1916 United States presidential election in Washington (state)
Election in Washington
The 1916 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 2 , 1920 , as part of the 1916 United States presidential election in which all contemporary 48 states participated. Voters chose seven electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting Democratic incumbents Woodrow Wilson Thomas R. Marshall , against Republican challengers Associate Justice Charles Evans Hughes and his running mate, former Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks .
Washington had been a one-party Republican bastion for twenty years before this election.[1] Democratic representation in the Washington legislature would during this period at times be countable on one hand,[2] and neither Alton B. Parker nor William Jennings Bryan in his third presidential run carried even one county in the state. Republican primaries had taken over as the chief mode of political competition when introduced in the late 1900s.[3]
However, a powerful "peace vote" in the Western states[4] due to opposition to participation in World War I , and the transfer of a considerable part of the substantial vote for Eugene Debs from the previous election to Wilson owing to such Progressive reforms as the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments [5] allowed Woodrow Wilson to carry Washington by a 4.25 percentage point margin. In doing this, Wilson was the first ever Democratic victor in the Western Washington Puget Sound counties of Island , San Juan and Kitsap ,[6] and the only Democrat between 1904 and 1924 to carry any Washington county in a two-way presidential race.
Results
Results by county
County
Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic
Charles Evans Hughes Republican
Allan Louis Benson Socialist
Various candidates Other parties
Margin
Total votes cast[8]
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
Adams
1,294
48.41%
1,237
46.28%
112
4.19%
30
1.12%
57
2.13%
2,673
Asotin
1,136
48.59%
1,004
42.94%
117
5.00%
81
3.46%
132
5.65%
2,338
Benton
1,351
42.03%
1,460
45.43%
342
10.64%
61
1.90%
-109
-3.39%
3,214
Chelan
2,747
43.46%
3,011
47.63%
405
6.41%
158
2.50%
-264
-4.18%
6,321
Clallam
1,339
41.06%
1,475
45.23%
418
12.82%
29
0.89%
-136
-4.17%
3,261
Clark
3,728
41.28%
4,419
48.93%
677
7.50%
208
2.30%
-691
-7.65%
9,032
Columbia
1,164
47.57%
1,148
46.91%
108
4.41%
27
1.10%
16
0.65%
2,447
Cowlitz
1,282
33.44%
2,113
55.11%
378
9.86%
61
1.59%
-831
-21.67%
3,834
Douglas
1,916
59.52%
1,125
34.95%
148
4.60%
30
0.93%
791
24.57%
3,219
Ferry
913
52.99%
581
33.72%
221
12.83%
8
0.46%
332
19.27%
1,723
Franklin
1,110
57.93%
671
35.02%
109
5.69%
26
1.36%
439
22.91%
1,916
Garfield
728
45.02%
845
52.26%
32
1.98%
12
0.74%
-117
-7.24%
1,617
Grant
1,563
51.58%
1,205
39.77%
221
7.29%
41
1.35%
358
11.82%
3,030
Grays Harbor
4,992
44.04%
5,024
44.32%
1,209
10.67%
111
0.98%
-32
-0.28%
11,336
Island
855
46.34%
804
43.58%
170
9.21%
16
0.87%
51
2.76%
1,845
Jefferson
861
40.77%
1,094
51.80%
134
6.34%
23
1.09%
-233
-11.03%
2,112
King
52,362
54.71%
38,959
40.71%
3,193
3.34%
1,194
1.25%
13,403
14.00%
95,708
Kitsap
3,479
49.89%
2,638
37.83%
751
10.77%
106
1.52%
841
12.06%
6,974
Kittitas
2,609
49.40%
2,310
43.74%
262
4.96%
100
1.89%
299
5.66%
5,281
Klickitat
1,478
45.35%
1,570
48.17%
186
5.71%
25
0.77%
-92
-2.82%
3,259
Lewis
4,318
40.73%
5,186
48.92%
845
7.97%
252
2.38%
-868
-8.19%
10,601
Lincoln
2,827
51.67%
2,356
43.06%
221
4.04%
67
1.22%
471
8.61%
5,471
Mason
779
45.19%
764
44.32%
162
9.40%
19
1.10%
15
0.87%
1,724
Okanogan
2,924
54.82%
1,896
35.55%
474
8.89%
40
0.75%
1,028
19.27%
5,334
Pacific
1,537
34.02%
2,688
59.50%
257
5.69%
36
0.80%
-1,151
-25.48%
4,518
Pend Oreille
1,080
50.94%
916
43.21%
111
5.24%
13
0.61%
164
7.74%
2,120
Pierce
18,940
48.85%
16,780
43.28%
1,894
4.89%
1,156
2.98%
2,160
5.57%
38,770
San Juan
669
47.96%
591
42.37%
122
8.75%
13
0.93%
78
5.59%
1,395
Skagit
4,936
47.88%
4,142
40.17%
951
9.22%
281
2.73%
794
7.70%
10,310
Skamania
451
46.07%
489
49.95%
34
3.47%
5
0.51%
-38
-3.88%
979
Snohomish
8,390
41.52%
8,625
42.68%
2,543
12.58%
649
3.21%
-235
-1.16%
20,207
Spokane
21,339
49.49%
19,503
45.23%
1,321
3.06%
957
2.22%
1,836
4.26%
43,120
Stevens
3,184
47.84%
2,684
40.32%
678
10.19%
110
1.65%
500
7.51%
6,656
Thurston
2,658
39.39%
3,223
47.76%
624
9.25%
243
3.60%
-565
-8.37%
6,748
Wahkiakum
340
36.13%
490
52.07%
103
10.95%
8
0.85%
-150
-15.94%
941
Walla Walla
4,456
48.29%
4,429
48.00%
218
2.36%
124
1.34%
27
0.29%
9,227
Whatcom
5,629
35.53%
7,632
48.18%
2,075
13.10%
506
3.19%
-2,003
-12.64%
15,842
Whitman
5,888
52.33%
4,933
43.84%
239
2.12%
191
1.70%
955
8.49%
11,251
Yakima
6,136
41.91%
7,188
49.10%
735
5.02%
581
3.97%
-1,052
-7.19%
14,640
Totals
183,388
48.13%
167,208
43.89%
22,800
5.98%
7,598
1.99%
16,180
4.25%
380,994
See also
Notes
References
^ Burnham, Walter Dean; ‘The System of 1896’, in Kleppner, Paul (editor), The Evolution of American Electoral Systems , pp. 176-179 ISBN 0313213798
^ Schattschneider, Elmer Eric ; The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America , pp. 76-84 ISBN 0030133661
^ Murray, Keith; ‘Issues and Personalities of Pacific Northwest Politics, 1889-1950’, The Pacific Northwest Quarterly , vol. 41, no. 3 (July 1950), pp. 213-233
^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004 , p. 47 ISBN 0786422173
^ Sarasohn, David; 'The Election of 1916: Realigning the Rockies', Western Historical Quarterly , Vol. 11, No. 3 (July 1980), pp. 285-305
^ Menendez, The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States , p. 332
^ "1916 Presidential General Election Results – Washington" . Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved November 7, 2019 .
^ Washington Secretary of State Elections; Abstract of Votes Polled in the State of Washington at the General Election Held November 7, 1916