1908 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

The 1908 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 3, 1908. All contemporary 46 states were part of the 1908 United States presidential election. Voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

1908 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

November 3, 1908

Nominee William Howard Taft William Jennings Bryan Eugene V. Debs Party Republican Democratic Socialist Home state Ohio Nebraska Indiana Running mate James S. Sherman John W. Kern Benjamin Hanford Electoral vote 5 0 0 Popular vote 106,062 58,691 14,177 Percentage 57.68% 31.92% 7.71%

County Results Taft   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election Theodore Roosevelt Republican Elected President William Howard Taft Republican

Washington had been established earlier in the 1900s as a one-party Republican bastion, which it would remain at a Presidential level apart from the 1910s GOP split until Franklin D. Roosevelt rose to power in 1932, and more or less continuously at state level during this era.[1] Democratic representation in the Washington legislature would during this period at times be countable on one hand,[2] and no Democrat other than Woodrow Wilson in 1916 would henceforth carry even one county in the state before Catholic Al Smith carried German-settled Ferry County in 1928. Republican primaries would take over as the chief mode of political competition when introduced later in the decade.[3]

Roosevelt's great popularity in the state ensured his handpicked successor William Howard Taft would win Washington without difficulty, although because Bryan retained some popularity from previous campaigns in this radical state Taft could not equal Roosevelt's huge win from four years earlier.

Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan had previously won the state against William McKinley in 1896 but would later lose the state to McKinley in 1900.

Results

1908 United States presidential election in Washington[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	William Howard Taft	106,062	57.68%	5
	Democratic	William Jennings Bryan	58,691	31.92%	0
	Social Democratic	Eugene Debs	14,177	7.71%	0
	Prohibition	Eugene Chafin	4,700	2.56%	0
	Independence	Thomas Hisgen	249	0.14%	0
Totals			183,879	100.00%	5
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	William Howard Taft[5] Republican		William Jennings Bryan[5] Democratic		Eugene Victor Debs[5] Socialist		Eugene Wilder Chafin[5] Prohibition		Thomas Hisgen[5] Independence		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,033	55.75%	716	38.64%	58	3.13%	45	2.43%	1	0.05%	317	17.11%	1,853
Asotin	648	59.83%	361	33.33%	36	3.32%	38	3.51%	0	0.00%	287	26.50%	1,083
Benton	891	57.86%	462	30.00%	151	9.81%	34	2.21%	2	0.13%	429	27.86%	1,540
Chehalis	3,128	60.55%	1,233	23.87%	712	13.78%	86	1.66%	7	0.14%	1,895	36.68%	5,166
Chelan	1,639	59.88%	863	31.53%	160	5.85%	66	2.41%	9	0.33%	776	28.35%	2,737
Clallam	938	57.87%	420	25.91%	187	11.54%	11	0.68%	65	4.01%	518	31.96%	1,621
Clark	2,416	59.10%	1,233	30.16%	335	8.19%	104	2.54%	0	0.00%	1,183	28.94%	4,088
Columbia	887	55.33%	587	36.62%	25	1.56%	48	2.99%	56	3.49%	300	18.71%	1,603
Cowlitz	1,573	65.13%	616	25.51%	172	7.12%	28	1.16%	26	1.08%	957	39.63%	2,415
Douglas	1,942	52.35%	1,534	41.35%	191	5.15%	43	1.16%	0	0.00%	408	11.00%	3,710
Ferry	467	47.41%	388	39.39%	115	11.68%	11	1.12%	4	0.41%	79	8.02%	985
Franklin	643	53.27%	481	39.85%	56	4.64%	27	2.24%	0	0.00%	162	13.42%	1,207
Garfield	556	56.50%	353	35.87%	40	4.07%	13	1.32%	22	2.24%	203	20.63%	984
Island	450	58.75%	189	24.67%	99	12.92%	28	3.66%	0	0.00%	261	34.07%	766
Jefferson	859	62.47%	415	30.18%	66	4.80%	11	0.80%	24	1.75%	444	32.29%	1,375
King	22,297	55.81%	14,599	36.54%	2,173	5.44%	836	2.09%	44	0.11%	7,698	19.27%	39,949
Kitsap	1,819	56.35%	837	25.93%	494	15.30%	74	2.29%	4	0.12%	982	30.42%	3,228
Kittitas	1,752	56.35%	978	31.46%	314	10.10%	64	2.06%	1	0.03%	774	24.90%	3,109
Klickitat	1,245	61.45%	558	27.54%	173	8.54%	46	2.27%	4	0.20%	687	33.91%	2,026
Lewis	3,170	60.44%	1,412	26.92%	528	10.07%	120	2.29%	15	0.29%	1,758	33.52%	5,245
Lincoln	2,025	55.45%	1,426	39.05%	124	3.40%	73	2.00%	4	0.11%	599	16.40%	3,652
Mason	553	56.72%	316	32.41%	80	8.21%	22	2.26%	4	0.41%	237	24.31%	975
Okanogan	1,368	49.46%	1,061	38.36%	307	11.10%	22	0.80%	8	0.29%	307	11.10%	2,766
Pacific	1,492	69.49%	477	22.22%	153	7.13%	21	0.98%	4	0.19%	1,015	47.28%	2,147
Pierce	10,935	60.94%	4,906	27.34%	1,626	9.06%	463	2.58%	14	0.08%	6,029	33.60%	17,944
San Juan	581	66.40%	172	19.66%	111	12.69%	10	1.14%	1	0.11%	409	46.74%	875
Skagit	2,924	56.40%	1,443	27.84%	690	13.31%	113	2.18%	14	0.27%	1,481	28.57%	5,184
Skamania	310	60.31%	141	27.43%	54	10.51%	7	1.36%	2	0.39%	169	32.88%	514
Snohomish	5,659	55.69%	2,964	29.17%	958	9.43%	567	5.58%	13	0.13%	2,695	26.52%	10,161
Spokane	11,719	58.73%	6,540	32.78%	1,184	5.93%	496	2.49%	15	0.08%	5,179	25.95%	19,954
Stevens	2,546	52.29%	1,549	31.81%	646	13.27%	120	2.46%	8	0.16%	997	20.48%	4,869
Thurston	1,940	57.28%	963	28.43%	367	10.84%	110	3.25%	7	0.21%	977	28.85%	3,387
Wahkiakum	485	71.22%	146	21.44%	46	6.75%	3	0.44%	1	0.15%	339	49.78%	681
Walla Walla	2,843	60.86%	1,650	35.32%	102	2.18%	71	1.52%	5	0.11%	1,193	25.54%	4,671
Whatcom	4,955	57.63%	2,376	27.63%	963	11.20%	296	3.44%	8	0.09%	2,579	30.00%	8,598
Whitman	3,376	52.72%	2,373	37.05%	337	5.26%	315	4.92%	3	0.05%	1,003	15.66%	6,404
Yakima	3,998	63.92%	1,645	26.30%	344	5.50%	258	4.12%	10	0.16%	2,353	37.62%	6,255
Totals	106,062	57.73%	58,383	31.78%	14,177	7.72%	4,700	2.56%	405	0.22%	47,679	25.95%	183,727

Notes

References

1. Burnham, Walter Dean; ‘The System of 1896’, in Kleppner, Paul (editor), The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 176-179 ISBN 0313213798
2. Schattschneider, Elmer Eric; The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America, pp. 76-84 ISBN 0030133661
3. Murray, Keith; ‘Issues and Personalities of Pacific Northwest Politics, 1889-1950’, The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 3 (July 1950), pp. 213-233
4. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1908 Presidential General Election Results — Washington
5. Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1908 (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)