1912 United States presidential election in California

Main article: 1912 United States presidential election

1912 United States presidential election in California

←  1908 November 5, 1912 1916  →
Turnout	71.68% (of registered voters) 45.11% (of eligible voters) [1]
Nominee Theodore Roosevelt Woodrow Wilson Eugene V. Debs Party Republican (California) Democratic Socialist Alliance Progressive Home state New York New Jersey Indiana Running mate Hiram Johnson Thomas R. Marshall Emil Seidel Electoral vote 11 2 0 Popular vote 283,610 283,436 79,201 Percentage 41.83% 41.81% 11.7%
County Results Roosevelt   30–40%   40–50%   50–60% Wilson   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%
President before election William Howard Taft Republican Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

The 1912 United States presidential election in California took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California narrowly voted for the Progressive Party nominee, former president Theodore Roosevelt, over the Democratic nominee, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, though two electors cast their votes for Wilson. Although Roosevelt was the candidate of the “Bull Moose” Progressive Party nationally, in California and South Dakota he gained the support of the state Republican Party and acquired the "Republican" line, whilst the incumbent, and national GOP nominee William Howard Taft did not appear on the ballot and was a write-in candidate. ^{[lower-alpha 1]} Roosevelt's running mate was incumbent Governor of California Hiram Johnson.

This was the fourth occasion in which California's electoral vote was split, rather than being awarded to a single candidate. The previous occasions when this happened were in 1880, 1892, and 1896. ^[2] This occurred because, at the time, electors were not awarded based upon the popular vote in the presidential preference vote. Instead, voters cast votes for individual electors, with the thirteen top vote-getters among elector nominees becoming elected the state's members of the United States Electoral College. ^[3] A split in the electoral vote would never again occur in California.

This was the closest presidential election in California history, with Roosevelt winning by just 174 votes out of 677,944 cast, a margin of 0.02567%. It remains the fourth-closest presidential race in any state in history, behind Florida in 2000, Maryland in 1832, and Maryland in 1904, the latter of which also involved Roosevelt. ^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Although Wilson narrowly failed to win the state, he did become the first Democrat to carry Napa, Solano ^{[lower-alpha 3]} and Marin Counties since James Buchanan in 1856, the first to carry Sacramento County and Sierra County since Stephen A. Douglas in 1860, the first to win San Diego County since 1868, the first to ever carry Ventura County, which had been created in 1872, and the first to carry Sutter County since 1876. ^[4] Since this election, Solano County has voted Democratic in all but six Republican landslide elections of 1920, 1924, 1928, 1972, 1980 and 1984.

With 41.83% of the popular vote, California would prove to be Roosevelt's second-strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election after South Dakota. ^[5] California would not vote for the losing candidate again until 1960.

