1960 United States presidential election in Ohio

Last updated
1960 United States presidential election in Ohio
Flag of Ohio.svg
  1956 November 8, 1960 1964  
  Richard Nixon official portrait as Vice President (cropped).tiff Jfk2 (3x4).jpg
Nominee Richard Nixon John F. Kennedy
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California Massachusetts
Running mate Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Lyndon B. Johnson
Electoral vote250
Popular vote2,217,6111,944,248
Percentage53.28%46.72%

Ohio Presidential Election Results 1960.svg
County Results

President before election

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

Elected President

John F. Kennedy
Democratic

The 1960 United States presidential election in Ohio on November 8, was part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 25 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Contents

Ohio was won by Republican Party candidate, incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, with a 53.28% popular vote majority, defeating Democratic Party candidate and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy, who received 46.72% of the vote.

This was the second of two elections in the 20th century in which Ohio, a historical bellwether state, voted for the losing candidate, the first being 1944 when Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey carried the state over President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It would not do so again until it backed Donald Trump over Joe Biden in 2020. [1]

This anomaly was due to strong anti-Catholic voting (amidst an overall nationwide pro-Democratic swing) in the Appalachia-influenced, heavily Baptist southern and western parts of the state. [2] This was also the last time until 2020 that Ottawa County voted for the losing candidate. Had Kennedy won the state along with Roosevelt in 1944, Ohio would have had the longest streak of any state voting for the winning candidate up until 2020.

Primaries

Democratic primary

Governor Michael DiSalle won the state's primary as a favorite son pledged to support Kennedy. [3] [4]

Ohio was one of the largest states to hold a primary, with 64 delegates to the DNC. [4] Its primary, held on May 3, coincided with that of neighboring Indiana. [4]

Kennedy had campaigned in Ohio numerous times in the two years prior to announcing his official candidacy. [4] While his internal polling was positive, it also showed that he could still lose if a strong candidate launched a favorite son campaign against him. [4] His campaign team was particularly worried about Frank Lausche launching such a challenge. [4] In November 1959 their polling showed a race between him and Kennedy resulting in a statistical tie. [4] Those polls showed that Kennedy would win the race a race between him and DiSalle 62 to 38%. [4]

In 1959, during his many visits to the state, Kennedy won the backing of Cuyahoga County Democratic Party leader, Ray T. Miller and Cleveland Mayor, Anthony J. Celebrezze. [4]

Kennedy felt that he could not compete in both Ohio and Wisconsin due to time limitations preventing him from being able to spend adequate time in both states. [4] Kennedy saw Wisconsin as providing him an opportunity to potentially deliver an early and fatal blow to Hubert Humphrey's campaign. [4] Thus, he chose to compete there instead of in Ohio. [4]

Kennedy felt that he needed to secure DiSalle's endorsement ahead of declaring his candidacy in order to demonstrate appeal outside of New England. [4] Thus, in December 1959, Kennedy and DiSalle brokered an agreement in which DiSalle would run as a favorite son committed to Kennedy, and would endorse Kennedy and announce his intention to run as a favorite son to assist his candidacy in a January 6 press announcement, four days after Kennedy's formal announcement of his candidacy. [4]

DiSalle won with a wide margin against Albert S. Porter. [5]

Republican primary

Nixon carried the state's Republican primary. [3]

Results

1960 United States presidential election in Ohio [6]
PartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. 2,217,61153.28%25
Democratic John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson 1,944,24846.72%0
Totals4,161,859100.00%25
Voter turnout (registered voters) %

