1924 United States presidential election in North Dakota

Main article: 1924 United States presidential election

1924 United States presidential election in North Dakota

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Nominee Calvin Coolidge Robert M. La Follette John W. Davis Party Republican Nonpartisan League Democratic Alliance Progressive Home state Massachusetts Wisconsin West Virginia Running mate Charles G. Dawes Burton K. Wheeler Charles W. Bryan Electoral vote 5 0 0 Popular vote 94,931 89,922 13,858 Percentage 47.68% 45.17% 6.96%

County Results Coolidge   40-50%   50-60%   60-70% La Follette   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election Calvin Coolidge Republican Elected President Calvin Coolidge Republican

The 1924 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since statehood, North Dakota had been overwhelmingly Republican at state level and in many presidential elections, ^[1] although progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson was able to carry the state in both his campaigns in 1912 and 1916, in the second due to his anti-war platform. The Russian-Germans who dominated North Dakota’s populace were vehemently opposed to President Wilson’s pushing of the nation into World War I and his “League of Nations” proposal. ^[2] To this populace descended from Germans who had settled in Russia, Wilson’s entry into the war and his support for the Treaty of Versailles was a betrayal, whilst farmers were also faced with a postwar agricultural depression as prices fell with reduced demand in Europe. ^[3] Consequently, North Dakota went for the isolationist Warren G. Harding over the pro-League Democrat Cox by four-to-one in 1920.

Despite Harding’s massive victory, discontent amongst North Dakota’s large farm population persisted during his term, ^[4] but the national Democratic Party did nothing to provide any hope of regaining Wilson’s prominence in North Dakota, being instead dominated by conflicts between its Southern and Western faction led by William Gibbs McAdoo and its urban Northeastern faction led by Al Smith. ^[5] A fierce debate ensued that saw a compromise candidate, former Congressman John W. Davis of West Virginia, nominated after one hundred and three ballots in hot summer weather at Madison Square Garden. ^[6] Although West Virginia was a border state whose limited African-American population had not been disenfranchised as happened in all former Confederate States, ^[7] Davis did share many views of Southern Democrats of his era. He supported poll taxes, opposed women's suffrage, and believed in strictly limited government with no expansion in nonmilitary fields. ^[8] In North Dakota, Davis had almost no appeal, especially as he unlike incumbent Calvin Coolidge supported the League of Nations and was opposed to the state’s isolationist views. Although in September he underwent an extensive tour of the Great Plains, ^[9] and campaigned to eliminate the income tax burden of the poorer classes, ^[10]

The agrarian Nonpartisan League, as a response to the conservatism of the major parties, nominated Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, with Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, as a third-party ticket, supported by the state’s Senators Lynn J. Frazier and Gerald P. Nye. Davis and Coolidge both spent most of their campaign attacking La Follette as a political extremist, ^[11] but nonetheless opinion polls showed that La Follette was attracting large numbers of those German-American and Scandinavian-Americans who completely deserted Cox in 1920. ^[12] In September some polls had La Follette winning sufficient electoral votes to give no candidate an electoral majority and force the House to make a choice, ^[13] but as polling day approached newer polls suggested incumbent President Calvin Coolidge would hold the states of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada and Montana, which La Follette had been predicted to win in August. ^[13] Coolidge ultimately won North Dakota by a narrow margin of 2.51 percent, with his win coming from the relatively urbanized Scandinavian-settled counties in the east.

Results

1924 United States presidential election in North Dakota [14]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Popular vote		Electoral vote
				Count	%	Count	%
	Republican	Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts	Charles Gates Dawes of Illinois	94,931	47.68%	5	100.00%
	Nonpartisan League	Robert Marion La Follette of Wisconsin	Burton Kendall Wheeler of Montana	89,922	45.17%	0	0.00%
	Democratic	John William Davis of West Virginia	Charles Wayland Bryan of Nebraska	13,858	6.96%	0	0.00%
	Communist	William Z. Foster of Massachusetts	Benjamin Gitlow of New York	370	0.19%	0	0.00%
Total				199,081	100.00%	5	100.00%