Results

1912 United States presidential election in California [6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Progressive / Republican	Theodore Roosevelt	283,610	41.83%	11
	Democratic	Woodrow Wilson	283,436	41.81%	2
	Socialist	Eugene V. Debs	79,201	11.68%	0
	Prohibition	Eugene W. Chafin	23,366	3.45%	0
	No party	Write-ins	4,417	0.65%	0
	Republican	William Howard Taft (inc.) (write-in)	3,914	0.58%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			677,944	100.00%	13
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	Theodore Roosevelt Progressive/Republican		Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic		Eugene Victor Debs Socialist		Eugene Wilder Chafin Prohibition		Various candidates Write-ins		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Riverside	50.94%	5,146	29.33%	2,963	10.25%	1,036	8.25%	834	1.23%	124	21.61%	2,183
Los Angeles	45.73%	75,593	33.34%	55,110	12.04%	19,895	4.95%	8,190	3.94%	6,508	12.39%	20,483
Alameda	47.47%	31,542	36.75%	24,418	14.04%	9,332	1.75%	1,160			10.72%	7,124
Humboldt	42.20%	3,609	33.76%	2,887	20.83%	1,781	2.07%	177	1.15%	98	8.44%	722
Santa Barbara	46.78%	3,395	38.84%	2,819	8.53%	619	4.92%	357	0.94%	68	7.94%	576
Santa Clara	46.97%	10,868	39.64%	9,173	8.94%	2,068	3.56%	824	0.89%	206	7.33%	1,695
Orange	45.03%	5,143	38.58%	4,406	7.85%	896	7.46%	852	1.09%	124	6.45%	737
Del Norte	44.60%	376	38.32%	323	12.34%	104	4.74%	40			6.28%	53
Imperial	42.17%	1,420	38.46%	1,295	13.25%	446	5.73%	193	0.39%	13	3.71%	125
Contra Costa	42.38%	3,539	39.40%	3,290	15.57%	1,300	2.17%	181	0.48%	40	2.98%	249
Santa Cruz	42.77%	3,059	40.20%	2,875	12.47%	892	4.52%	323	0.04%	3	2.57%	184
Alpine	45.00%	36	42.50%	34	2.50%	2	0.00%	0	10.00%	8	2.50%	2
San Bernardino	40.42%	6,202	38.03%	5,835	12.39%	1,901	8.04%	1,233	1.12%	172	2.39%	367
San Luis Obispo	42.73%	2,373	40.48%	2,248	12.68%	704	3.85%	214	0.25%	14	2.25%	125
Placer	43.91%	1,913	41.84%	1,823	11.04%	481	2.87%	125	0.34%	15	2.07%	90
Plumas	42.78%	762	41.66%	742	13.25%	236	1.68%	30	0.62%	11	1.12%	20
Stanislaus	39.78%	3,143	39.58%	3,127	9.48%	749	10.94%	864	0.22%	17	0.20%	16
Tulare	42.21%	4,283	42.31%	4,293	12.15%	1,233	2.61%	265	0.72%	73	-0.10%	-10
Fresno	42.71%	8,839	42.96%	8,891	11.01%	2,278	2.85%	590	0.47%	98	-0.25%	-52
Ventura	42.52%	2,055	43.62%	2,108	8.81%	426	3.50%	169	1.55%	75	-1.10%	-53
Marin	42.97%	2,750	44.52%	2,849	11.45%	733	1.06%	68			-1.55%	-99
Sierra	41.71%	483	44.47%	515	11.49%	133	1.12%	13	1.21%	14	-2.76%	-32
Solano	41.95%	3,353	45.66%	3,650	9.77%	781	2.11%	169	0.50%	40	-3.71%	-297
Napa	42.52%	2,432	46.55%	2,662	8.36%	478	2.20%	126	0.37%	21	-4.03%	-230
Yuba	43.36%	1,132	47.57%	1,242	7.12%	186	1.30%	34	0.65%	17	-4.21%	-110
Monterey	42.02%	3,081	46.26%	3,392	7.60%	557	4.11%	301	0.01%	1	-4.24%	-311
Mendocino	39.61%	2,237	44.39%	2,507	13.31%	752	2.50%	141	0.19%	11	-4.78%	-270
Sonoma	40.89%	5,806	45.78%	6,500	10.52%	1,494	2.58%	367	0.23%	32	-4.89%	-694
Lassen	39.59%	559	45.61%	644	10.48%	148	2.41%	34	1.91%	27	-6.02%	-85
San Mateo	40.44%	2,825	46.47%	3,246	11.84%	827	1.15%	80	0.10%	7	-6.03%	-421
Butte	38.14%	3,365	45.66%	4,028	10.54%	930	5.54%	489	0.11%	10	-7.52%	-663
San Benito	40.96%	1,054	48.70%	1,253	6.96%	179	2.88%	74	0.51%	13	-7.74%	-199
