roosevelt125,85637.66%12
DemocraticWoodrow Wilson106,42631.84%0
RepublicanWilliam Howard Taft (incumbent)64,33419.25%0
SocialistEugene V. Debs27,5058.23%0
ProhibitionEugene W. Chafin7,8862.36%0
Socialist LaborArthur E. Reimer2,2120.66%0
Totals334,219100.00%12

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1912 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
  2. Web site: 1912 Presidential Election Results, 1912 . 2016-10-06 . Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas.