This election began a streak of 14 consecutive victories for the Republican party; Indeed, due to the creation of the party only two years prior in 1854, no Republican Presidential nominee would lose the state until William H. Taft in 1912. However, this streak was tenuous, and only twice (in 1864 and 1904) did the Republican margin of victory exceed 10%. Indeed, in 1892 the margin was so tight that one Cleveland elector received more votes than the lowest Harrison elector. The nomination of Ohio politicians Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, William McKinley, and William H. Taft certainly helped maintain the light but steady grip their party held on the state. Indeed, even when the nominee was not an Ohio politician, they were often a resident of nearby state like Indiana (Harrison) or Illinois (Lincoln), or, in the case of Grant, a resident of Illinois who had been born and raised in Ohio. Thus, during the 60-year hegemony of the Republican party in Ohio, only two nominees--James Blaine in 1884 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1904-- had no connection whatsoever to the lower Midwest.
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