Results by county

CountyRichard Milhous Nixon
Republican
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Democratic
MarginTotal votes cast
# %# %# %
Adams 5,99660.59%3,90039.41%2,09621.18%9,896
Allen 28,00765.54%14,72534.46%13,28231.08%42,732
Ashland 13,11269.70%5,70030.30%7,41239.40%18,812
Ashtabula 22,40653.91%19,15546.09%3,2517.82%41,561
Athens 10,74758.76%7,54241.24%3,20517.52%18,289
Auglaize 11,18364.03%6,28235.97%4,90128.06%17,465
Belmont 18,14643.26%23,80556.74%-5,659-13.49%41,951
Brown 6,46155.73%5,13344.27%1,32811.45%11,594
Butler 46,51858.66%32,77841.34%13,74017.33%79,296
Carroll 6,09563.60%3,48836.40%2,60727.20%9,583
Champaign 9,14166.72%4,56033.28%4,58133.44%13,701
Clark 30,58857.67%22,45642.33%8,13215.33%53,044
Clermont 18,80261.60%11,72338.40%7,07923.19%30,525
Clinton 8,46465.30%4,49834.70%3,96630.60%12,962
Columbiana 28,41458.64%20,03741.36%8,37717.29%48,451
Coshocton 9,91364.75%5,39635.25%4,51729.51%15,309
Crawford 14,55867.59%6,98132.41%7,57735.18%21,539
Cuyahoga 288,05640.17%429,03059.83%-140,974-19.66%717,086
Darke 14,04864.55%7,71535.45%6,33329.10%21,763
Defiance 8,91263.12%5,20736.88%3,70526.24%14,119
Delaware 11,39168.11%5,33431.89%6,05736.22%16,725
Erie 15,09257.94%10,95442.06%4,13815.89%26,046
Fairfield 17,74366.03%9,12833.97%8,61532.06%26,871
Fayette 7,08564.11%3,96635.89%3,11928.22%11,051
Franklin 161,17859.37%110,28340.63%50,89518.75%271,461
Fulton 9,69574.76%3,27425.24%6,42149.51%12,969
Gallia 7,60268.49%3,49831.51%4,10436.97%11,100
Geauga 12,49159.44%8,52240.56%3,96918.89%21,013
Greene 19,64258.12%14,15541.88%5,48716.24%33,797
Guernsey 10,39661.41%6,53238.59%3,86422.83%16,928
Hamilton 211,06854.50%176,21545.50%34,8539.00%387,283
Hancock 17,05971.76%6,71228.24%10,34743.53%23,771
Hardin 9,04264.41%4,99635.59%4,04628.82%14,038
Harrison 5,19158.77%3,64141.23%1,55017.55%8,832
Henry 8,25170.73%3,41529.27%4,83641.45%11,666
Highland 8,94862.26%5,42337.74%3,52524.53%14,371
Hocking 5,26256.47%4,05743.53%1,20512.93%9,319
Holmes 4,43269.41%1,95330.59%2,47938.83%6,385
Huron 12,26161.94%7,53438.06%4,72723.88%19,795
Jackson 7,97358.96%5,54941.04%2,42417.93%13,522
Jefferson 21,18644.01%26,95555.99%-5,769-11.98%48,141
Knox 12,71165.94%6,56534.06%6,14631.88%19,276
Lake 32,03848.94%33,42551.06%-1,387-2.12%65,463
Lawrence 13,15960.32%8,65639.68%4,50320.64%21,815
Licking 23,65363.95%13,33536.05%10,31827.90%36,988
Logan 11,31168.18%5,27931.82%6,03236.36%16,590
Lorain 39,36147.51%43,48752.49%-4,126-4.98%82,848
Lucas 94,67947.94%102,82552.06%-8,146-4.12%197,504
Madison 7,25666.37%3,67733.63%3,57932.74%10,933
Mahoning 51,92738.73%82,14361.27%-30,216-22.54%134,070
Marion 15,21061.31%9,59838.69%5,61222.62%24,808
Medina 16,12362.21%9,79637.79%6,32724.41%25,919
Meigs 6,97666.77%3,47233.23%3,50433.54%10,448
Mercer 7,73550.02%7,73049.98%50.03%15,465
Miami 22,15165.30%11,77034.70%10,38130.60%33,921
Monroe 4,10656.63%3,14443.37%96213.27%7,250
Montgomery 109,60252.71%98,32547.29%11,2775.42%207,927
Morgan 4,42470.82%1,82329.18%2,60141.64%6,247
Morrow 6,35769.91%2,73630.09%3,62139.82%9,093
Muskingum 21,51861.88%13,25438.12%8,26423.77%34,772
Noble 3,95165.99%2,03634.01%1,91531.99%5,987
Ottawa 9,26058.34%6,61241.66%2,64816.68%15,872
Paulding 4,96163.72%2,82536.28%2,13627.43%7,786
Perry 7,65859.60%5,19140.40%2,46719.20%12,849
Pickaway 7,82161.63%4,87038.37%2,95123.25%12,691
Pike 3,68445.92%4,33954.08%-655-8.16%8,023
Portage 19,63451.45%18,52848.55%1,1062.90%38,162
Preble 8,80261.69%5,46738.31%3,33523.37%14,269
Putnam 6,83453.09%6,03946.91%7956.18%12,873
Richland 27,31758.17%19,64541.83%7,67216.34%46,962
Ross 14,07560.90%9,03639.10%5,03921.80%23,111
Sandusky 14,56664.06%8,17135.94%6,39528.13%22,737
Scioto 21,77156.67%16,64743.33%5,12413.34%38,418
Seneca 15,77261.20%10,00138.80%5,77122.39%25,773
Shelby 8,76656.08%6,86643.92%1,90012.15%15,632
Stark 82,88155.22%67,20544.78%15,67610.44%150,086
Summit 109,06649.59%110,85250.41%-1,786-0.81%219,918
Trumbull 40,72446.46%46,92853.54%-6,204-7.08%87,652
Tuscarawas 20,63756.20%16,08343.80%4,55412.40%36,720
Union 7,83871.55%3,11628.45%4,72243.11%10,954
Van Wert 9,66665.68%5,05034.32%4,61631.37%14,716
Vinton 3,04359.97%2,03140.03%1,01219.94%5,074
Warren 14,50564.61%7,94535.39%6,56029.22%22,450
Washington 14,19764.38%7,85635.62%6,34128.75%22,053
Wayne 21,27369.10%9,51130.90%11,76238.21%30,784
Williams 10,31971.84%4,04428.16%6,27543.69%14,363
Wood 18,95264.17%10,58135.83%8,37128.34%29,533
Wyandot 6,78665.81%3,52634.19%3,26031.61%10,312
Totals2,217,61153.28%1,944,24846.72%273,3636.57%4,161,859

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1988 United States presidential election</span> 51st quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1988 United States presidential election was the 51st quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 8, 1988. The Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush, defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts. It was the first presidential election since 1948, and the most recent to date, in which a party won more than two consecutive presidential terms. It remains the most recent election in which a candidate won over 400 electoral votes, and consequently the last landslide election of a U.S. president. Additionally, it was the last time that the Republicans won the popular vote three times in a row. Conversely, it began an ongoing streak of presidential elections that were decided by a single-digit popular vote margin. It was also the first, and only election to date, in which one of the two major presidential candidates was not of Northern European ancestry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 United States presidential election</span> 43rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1956 United States presidential election was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1956. President Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully ran for reelection against Adlai Stevenson II, the former Illinois governor whom he had defeated four years earlier. This election saw the sixth and most recent rematch in presidential history, and the second where the winner was the same both times. This was the last election before the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment came into effect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election</span> 44th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee. This was the first election in which 50 states participated, marking the first participation of Alaska and Hawaii, and the last in which the District of Columbia did not. This made it the only presidential election where the threshold for victory was 269 electoral votes. It was also the first election in which an incumbent president was ineligible to run for a third term because of the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1964 United States presidential election</span> 45th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee, in a landslide. Johnson was the fourth and most recent vice-president to ascend to the presidency following the death of his predecessor and to win a term in his own right. With 61.1% of the popular vote, Lyndon B. Johnson won the largest share of the popular vote for the Democratic Party in history, and the highest for any candidate since the advent of widespread popular elections in the 1820s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 United States presidential election</span> 46th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1968 United States presidential election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1968. The Republican nominee, former vice president Richard Nixon, defeated both the Democratic nominee, incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party nominee, former Alabama governor George Wallace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 United States presidential election</span> 47th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1972 United States presidential election was the 47th quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican president Richard Nixon defeated Democratic U.S. senator George McGovern in a landslide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 United States presidential election</span> 48th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1976 United States presidential election was the 48th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1976. Democrat Jimmy Carter, former Governor of Georgia, defeated incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford in a narrow victory. Ford ascended to the presidency when Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, which badly damaged the Republican Party and its election prospects. Ford promised to continue Nixon's political agenda and govern as a moderate Republican, causing considerable backlash from the conservative wing of his party. This spurred former California governor Ronald Reagan to mount a significant challenge against him in the Republican primaries in which Ford narrowly prevailed. Carter was unknown at the start of the Democratic primaries, but he emerged as the front-runner after his victories in the first set of primaries. Campaigning as a political moderate in his own party and as a Washington, D.C. outsider, Carter defeated numerous opponents to clinch the Democratic nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael DiSalle</span> 60th Governor of Ohio

Michael Vincent DiSalle was an American attorney and politician from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of Toledo from 1948 to 1950, and as the 60th governor of Ohio from 1959 to 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries</span> Selection of the Democratic Party nominee

From March 8 to June 7, 1960, voters and members of the Democratic Party elected delegates to the 1960 Democratic National Convention through a series of caucuses, conventions, and primaries, partly for the purpose of nominating a candidate for President of the United States in the 1960 election. The presidential primaries were inconclusive, as several of the leading contenders did not enter them, but U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts emerged as the strongest candidate and won the nomination over Lyndon B. Johnson at the convention, held from July 11 to 15 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in California</span>

The 1960 United States presidential election in California took place on November 8, 1960 as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose 32 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania</span> Election in Pennsylvania

The 1960 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 8, 1960 as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 32 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts</span> Election in Massachusetts

The 1980 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 4, 1980, as part of the 1980 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 14 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. By an exceptionally narrow margin, Massachusetts was carried by the Republican nominee, former Governor Ronald Reagan of California, over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Also contesting the state was independent candidate Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois, who won an unexpectedly solid 15%, mostly from disaffected Democratic voters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey</span> Election in New Jersey

The 1960 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 8, 1960. All 50 states were part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose 16 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire</span> Election in New Hampshire

The 1960 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 United States presidential election in Florida</span> Election in Florida

The 1972 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 7, 1972, as part of the concurrent United States presidential election. Florida voters chose seventeen electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon won the state over the Democratic nominee, South Dakota Senator George McGovern, by a landslide margin of 44.11% and over one million votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign</span>

The 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, then junior United States senator from Massachusetts, was formally launched on January 2, 1960, as Senator Kennedy announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 1960 presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska</span> Election in Nebraska

The 1960 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in Oregon</span> Election in Oregon

The 1960 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

References

  1. "Last President who didn't win Ohio". The Blade. 2016-02-15. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  2. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 357-358, 395 ISBN   9780691163246
  3. 1 2 "RESULTS OF 1960 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION PRIMARIES". John F. Kennedy presidential library. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Oliphant, Thomas; Wilkie, Curtis (2017). The road to Camelot: Inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign. Simon & Schuster.
  5. Our Campaigns – OH US President – D Primary Race – May 3, 1960
  6. Leip, David (2016). "1960 Presidential General Election Results - Ohio". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.