1908 United States presidential election in Maryland

Main article: 1908 United States presidential election

1908 United States presidential election in Maryland

←  1904 November 3, 1908 1912  →

Nominee William Jennings Bryan William Howard Taft Party Democratic Republican Home state Nebraska Ohio Running mate John W. Kern James S. Sherman Electoral vote 6 [a] 2 [a] Popular vote 115,908 116,513 Percentage 48.59% 48.85%

County Results Bryan   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Taft   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%

President before election Theodore Roosevelt Republican Elected President William Howard Taft Republican

The 1908 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 3, 1908. All contemporary 46 states were part of the 1908 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

After having voted for Republican William McKinley in 1896 and 1900, Maryland would become exceedingly close in 1904 with Alton B. Parker taking 7 of 8 electoral votes despite the highest Theodore Roosevelt elector beating any of Parker's by 51 votes. Large-scale immigration and efforts to reduce the solidly Republican Black vote were opposed for this election by dislike of William Jennings Bryan's populism in this urbanizing state. ^[1] At first, the latter trend appeared to be strong, and by the middle of September Taft's campaign managers thought Maryland was safe in his pocket, ^[2] although Bryan had campaigned in the state a few days previously. ^[3] This trend continued into early October as Roosevelt's war on Samuel Gompers was believed a major aid to Taft. ^[4] However, a new poll in the second week of October suggested the state could go to Bryan by 15,000 votes. ^[5] By election day, it was clear that Maryland would be almost as close as the 1904 election had proved. ^[6]

Maryland was won by the Democratic nominees, former Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate John W. Kern of Indiana, although the highest elector for Republican candidates William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman gained 605 more votes than the highest Bryan elector. This difference was supposedly due to the “Wilson Law” designed to make it easier for Democrats to cast ballots for both Presidential electors and Congress by a simple turning down of a single fold in the ballot paper. ^[7]

In this election, Maryland voted 8.28% more Democratic than the nation at-large. ^[8]

Results

General Election Results ^[9]

Party		Pledged to	Elector	Votes
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	John A. Robinson	116,513
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	James Enos Ray, Jr.	115,908
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	James W. Denny	114,161
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	Edwin H. Brown Jr.	113,930
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	John F. Williams	113,877
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	J. Charles Linthicum	113,823
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Albert G. Towers	113,803
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	Hampson H. Biedler	113,750
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	Charles H. Conley	113,635
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	William H. Hellen	113,573
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Robert S. Adkins	113,570
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Joseph Brooks	113,444
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Luther Kemp	113,364
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Millard F. Burgess	113,315
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	J. Webb Thomas	113,268
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Moses Bomberger	113,252
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	Joshua Levering	3,302
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	Francis B. Sappington	3,111
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	James T. Anthony	3,098
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	William Kleinle	3,097
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	William H. Feldmeyer	3,079
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	James R. Whitehurst	3,075
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	William Gisriel	3,073
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	William S. Norris	3,063
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Clarence H. Taylor	2,323
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Benjamin F. Adams	2,192
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Robert E. Clagget	2,169
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	James Powers	2,166
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	William H. Warfield	2,149
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	William W. Grove	2,145
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Oswald Weber	2,138
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Charles W. Smiley	2,128
	Independence Party	Thomas L. Hisgen	Charles A. Briscoe	485
	Independence Party	Thomas L. Hisgen	William A. Hammond	460
	Independence Party	Thomas L. Hisgen	Charles H. Winkleman	440
	Independence Party	Thomas L. Hisgen	T. A. Payrleitner	435
	Independence Party	Thomas L. Hisgen	Edward H. Trainor	423
	Independence Party	Thomas L. Hisgen	Joseph Stir	415
	Independence Party	Thomas L. Hisgen	John H. Gordy	403
Votes cast [b]				238,531