Results by county

County [15]	John Calvin Coolidge Republican		John William Davis Democratic		Robert Marion La Follette, Sr. Nonpartisan League		William Z. Foster Workers		Margin [lower-alpha 1]		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	776	40.25%	106	5.50%	1,045	54.20%	1	0.05%	-269	-13.95%	1,928
Barnes	3,205	51.46%	346	5.56%	2,675	42.95%	2	0.03%	530	8.51%	6,228
Benson	1,870	45.00%	246	5.92%	2,038	49.04%	2	0.05%	-168	-4.04%	4,156
Billings	421	48.34%	32	3.67%	418	47.99%	0	0.00%	3	0.34%	871
Bottineau	1,338	31.99%	221	5.28%	2,621	62.67%	2	0.05%	-1,283	-30.68%	4,182
Bowman	776	45.17%	67	3.90%	875	50.93%	0	0.00%	-99	-5.76%	1,718
Burke	996	39.62%	135	5.37%	1,376	54.73%	7	0.28%	-380	-15.12%	2,514
Burleigh	3,152	53.17%	379	6.39%	2,338	39.44%	59	1.00%	814	13.73%	5,928
Cass	9,906	65.86%	1,352	8.99%	3,769	25.06%	14	0.09%	6,137	40.80%	15,041
Cavalier	2,428	54.65%	539	12.13%	1,471	33.11%	5	0.11%	957	21.54%	4,443
Dickey	1,716	43.66%	352	8.96%	1,856	47.23%	6	0.15%	-140	-3.56%	3,930
Divide	743	30.43%	91	3.73%	1,605	65.72%	3	0.12%	-862	-35.30%	2,442
Dunn	980	42.78%	190	8.29%	1,112	48.54%	9	0.39%	-132	-5.76%	2,291
Eddy	881	39.33%	101	4.51%	1,258	56.16%	0	0.00%	-377	-16.83%	2,240
Emmons	1,198	39.66%	123	4.07%	1,695	56.11%	5	0.17%	-497	-16.45%	3,021
Foster	922	45.13%	287	14.05%	833	40.77%	1	0.05%	89	4.36%	2,043
Golden Valley	718	48.29%	140	9.41%	628	42.23%	1	0.07%	90	6.05%	1,487
Grand Forks	6,690	62.81%	943	8.85%	3,011	28.27%	7	0.07%	3,679	34.54%	10,651
Grant	1,120	39.07%	125	4.36%	1,618	56.44%	4	0.14%	-498	-17.37%	2,867
Griggs	738	33.33%	116	5.24%	1,360	61.43%	0	0.00%	-622	-28.09%	2,214
Hettinger	936	39.73%	128	5.43%	1,291	54.80%	1	0.04%	-355	-15.07%	2,356
Kidder	844	39.42%	110	5.14%	1,187	55.44%	0	0.00%	-343	-16.02%	2,141
LaMoure	1,647	43.23%	221	5.80%	1,940	50.92%	2	0.05%	-293	-7.69%	3,810
Logan	787	43.34%	29	1.60%	994	54.74%	6	0.33%	-207	-11.40%	1,816
McHenry	1,692	36.89%	264	5.76%	2,630	57.34%	1	0.02%	-938	-20.45%	4,587
McIntosh	637	34.45%	39	2.11%	1,172	63.39%	1	0.05%	-535	-28.93%	1,849
McKenzie	1,113	38.14%	137	4.69%	1,661	56.92%	7	0.24%	-548	-18.78%	2,918
McLean	1,651	36.02%	194	4.23%	2,718	59.31%	20	0.44%	-1,067	-23.28%	4,583
Mercer	522	25.02%	70	3.36%	1,489	71.38%	5	0.24%	-967	-46.36%	2,086
Morton	2,377	44.26%	265	4.93%	2,716	50.58%	12	0.22%	-339	-6.31%	5,370
Mountrail	1,354	36.19%	130	3.48%	2,209	59.05%	48	1.28%	-855	-22.85%	3,741
Nelson	1,697	49.20%	175	5.07%	1,571	45.55%	6	0.17%	126	3.65%	3,449
Oliver	367	32.16%	31	2.72%	739	64.77%	4	0.35%	-372	-32.60%	1,141
Pembina	2,783	59.02%	588	12.47%	1,341	28.44%	3	0.06%	1,442	30.58%	4,715
Pierce	1,160	46.89%	157	6.35%	1,156	46.73%	1	0.04%	4	0.16%	2,474
Ramsey	3,110	62.35%	359	7.20%	1,505	30.17%	14	0.28%	1,605	32.18%	4,988
Ransom	1,862	45.59%	303	7.42%	1,919	46.99%	0	0.00%	-57	-1.40%	4,084
Renville	649	32.18%	120	5.95%	1,247	61.82%	1	0.05%	-598	-29.65%	2,017
Richland	3,235	48.84%	769	11.61%	2,617	39.51%	3	0.05%	618	9.33%	6,624
Rolette	869	35.92%	137	5.66%	1,410	58.29%	3	0.12%	-541	-22.36%	2,419
Sargent	1,468	43.68%	232	6.90%	1,656	49.27%	5	0.15%	-188	-5.59%	3,361
Sheridan	594	34.66%	49	2.86%	1,069	62.37%	2	0.12%	-475	-27.71%	1,714
Sioux	777	62.21%	58	4.64%	407	32.59%	7	0.56%	370	29.62%	1,249
Slope	616	39.09%	47	2.98%	913	57.93%	0	0.00%	-297	-18.85%	1,576
Stark	2,130	50.58%	266	6.32%	1,808	42.94%	7	0.17%	322	7.65%	4,211
Steele	1,247	52.77%	85	3.60%	1,029	43.55%	2	0.08%	218	9.23%	2,363
Stutsman	3,952	56.68%	463	6.64%	2,552	36.60%	6	0.09%	1,400	20.08%	6,973
Towner	1,173	47.66%	223	9.06%	1,053	42.79%	12	0.49%	120	4.88%	2,461
Traill	2,596	56.64%	234	5.11%	1,752	38.23%	1	0.02%	844	18.42%	4,583
Walsh	2,837	49.17%	917	15.89%	2,009	34.82%	7	0.12%	828	14.35%	5,770
Ward	4,166	47.99%	721	8.31%	3,784	43.59%	10	0.12%	382	4.40%	8,681
Wells	1,644	44.40%	138	3.73%	1,917	51.77%	4	0.11%	-273	-7.37%	3,703
Williams	1,865	36.76%	308	6.07%	2,859	56.36%	41	0.81%	-994	-19.59%	5,073
Totals	94,931	47.68%	13,858	6.96%	89,922	45.17%	370	0.19%	5,009	2.52%	199,081

