1900 United States presidential election in Colorado

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1900 United States presidential election in Colorado
Flag of Colorado (1907-1911).png
  1896 November 6, 1900 1904  
  WilliamJBryan1902 3x4.jpg Mckinley (cropped).jpg
Nominee William Jennings Bryan William McKinley
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Nebraska Ohio
Running mate Adlai Stevenson I Theodore Roosevelt
Electoral vote40
Popular vote122,73393,072
Percentage55.43%42.04%

Colorado Presidential Election Results 1900.svg
County Results

President before election

William McKinley
Republican

Elected President

William McKinley
Republican

The 1900 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 6, 1900. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1900 United States presidential election. Voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

Contents

In its early days as a state, Colorado had, like the Plains States to its east, been solidly Republican. However, with crises emerging in its agricultural sector from low wheat prices [1] and a severe drought in 1888 and 1889, [2] and the state's underdevelopment leading to resentment of the Northeast, [3] the new Populist Party was able to largely take over the state's politics in the early 1890s. Aided by fusion with the minority Democratic Party and strong support for free silver in this state which produced over half of all American silver, [2] the Populist Party under James B. Weaver in 1892 carried the state's presidential electoral votes and won both its congressional seats. [2] After the Republicans gained a 130-seat majority in the House of Representatives following the 1894 elections, five dissident Republicans from the Mountain States who supported free silver jointed together as the “Silver Republicans” [a] They supported nominating Centennial State Senator Henry M. Teller for president at first, but ultimately this was viewed as impractical and the Silver Republicans fused with Democrat/Populist ticket headed by William Jennings Bryan, who ultimately won Colorado in 1896 by a landslide margin of over six-and-a-half-to-one versus William McKinley. [4]

Following the election, the Populist majority in Colorado largely faded after the ensuing return to prosperity. [5] However, Colorado and other Mountain States became opposed to the Philippine–American War, which they viewed as an imperialist land grab, [6] which maintained substantial support for Bryan although free silver had largely disappeared as an important issue except within the silver-mining industry.

One week before the election, the GOP had given up trying to carry Colorado, [7] and ultimately Bryan won the state by 13.39 percentage points, which was nonetheless only two-elevenths of his 1896 margin. Bryan had previously won Colorado against William McKinley four years earlier and would later also win the state against William Howard Taft in 1908. Since Colorado's statehood, this marks the only time that a president won two consecutive terms in office without ever winning Colorado.

Results

1900 United States presidential election in Colorado [8]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
Democratic William Jennings Bryan 122,73355.43%4
Republican William McKinley (incumbent)93,07242.04%0
Prohibition John G. Woolley 3,7901.71%0
Social Democratic Eugene V. Debs 7140.32%0
Socialist Labor Joseph F. Malloney 6840.31%0
Populist Wharton Barker 3890.18%0
Write-ins Scattered260.01%0
Totals221,408100.00%4
Voter turnout

