1896 United States presidential election in California

Main article: 1896 United States presidential election

1896 United States presidential election in California

←  1892 November 3, 1896 1900  →

Nominee William McKinley William Jennings Bryan Party Republican Democratic Alliance Populist Home state Ohio Nebraska Running mate Garret Hobart Arthur Sewall Electoral vote 8 1 Popular vote 146,688 144,766 Percentage 49.16% 48.51%

County Results McKinley   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Bryan   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Tie   40-50%

President before election Grover Cleveland Democratic Elected President William McKinley Republican

The 1896 United States presidential election in California took place on November 3, 1896, as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, Ohio Governor William McKinley, over the Democratic nominee, former Nebraska representative William Jennings Bryan. McKinley won the state by a narrow margin of 0.65%.

Eight of the state's electoral votes were awarded to McKinley, while one was awarded to Bryan. This was the third occasion in which California's electoral vote was split, rather than being awarded to a single candidate. The previous two occasions were in 1880 and 1892. Such a split would only subsequently occur in California one more time (in 1912). ^[1]

Bryan would lose California to McKinley again four years later and would later lose the state again in 1908 to William Howard Taft.

Results

1896 United States presidential election in California [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	William McKinley	146,688	49.16%	8
	Democratic	William Jennings Bryan	123,143	41.27%	1
	Populist	William Jennings Bryan	21,623	7.24%	0
	Total	William Jennings Bryan	144,766	48.51%	1
	Prohibition	Joshua Levering	2,573	0.86%	0
	National Democrat	John M. Palmer	1,730	0.58%	0
	Socialist Labor	Charles H. Matchett	1,611	0.54%	0
	National Party	Charles Eugene Bentley	1,047	0.35%	0
	No party	Write-ins	4	0.00%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			298,419	100.00%	9
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	William McKinley Republican		William Jennings Bryan Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Marin	61.41%	1,448	37.07%	874	1.53%	36	24.34%	574
San Mateo	61.10%	1,607	37.53%	987	1.37%	36	23.57%	620
Alameda	60.43%	13,429	37.77%	8,394	1.80%	400	22.66%	5,035
Napa	57.03%	2,032	41.31%	1,472	1.66%	59	15.72%	560
Sierra	56.61%	707	42.19%	527	1.20%	15	14.41%	180
Contra Costa	56.10%	1,834	42.25%	1,381	1.65%	54	13.86%	453
Humboldt	55.37%	3,142	43.44%	2,465	1.20%	68	11.93%	677
Riverside	53.06%	2,063	43.31%	1,684	3.63%	141	9.75%	379
Santa Clara	53.51%	6,315	43.99%	5,191	2.50%	295	9.52%	1,124
Yuba	53.82%	1,204	44.30%	991	1.88%	42	9.52%	213
Solano	53.19%	2,702	44.96%	2,284	1.85%	94	8.23%	418
Plumas	53.47%	678	45.35%	575	1.18%	15	8.12%	103
Sonoma	51.86%	4,053	46.00%	3,595	2.15%	168	5.86%	458
Orange	51.06%	1,932	45.24%	1,712	3.70%	140	5.81%	220
Sutter	51.89%	796	46.48%	713	1.63%	25	5.41%	83
Placer	51.41%	1,890	46.82%	1,721	1.77%	65	4.60%	169
Ventura	50.41%	1,553	47.55%	1,465	2.04%	63	2.86%	88
Los Angeles	49.62%	16,891	47.13%	16,043	3.25%	1,108	2.49%	848
Santa Barbara	49.48%	2,004	47.31%	1,916	3.21%	130	2.17%	88
Del Norte	49.50%	345	47.92%	334	2.58%	18	1.58%	11
San Bernardino	48.54%	2,818	47.20%	2,740	4.25%	247	1.34%	78
Alpine	49.38%	40	48.15%	39	2.47%	2	1.23%	1
Calaveras	49.92%	1,541	49.17%	1,518	0.91%	28	0.75%	23
San Francisco	49.20%	31,041	48.58%	30,649	2.21%	1,396	0.62%	392
Santa Cruz	48.24%	1,969	48.02%	1,960	3.75%	153	0.22%	9
San Joaquin	48.83%	3,500	48.83%	3,500	2.33%	167	0.00%	0
Mendocino	48.92%	2,093	49.56%	2,120	1.52%	65	-0.63%	-27
Butte	48.31%	2,075	49.36%	2,120	2.33%	100	-1.05%	-45
Sacramento	47.68%	4,600	50.07%	4,831	2.25%	217	-2.39%	-231
San Diego	46.86%	3,631	50.44%	3,908	2.70%	209	-3.58%	-277
Trinity	46.44%	502	50.42%	545	3.15%	34	-3.98%	-43
Monterey	45.82%	1,878	52.43%	2,149	1.76%	72	-6.61%	-271
Siskiyou	44.98%	1,473	52.64%	1,724	2.38%	78	-7.66%	-251
Tehama	45.39%	969	53.16%	1,135	1.45%	31	-7.78%	-166
Yolo	44.84%	1,485	52.93%	1,753	2.23%	74	-8.09%	-268
Nevada	44.76%	1,985	53.21%	2,360	2.03%	90	-8.46%	-375
Mono	44.27%	259	53.85%	315	1.88%	11	-9.57%	-56
Amador	44.39%	1,144	54.25%	1,398	1.36%	35	-9.86%	-254
San Luis Obispo	43.74%	1,671	53.82%	2,056	2.43%	93	-10.08%	-385
Kern	43.80%	1,430	54.00%	1,763	2.21%	72	-10.20%	-333
Lassen	43.66%	420	54.89%	528	1.46%	14	-11.23%	-108
Kings	43.06%	673	55.15%	862	1.79%	28	-12.09%	-189
San Benito	42.48%	729	55.71%	956	1.81%	31	-13.23%	-227
Stanislaus	40.92%	1,007	56.81%	1,398	2.28%	56	-15.89%	-391
Fresno	40.22%	2,686	56.75%	3,790	3.04%	203	-16.53%	-1,104
Mariposa	39.68%	563	58.42%	829	1.90%	27	-18.75%	-266
El Dorado	39.54%	1,130	58.57%	1,674	1.89%	54	-19.03%	-544
Lake	38.00%	546	59.43%	854	2.57%	37	-21.43%	-308
Tuolumne	38.06%	834	59.70%	1,308	2.24%	49	-21.63%	-474
Shasta	37.55%	1,210	60.09%	1,936	2.36%	76	-22.53%	-726
Madera	37.32%	452	61.02%	739	1.65%	20	-23.70%	-287
Merced	36.24%	653	61.99%	1,117	1.78%	32	-25.75%	-464
Glenn	36.54%	479	62.93%	825	0.53%	7	-26.39%	-346
Inyo	34.01%	286	63.26%	532	2.73%	23	-29.25%	-246
Tulare	33.80%	1,410	64.07%	2,673	2.13%	89	-30.27%	-1,263
Modoc	33.00%	300	64.69%	588	2.31%	21	-31.68%	-288
Colusa	30.86%	581	66.38%	1,250	2.76%	52	-35.53%	-669

See also

• United States presidential elections in California

References

1. "DIVIDED ELECTORAL VOTES" . Newspapers.com. The Boston Globe. November 11, 1912. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
2. "1896 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.