Results by county

County	William Howard Taft Republican		William Jennings Bryan Democratic		Eugene Wilder Chafin Prohibition		Eugene Victor Debs Social Democratic		Thomas Louis Higsen Independence		Margin		Total votes cast [9]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Allegany	5,178	48.89%	4,791	45.24%	218	2.06%	385	3.64%	19	0.18%	387	3.65%	10,591
Anne Arundel	2,926	45.47%	3,435	53.38%	52	0.81%	22	0.34%	0	0.00%	-509	-7.91%	6,435
Baltimore	10,197	48.60%	10,297	49.08%	282	1.34%	182	0.87%	24	0.11%	-100	-0.48%	20,982
Baltimore City	51,528	49.82%	49,139	47.51%	1,082	1.05%	1,413	1.37%	261	0.25%	2,389	2.31%	103,423
Calvert	1,070	59.02%	714	39.38%	15	0.83%	3	0.17%	11	0.61%	356	19.64%	1,813
Caroline	1,584	43.29%	1,945	53.16%	97	2.65%	22	0.60%	11	0.30%	-361	-9.87%	3,659
Carroll	3,406	47.19%	3,641	50.45%	148	2.05%	4	0.06%	18	0.25%	-235	-3.26%	7,217
Cecil	2,378	45.04%	2,847	53.92%	49	0.93%	5	0.09%	1	0.02%	-469	-8.88%	5,280
Charles	1,643	57.23%	1,167	40.65%	22	0.77%	11	0.38%	28	0.98%	476	16.58%	2,871
Dorchester	2,627	47.89%	2,769	50.48%	66	1.20%	15	0.27%	8	0.15%	-142	-2.59%	5,485
Frederick	5,966	52.72%	5,158	45.58%	156	1.38%	31	0.27%	5	0.04%	808	7.14%	11,316
Garrett	2,055	61.97%	1,121	33.81%	119	3.59%	21	0.63%	0	0.00%	934	28.17%	3,316
Harford	2,742	45.91%	3,148	52.71%	70	1.17%	6	0.10%	6	0.10%	-406	-6.80%	5,972
Howard	1,276	41.20%	1,764	56.96%	50	1.61%	5	0.16%	2	0.06%	-488	-15.76%	3,097
Kent	1,753	46.98%	1,939	51.97%	19	0.51%	12	0.32%	8	0.21%	-186	-4.99%	3,731
Montgomery	2,805	44.70%	3,351	53.40%	102	1.63%	14	0.22%	3	0.05%	-546	-8.70%	6,275
Prince George's	2,639	48.90%	2,680	49.66%	38	0.70%	10	0.19%	30	0.56%	-41	-0.76%	5,397
Queen Anne's	1,135	34.04%	2,086	62.57%	104	3.12%	7	0.21%	2	0.06%	-951	-28.52%	3,334
Somerset	1,912	52.11%	1,627	44.34%	105	2.86%	12	0.33%	13	0.35%	285	7.77%	3,669
St. Mary's	1,333	54.25%	1,021	41.55%	70	2.85%	20	0.81%	13	0.53%	312	12.70%	2,457
Talbot	1,908	47.30%	2,025	50.20%	86	2.13%	9	0.22%	6	0.15%	-117	-2.90%	4,034
Washington	4,650	49.59%	4,518	48.18%	108	1.15%	97	1.03%	4	0.04%	132	1.41%	9,377
Wicomico	2,273	43.86%	2,751	53.09%	150	2.89%	4	0.08%	4	0.08%	-478	-9.22%	5,182
Worcester	1,529	42.26%	1,974	54.56%	94	2.60%	13	0.36%	8	0.22%	-445	-12.30%	3,618
Totals	116,513	48.85%	115,908	48.59%	3,302	1.38%	2,323	0.97%	485	0.20%	605	0.25%	238,531

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Baltimore (City)
• St. Mary's

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Dorchester
• Prince George's
• Talbot

See also

• United States presidential elections in Maryland
• 1908 United States presidential election
• 1908 United States elections

Notes

1. Six of the eight highest electors were for Bryan, but the highest Taft elector had 605 more votes than the highest Bryan elector.
2. Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket

References

1. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 29-35 ISBN   9780691163246
2. ‘Taft Workers Hear Maryland Is Safe – Secretary Hitchcock Cheered by News from the Congressional Committee’; New York Times , September 18, 1908. p. 3
3. ‘Bryan Makes Reply to Hearst’s Charge: Declares Statement That He Sought Political Trade with Editor Absolutely False’; New York Times, September 13, 1908, p. 3
4. ‘Helps in Maryland: President's War on Gompers Strong Aid to Taft – Every Gain Counts Large: Simplified Ballot Law Will Benefit the Republicans’; The Washington Post , October 5, 1908, p. 1
5. ‘President Worried about Labor Vote: James B. Reynolds, After Investigation, Reports Situation as Unsatisfactory’; New York Times, October 10, 1908, p. 4
6. ‘Very Close in Maryland: Taft and Bryan Alternate in Lead’; New York Times, November 5, 1908, p. 2
7. ‘Taft Gets Part of Maryland Vote – Trick Ballot Prevented Republicans from Getting a Big Plurality’; New York Times, November 6, 1908, p. 2
8. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
9. Williams, N. Winslow. "Maryland Manual 1908-1909" (PDF). Maryland Manual: 194–198.