Results by county

County William Jennings Bryan [9]
Democratic
William McKinley [9]
Republican
John Granville Woolley [9]
Prohibition
Various candidates [9]
Other parties
Margin
%#%#%#%#%#
Dolores 84.60%41213.55%660.62%31.23%671.05%346
Pitkin 82.71%2,30516.43%4580.22%60.65%1866.27%1,847
Mineral 76.50%70022.73%2080.44%40.33%353.77%492
Montezuma 75.46%73222.68%2200.52%51.34%1352.78%512
San Juan 74.57%1,13523.78%3620.13%21.51%2350.79%773
Clear Creek 73.96%2,30924.38%7610.42%131.25%3949.58%1,548
Ouray 71.91%1,65626.49%6100.26%61.35%3145.42%1,046
Hinsdale 71.60%59527.68%2300.48%40.24%243.92%365
Summit 70.17%96728.59%3940.44%60.80%1141.58%573
Eagle 68.43%94329.90%4120.44%61.23%1738.53%531
San Miguel 67.99%1,60430.39%7170.47%111.14%2737.60%887
Garfield 66.46%1,70032.29%8260.66%170.59%1534.17%874
La Plata 66.59%1,84432.50%9000.40%110.51%1434.09%944
Teller 66.27%9,65932.51%4,7380.42%610.80%11733.76%4,921
Lake 65.00%4,75532.60%2,3851.08%791.31%9632.40%2,370
Chaffee 62.96%1,89034.41%1,0331.87%560.77%2328.55%857
Custer 63.00%87036.93%5100.00%00.07%126.07%360
Gunnison 61.07%1,55937.02%9451.45%370.47%1224.05%614
Park 61.52%94037.89%5790.20%30.39%623.63%361
Delta 58.71%1,35235.69%8223.26%752.34%5423.01%530
Montrose 56.60%1,03835.88%6582.73%504.80%8820.72%380
Saguache 59.13%1,08539.84%7310.44%80.60%1119.29%354
Rio Grande 58.63%1,11839.43%7521.31%250.63%1219.19%366
Mesa 55.69%1,96837.27%1,3173.88%1373.17%11218.42%651
Routt 58.19%82840.41%5750.49%70.91%1317.78%253
Rio Blanco 57.93%39140.89%2760.59%40.59%417.04%115
Boulder 55.81%5,11740.57%3,7192.88%2640.74%6815.25%1,398
Arapahoe 55.81%33,75442.11%25,4691.37%8280.71%43213.70%8,285
Las Animas 54.90%4,20444.16%3,3820.73%560.21%1610.73%822
Yuma 52.41%39242.25%3163.07%232.27%1710.16%76
Weld 52.20%3,38642.95%2,7864.64%3010.20%139.25%600
Fremont 51.19%3,09442.55%2,5724.04%2442.22%1348.64%522
Jefferson 53.00%2,13844.79%1,8071.74%700.47%198.21%331
Otero 51.79%2,26643.73%1,9134.34%1900.14%68.07%353
Gilpin 49.95%1,49845.72%1,3712.87%861.47%444.23%127
Grand 51.27%18248.17%1710.00%00.56%23.10%11
Larimer 48.05%2,45645.84%2,3435.67%2900.43%222.21%113
Elbert 49.31%64048.23%6262.08%270.39%51.08%14
Douglas 49.62%65049.01%6421.22%160.15%20.61%8
Logan 45.73%58346.59%5946.27%801.41%18-0.86%-11
Pueblo 48.32%5,87849.56%6,0281.47%1790.65%79-1.23%-150
Bent 48.45%54650.49%5690.98%110.09%1-2.04%-23
Kiowa 48.48%14450.84%1510.00%00.67%2-2.36%-7
Baca 46.05%13453.95%1570.00%00.00%0-7.90%-23
Prowers 43.72%63353.11%7692.07%301.10%16-9.39%-136
El Paso 43.19%6,23053.76%7,7552.33%3360.71%103-10.57%-1,525
Phillips 42.57%27553.72%3473.56%230.15%1-11.15%-72
Cheyenne 42.73%9756.39%1280.88%20.00%0-13.66%-31
Morgan 41.16%53855.32%7232.07%271.45%19-14.15%-185
Kit Carson 39.36%25958.36%3841.98%130.30%2-19.00%-125
Archuleta 40.18%39159.40%5780.41%40.00%0-19.22%-187
Sedgwick 37.05%16358.18%2564.77%210.00%0-21.14%-93
Washington 36.59%19159.77%3123.26%170.38%2-23.18%-121
Costilla 33.53%45365.43%8840.81%110.22%3-31.90%-431
Conejos 32.91%91266.87%1,8530.11%30.11%3-33.96%-941
Lincoln 32.55%12466.93%2550.52%20.00%0-34.38%-131
Huerfano 30.83%1,02268.69%2,2770.00%00.48%16-37.86%-1,255

Notes

References

  1. Gormley, Ken (editor); The Presidents and the Constitution: A Living History, p. 299 ISBN   1479839906
  2. 1 2 3 Larson, Robert W.; ‘Populism in the Mountain West: A Mainstream Movement’; Western Historical Quarterly; Vol. 13, No. 2 (April 1982), pp. 143-164
  3. Azari, Julia and Hetherington, Mark J.; ‘Back to the Future? What the Politics of the Late Nineteenth Century Can Tell Us about the 2016 Election’; The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science; Vol 667: Elections in America; (September 2016), pp. 92-109
  4. 1 2 Ellis, Elmer; ‘The Silver Republicans in the Election of 1896’; The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 18, No. 4 (March 1932), pp. 519-534
  5. McCarthy, G. Michael; ‘The People’s Party in Colorado: A Profile of Populist Leadership’; Agricultural History, Vol. 47, No. 2 (April 1973), pp. 146-155
  6. Stock, Catherine McNicol; ‘Making War Their Business: The Short History of Populist Anti-Militarism’; The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Vol. 13, No. 3 (July 2014), pp. 387-399
  7. ‘Republicans Do Not Hope To Carry Colorado’; San Francisco Examiner , October 29, 1900, p. 2
  8. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – Colorado
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1900". Géoelections.