San Diego	36.46%	7,922	44.79%	9,731	13.22%	2,873	5.24%	1,139	0.29%	63	-8.33%	-1,809
Shasta	34.93%	1,636	43.55%	2,040	20.03%	938	1.15%	54	0.34%	16	-8.62%	-404
Madera	38.98%	943	47.71%	1,154	9.34%	226	3.68%	89	0.29%	7	-8.73%	-211
Merced	37.16%	1,571	46.78%	1,978	10.43%	441	5.39%	228	0.24%	10	-9.62%	-407
San Francisco	38.17%	38,610	48.40%	48,953	12.21%	12,354	1.14%	1,158	0.07%	73	-10.23%	-10,343
Sutter	41.11%	846	51.65%	1,063	3.84%	79	3.16%	65	0.24%	5	-10.54%	-217
Tehama	36.01%	1,218	47.16%	1,595	11.47%	388	4.97%	168	0.38%	13	-11.15%	-377
Nevada	34.40%	1,381	46.11%	1,851	16.14%	648	2.77%	111	0.57%	23	-11.71%	-470
Trinity	34.44%	343	46.29%	461	18.27%	182	0.90%	9	0.10%	1	-11.85%	-118
Sacramento	39.23%	7,534	51.39%	9,869	8.09%	1,553	1.11%	213	0.19%	36	-12.16%	-2,335
Kings	35.94%	1,419	49.82%	1,967	10.28%	406	3.95%	156			-13.88%	-548
Siskiyou	34.99%	1,740	49.57%	2,465	12.73%	633	2.09%	104	0.62%	31	-14.58%	-725
Glenn	37.21%	906	54.41%	1,325	5.17%	126	2.75%	67	0.45%	11	-17.20%	-419
Kern	33.88%	3,647	51.73%	5,569	12.08%	1,300	1.69%	182	0.62%	67	-17.85%	-1,922
Modoc	35.47%	608	54.90%	941	6.94%	119	2.63%	45	0.06%	1	-19.43%	-333
Mono	28.73%	106	49.32%	182	18.16%	67	2.98%	11	0.81%	3	-20.59%	-76
Lake	30.10%	649	51.86%	1,118	12.34%	266	5.71%	123			-21.76%	-469
Yolo	33.35%	1,332	56.06%	2,239	7.54%	301	2.83%	113	0.23%	9	-22.71%	-907
Inyo	26.49%	431	49.54%	806	18.75%	305	4.73%	77	0.49%	8	-23.05%	-375
San Joaquin	31.40%	4,314	58.00%	7,969	7.24%	995	3.10%	426	0.25%	35	-26.60%	-3,655
Tuolumne	28.76%	755	55.58%	1,459	13.83%	363	1.45%	38	0.38%	10	-26.82%	-704
El Dorado	28.40%	776	59.04%	1,613	10.18%	278	1.79%	49	0.59%	16	-30.64%	-837
Mariposa	26.15%	306	58.89%	689	11.79%	138	1.45%	17	1.71%	20	-32.74%	-383
Colusa	29.26%	810	63.58%	1,760	4.01%	111	3.03%	84	0.11%	3	-34.32%	-950
Calaveras	24.28%	750	60.51%	1869	12.92%	399	2.14%	66	0.16%	5	-36.23%	-1,119
Amador	27.33%	684	64.80%	1,622	5.39%	135	2.28%	57	0.20%	5	-37.47%	-938

Notes

1. Other incumbent Presidents not on the ballot in all states have been Benjamin Harrison in Florida in 1892, Taft in South Dakota during this 1912 election, Harry S. Truman in Alabama in 1948, and Lyndon B. Johnson also in Alabama in 1964.
2. Although Roosevelt won Maryland by fifty-one votes, voters in Maryland in those days voted for individual electors and only one Republican, elector, Charles Bonaparte, survived the tally. The other seven top vote recipients were Democrats.
3. "Southern Democrat" John Breckinridge (Buchanan's Vice-President) did carry Solano County in 1860

References

1. "Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018" (PDF). California Secretary of State. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
2. "DIVIDED ELECTORAL VOTES" . Newspapers.com. The Boston Globe. November 11, 1912. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
3. "NEITHER SIDE WINS STATE" . Newspapers.com. Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. November 16, 1912. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
4. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 153-155 ISBN   0786422173
5. "1912 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
6. "1912 Presidential General Election Results - California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 25, 2008.