1896 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

The 1896 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

Washington was won by the People's Party nominees, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Thomas E. Watson of Maine. Two electors cast their vice presidential ballots for Bryan's Democratic Party running mate Arthur Sewall. They defeated the Republican nominees, former Governor of Ohio William McKinley and his running mate Garret Hobart of New Jersey. Bryan won the state by a margin of 15.13%,

As a result of his win in the state, Bryan would become the first Democratic^[c] presidential candidate to win Washington state. He would later lose the state against McKinley in 1900 and then against William Howard Taft in 1908. The state would not vote Democratic again until 1916.

As of the 2020 United States presidential election, this is the only presidential election since Washington achieved statehood in which the candidate who lost overall won an absolute majority of the vote in Clallam County.

Results

General Election Results^[1]
Party		Pledged to	Elector	Votes
	People's Party^[2]	William Jennings Bryan^[d]	N. T. Caton	51,646
	People's Party	William Jennings Bryan^[d]	I. N. Maxwell	50,895
	People's Party	William Jennings Bryan^[e]	John B. Hart	50,842
	People's Party	William Jennings Bryan^[e]	D. C. Newman	50,643
	Republican Party^[2]	William McKinley	L. H. Anderson	39,153
	Republican Party	William McKinley	John N. Conna	38,574
	Republican Party	William McKinley	Solomon Smith	38,573
	Republican Party	William McKinley	W. K. Kennedy	38,439
	Democratic Party^[2]	William Jennings Bryan	Thomas Burke	1,668
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	George W. Stapleton	1,526
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	W. S. Yearsley	1,517
	Democratic Party	William Jennings Bryan	Y. C. Blalock	1,503
	Prohibition Party^[2]	Joshua Levering	D. T. Denny	968
	Prohibition Party	Joshua Levering	R. F. Whittum	844
	Prohibition Party	Joshua Levering	J. J. Ashby	826
	Prohibition Party	Joshua Levering	O. J. Gist	795
	National Party^[2]	Charles E. Bentley	Charles Goddard	148
	National Party	Charles E. Bentley	R. H. Peter	135
	National Party	Charles E. Bentley	J. B. Redford	128
	National Party	Charles E. Bentley	Boyd Tyler	125
Votes cast^[f]				93,583

