1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota

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1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Flag of South Dakota (1909-1963).svg
  1908 November 5, 1912 1916  
  Unsuccessful 1912 2.jpg Woodrow Wilson-H&E.jpg
Nominee Theodore Roosevelt Woodrow Wilson
Party Progressive Democratic
Alliance Republican
Home state New York New Jersey
Running mate Hiram Johnson Thomas R. Marshall
Electoral vote50
Popular vote58,81148,942
Percentage50.56%42.07%

South Dakota Presidential Election Results 1912.svg
County Results

President before election

William Howard Taft
Republican

Elected President

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

The 1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Contents

South Dakota voted for the Republican nominee, former president Theodore Roosevelt, over the Democratic nominee, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, by a margin of 8.49%.

Despite incumbent president William Howard Taft winning the national Republican nomination, the South Dakota Republican Party, under the control of progressives and heavily influenced by senator Coe I. Crawford, instead nominated electors pledged to Theodore Roosevelt, with the Progressive Party not appearing on the ballot. [1] This selection proved controversial with conservative Taft supporting Republicans who unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the decision in court. [2] As a result, South Dakota was the only state in the 1912 election not to have president Taft either on the ballot or as a write in option (as in California). [a] The state's other senator Robert J. Gamble, who supported Taft, predicted that the anger amongst conservative Republicans was such that many would support Woodrow Wilson purely to defeat Roosevelt. [3] Despite this Roosevelt carried the state albeit with a much reduced margin from Taft's victory in 1908.

With 50.56% of the popular vote, South Dakota would prove to be Roosevelt's strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election and the only one in which he achieved a majority of the vote. [4] This was the only non-former Confederate state to give any candidate an absolute majority of the vote.

Results

1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Theodore Roosevelt 58,811 50.56%
Democratic Woodrow Wilson 48,94242.07%
Socialist Eugene V. Debs 4,6624.01%
Prohibition Eugene Chafin 3,9103.36%
Total votes116,325 100%