Analysis

With 45.17 percent of the popular vote, North Dakota would prove to be La Follette's second strongest state in the 1924 election in terms of popular vote percentage after Wisconsin. Davis received a mere 6.96% of the vote in North Dakota, his second-weakest state behind neighboring Minnesota. ^[16] This was one of only two states, the other being Wisconsin, in which La Follette won a majority of counties (32 of 53 counties in North Dakota were carried by him). ^[17] LaFollette and Coolidge did tie in one state, Nevada, where they both won 8 counties, and Davis won one.

See also

• United States presidential elections in North Dakota

Notes

1. Because Coolidge and La Follette finished in the first two places in North Dakota as a whole and in all counties in the state, all margins given are Coolidge vote minus La Follette vote and all percentage margins Coolidge percentage minus La Follette percentage.

References

1. Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; ‘Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980’; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 143-159 ISBN   978-1-107-09509-0
2. Lubell, Samuel; The Future of American Politics (1956), pp. 156-164
3. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 420-423 ISBN   978-0-691-16324-6
4. Shiedeler, James H.; ‘The La Follette Progressive Party Campaign of 1924’; The Wisconsin Magazine of History Vol. 33, No. 4 (June 1950), pp. 444-457
5. Grantham, Dewey; The South in Modern America A Region at Odds, p. 106 ISBN   1610753895
6. Paulson, Arthur C.; Realignment and Party Revival: Understanding American Electoral Politics at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century, p. 51 ISBN   0275968650
7. Ranney, Joseph A.; In the Wake of Slavery: Civil War, Civil Rights, and the Reconstruction of Southern Law; p. 141 ISBN   0275989720
8. Newman, Roger K.; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law, p. 153 ISBN   0300113005
9. Tucker, Garland; High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election, p. 191 ISBN   193711029X
10. Richardson, Danny G.; Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s, p. 180 ISBN   0595481264
11. Parrish, Michael E.; Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920-1941, pp. 70-71 ISBN   0393311341
12. Tucker; High Tide of American Conservatism, p. 181
13. Tucker; High Tide of American Conservatism, p. 231
14. "1924 Presidential General Election Results – North Dakota". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
15. North Dakota Secretary of State Elections; Party Votes, General Election November 4, 1924
16. "1924 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
17. The Presidential Vote, 1896–1932, Edgar E. Robinson, p. 67