Results by county

County	William Jennings Bryan						William McKinley Republican		Joshua Levering Prohibition		Charles Bentley National		Margin		Total votes cast^[g]
	Populist		Democratic		Total		William McKinley Republican		Joshua Levering Prohibition		Charles Bentley National		Margin
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	363	57.99%	9	1.44%	372	59.42%	243	38.82%	11	1.76%	0	0.00%	129	20.61%	626
Asotin	254	52.16%	15	3.08%	269	55.24%	214	43.94%	3	0.62%	1	0.21%	55	11.29%	487
Chehalis	1,312	49.68%	38	1.44%	1,350	51.12%	1,267	47.97%	21	0.80%	3	0.11%	83	3.14%	2,641
Clallam	676	52.53%	41	3.19%	717	55.71%	559	43.43%	6	0.47%	5	0.39%	158	12.28%	1,287
Clark	1,497	48.23%	50	1.61%	1,547	49.84%	1,497	48.23%	51	1.64%	9	0.29%	50^[h]	1.61%	3,104
Columbia	847	51.30%	15	0.91%	862	52.21%	776	47.00%	9	0.55%	4	0.24%	86	5.21%	1,651
Cowlitz	935	47.03%	39	1.96%	974	48.99%	989	49.75%	23	1.16%	2	0.10%	-15	-0.75%	1,988
Douglas	722	67.04%	11	1.02%	733	68.06%	334	31.01%	10	0.93%	0	0.00%	399	37.05%	1,077
Franklin	108	70.59%	5	3.27%	113	73.86%	38	24.84%	2	1.31%	0	0.00%	75	49.02%	153
Garfield	469	53.60%	13	1.49%	482	55.09%	378	43.20%	14	1.60%	1	0.11%	104	11.89%	875
Island	181	44.69%	10	2.47%	191	47.16%	206	50.86%	7	1.73%	1	0.25%	-15	-3.70%	405
Jefferson	500	40.00%	36	2.88%	536	42.88%	704	56.32%	8	0.64%	2	0.16%	-168	-13.44%	1,250
King	7,497	52.41%	236	1.65%	7,733	54.06%	6,413	44.83%	144	1.01%	15	0.10%	1,320	9.23%	14,305
Kitsap	702	47.15%	26	1.75%	728	48.89%	728	48.89%	29	1.95%	4	0.27%	0^[i]	0.00%	1,489
Kittitas	1,296	53.87%	40	1.66%	1,336	55.53%	1,044	43.39%	23	0.96%	3	0.12%	292	12.14%	2,406
Klickitat	664	41.63%	44	2.76%	708	44.39%	876	54.92%	11	0.69%	0	0.00%	-168	-10.53%	1,595
Lewis	1,584	48.04%	70	2.12%	1,654	50.17%	1,594	48.35%	37	1.12%	12	0.36%	60^[i]	1.82%	3,297
Lincoln	1,715	66.27%	56	2.16%	1,771	68.43%	781	30.18%	31	1.20%	5	0.19%	990	38.25%	2,588
Mason	650	60.35%	17	1.58%	667	61.93%	397	36.86%	11	1.02%	2	0.19%	270	25.07%	1,077
Okanogan	912	72.96%	38	3.04%	950	76.00%	284	22.72%	11	0.88%	5	0.40%	666	53.28%	1,250
Pacific	512	33.88%	50	3.31%	562	37.19%	925	61.22%	19	1.26%	5	0.33%	-363	-24.02%	1,511
Pierce	5,404	52.45%	166	1.61%	5,570	54.06%	4,651	45.14%	58	0.56%	24	0.23%	919	8.92%	10,303
San Juan	283	40.14%	8	1.13%	291	41.28%	411	58.30%	3	0.43%	0	0.00%	-120	-17.02%	705
Skagit	1,573	53.85%	50	1.71%	1,623	55.56%	1,268	43.41%	28	0.96%	2	0.07%	355	12.15%	2,921
Skamania	237	62.70%	15	3.97%	252	66.67%	122	32.28%	4	1.06%	0	0.00%	130	34.39%	378
Snohomish	2,775	58.13%	83	1.74%	2,858	59.87%	1,871	39.19%	43	0.90%	2	0.04%	987	20.67%	4,774
Spokane	5,725	66.17%	104	1.20%	5,829	67.37%	2,701	31.22%	111	1.28%	11	0.13%	3,128	36.15%	8,652
Stevens	1,880	78.50%	46	1.92%	1,926	80.42%	433	18.08%	26	1.09%	10	0.42%	1,493	62.34%	2,395
Thurston	1,371	55.08%	44	1.77%	1,415	56.85%	1,052	42.27%	17	0.68%	5	0.20%	363	14.58%	2,489
Wahkiakum	376	54.57%	20	2.90%	396	57.47%	290	42.09%	3	0.44%	0	0.00%	106	15.38%	689
Walla Walla	1,652	49.30%	64	1.91%	1,716	51.21%	1,596	47.63%	37	1.10%	2	0.06%	120	3.58%	3,351
Whatcom	2,177	50.98%	50	1.17%	2,227	52.15%	1,971	46.16%	68	1.59%	4	0.09%	256	6.00%	4,270
Whitman	3,578	66.67%	112	2.09%	3,690	68.75%	1,592	29.66%	77	1.43%	8	0.15%	2,098	39.09%	5,367
Yakima	1,219	54.74%	47	2.11%	1,266	56.85%	948	42.57%	12	0.54%	1	0.04%	318	14.28%	2,227
Totals	51,646	55.19%	1,668	1.78%	53,314	56.97%	39,153	41.84%	968	1.03%	148	0.16%	14,161	15.13%	93,583

Counties that flipped from Republican to Populist

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Jefferson

Notes

^ ^a ^b Received 2 electoral votes for Vice President
^ Combined total from the Populist and Democratic tickets
^ Most of Bryan's vote came on the Populist ticket
^ ^a ^b Voted for Arthur Sewall for Vice President
^ ^a ^b Voted for Thomas E. Watson for Vice President
^ Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket
^ Based on highest elector on each ticket
^ Bryan only wins this county if you include his Democratic vote, otherwise it is a tie between the Populist and Republican vote
^ ^a ^b McKinley wins this county if Bryan's votes are not combined

References

^ Abstract of Votes Polled in the State of Washington, at a General Election held in the several voting precincts of said State, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday, being the third day of November, A.D. 1896, taken from the official returns.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "The Official Ballot". Washington Digital Newspapers. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. November 2, 1896. Retrieved July 31, 2024.

[vp-1] Received 2 electoral votes for Vice President

[2] Combined total from the Populist and Democratic tickets

[3] Most of Bryan's vote came on the Populist ticket

[Sewall-6] Voted for Arthur Sewall for Vice President

[Watson-7] Voted for Thomas E. Watson for Vice President

[8] Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket

[9] Based on highest elector on each ticket

[10] Bryan only wins this county if you include his Democratic vote, otherwise it is a tie between the Populist and Republican vote

[fusion-11] McKinley wins this county if Bryan's votes are not combined

[4] Abstract of Votes Polled in the State of Washington, at a General Election held in the several voting precincts of said State, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday, being the third day of November, A.D. 1896, taken from the official returns.

[ballot-5] "The Official Ballot". Washington Digital Newspapers. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. November 2, 1896. Retrieved July 31, 2024.

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