Results by county

County [6] Theodore Roosevelt
Republican
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Democratic
Eugene Victor Debs
Socialist
Eugene Wilder Chafin
Prohibition
MarginTotal votes cast
#%#%#%#%#%
Aurora 65241.69%80151.21%432.75%684.35%-149-9.53%1,564
Beadle 1,49346.76%1,46445.85%1665.20%702.19%290.91%3,193
Bennett 6826.88%17970.75%31.19%31.19%-111-43.87%253
Bon Homme 1,22851.77%1,05944.65%451.90%401.69%1697.12%2,372
Brookings 1,38958.00%74030.90%582.42%2088.68%64927.10%2,395
Brown 1,74635.57%2,48850.69%3857.84%2895.89%-742-15.12%4,908
Brule 64340.96%84253.63%674.27%181.15%-199-12.68%1,570
Buffalo 8342.56%10553.85%42.05%31.54%-22-11.28%195
Butte 64944.36%60141.08%18912.92%241.64%483.28%1,463
Campbell 57474.93%15019.58%101.31%324.18%42455.35%766
Charles Mix 1,81751.26%1,62545.84%591.66%441.24%1925.42%3,545
Clark 94954.67%66838.48%362.07%834.78%28116.19%1,736
Clay 1,26255.69%92941.00%271.19%482.12%33314.70%2,266
Codington 1,19548.44%1,11145.03%712.88%903.65%843.40%2,467
Corson 50849.42%45544.26%494.77%161.56%535.16%1,028
Custer 39543.26%41945.89%919.97%80.88%-24-2.63%913
Davison 1,36448.78%1,26645.28%682.43%983.51%983.51%2,796
Day 1,20951.87%78733.76%1114.76%2249.61%42218.10%2,331
Deuel 88762.69%44131.17%151.06%725.09%44631.52%1,415
Dewey 50952.26%41142.20%424.31%121.23%9810.06%974
Douglas 76550.80%71447.41%110.73%161.06%513.39%1,506
Edmunds 64043.13%72949.12%261.75%896.00%-89-6.00%1,484
Fall River 84650.09%71242.16%1005.92%311.84%1347.93%1,689
Faulk 56843.76%61547.38%231.77%927.09%-47-3.62%1,298
Grant 82852.34%61939.13%553.48%805.06%20913.21%1,582
Gregory 1,34850.96%1,17644.46%963.63%250.95%1726.50%2,645
Hamlin 1,05866.79%47429.92%171.07%352.21%58436.87%1,584
Hand 73843.54%82648.73%442.60%875.13%-88-5.19%1,695
Hanson 70850.46%63245.05%211.50%422.99%765.42%1,403
Harding 60054.45%32529.49%11310.25%645.81%27524.95%1,102
Hughes 44741.50%54450.51%635.85%232.14%-97-9.01%1,077
Hutchinson 1,45167.84%64730.25%120.56%291.36%80437.59%2,139
Hyde 39856.86%23233.14%537.57%172.43%16623.71%700
Jerauld 54547.52%43638.01%110.96%15513.51%1099.50%1,147
Kingsbury 1,15253.23%74734.52%1135.22%1527.02%40518.72%2,164
Lake 1,17459.87%65733.50%794.03%512.60%51726.36%1,961
Lawrence 1,69237.84%2,41253.95%3267.29%410.92%-720-16.10%4,471
Lincoln 1,67466.40%71928.52%562.22%722.86%95537.88%2,521
Lyman 99051.43%76639.79%1357.01%341.77%22411.64%1,925
Marshall 60147.85%54143.07%453.58%695.49%604.78%1,256
McCook 1,06349.33%96244.64%562.60%743.43%1014.69%2,155
McPherson 64965.23%32732.86%60.60%131.31%32232.36%995
Meade 1,03246.28%97543.72%1526.82%713.18%572.56%2,230
Mellette 26144.01%32053.96%50.84%71.18%-59-9.95%593
Miner 85151.33%72043.43%392.35%482.90%1317.90%1,658
Minnehaha 3,05150.20%2,57642.38%2564.21%1953.21%4757.82%6,078
Moody 93252.10%63735.61%1196.65%1015.65%29516.49%1,789
Pennington 1,07345.52%1,13548.15%1174.96%321.36%-62-2.63%2,357
Perkins 1,05250.07%83239.60%1778.42%401.90%22010.47%2,101
Potter 43948.72%42346.95%171.89%222.44%161.78%901
Roberts 1,36155.35%81233.02%2018.17%853.46%54922.33%2,459
Sanborn 88056.63%57737.13%191.22%785.02%30319.50%1,554
Spink 1,43247.34%1,34744.53%1284.23%1183.90%852.81%3,025
Stanley 98144.29%1,05147.45%1376.19%462.08%-70-3.16%2,215
Sully 29251.05%24242.31%193.32%193.32%508.74%572
Tripp 1,15351.27%98243.66%823.65%321.42%1717.60%2,249
Turner 1,60361.35%90634.67%220.84%823.14%69726.67%2,613
Union 1,39656.54%96539.08%220.89%863.48%43117.46%2,469
Walworth 58552.19%45140.23%554.91%302.68%13411.95%1,121
Yankton 1,51151.61%1,28944.02%612.08%672.29%2227.58%2,928
Ziebach 37148.43%34945.56%364.70%101.31%222.87%766
Totals58,81150.56%48,94242.07%4,6624.01%3,9103.36%9,8698.48%116,325

See also

Notes

  1. Other incumbent Presidents not on the ballot in all states have been Benjamin Harrison in Florida in 1892, Taft in California also during the 1912 election, Harry S. Truman in Alabama in 1948, and Lyndon B. Johnson also in Alabama in 1964.

References

  1. Holt, James (1967). Congressional Insurgents and the Party System, 1909-1916. Harvard University Press. p. 68.
  2. Schlup, Leonard. Coe I. Crawford and the Progressive Campaign of 1912 (PDF). p. 122. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  3. Schlup, Leonard. Coe I. Crawford and the Progressive Campaign of 1912 (PDF). p. 126. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  4. "1912 Presidential Election Statistics". US Election Atlas. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  5. "1912 Presidential Election Results South Dakota".
  6. South Dakota Secretary of State; Official Vote November Election, 1912 Presidential Electors