1912 United States presidential election in Florida

The 1912 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 5, 1912. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

United States presidential election in Florida, 1912

November 5, 1912

Nominee Woodrow Wilson Eugene Debs Party Democratic Socialist Home state New Jersey Indiana Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Emil Seidel Electoral vote 6 0 Popular vote 35,343 4,806 Percentage 69.52% 9.45%   Nominee Theodore Roosevelt William Taft Party Progressive Republican Home state New York Ohio Running mate Hiram W. Johnson Nicholas Murray Butler Electoral vote 0 0 Popular vote 4,555 4,279 Percentage 8.96% 8.42%

County Results Wilson   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%

President before election William Taft Republican Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

Background

Ever since the disfranchisement of blacks at the beginning of the 1890s, Florida had been a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Because, unlike southern states extending into the Appalachian Mountains or Ozarks, or Texas with its German settlements in the Edwards Plateau, Florida completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession, its Republican Party between 1872 and 1888 was entirely dependent upon black votes. An illustration of the original Florida GOP’s dependence upon black votes can be seen in that, as late as the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright, half of Florida’s registered Republicans were still black[1] – although very few blacks in Florida had ever voted within the previous fifty-five years. Thus this disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by a poll tax introduced in 1889[2] left Florida as devoid of Republican adherents as Louisiana, Mississippi or South Carolina.[3]

The Democratic Party won every county in Florida in each election from 1892[lower-alpha 1] until 1904, and all bar Calhoun County in 1908.[4] Only once since 1897 – and then only for a single term – had a Republican served in either house of the state legislature.

Despite this disfranchisement of most of the state’s lower classes, by the 1912 election, southern Florida – settled after the Civil War – was to develop a considerable socialist movement at the beginning of the 1910s – most strongly in Tampa.[5] Although this movement had no effect on the overall presidential result – Democrat Woodrow Wilson was to win every county with an absolute majority of votes – it did allow Socialist Eugene Debs to achieve the unique feat for an American socialist of finishing second, ahead of both factions of the splintered national Republican Party.

Results

United States presidential election in Florida, 1912[6]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Popular vote		Electoral vote
				Count	%	Count	%
	Democratic	Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey	Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana	35,343	69.52%	6	100.00%
	Socialist	Eugene Debs of Indiana	Emil Seidel of Wisconsin	4,806	9.45%	0	0.00%
	Progressive	Theodore Roosevelt of New York	Hiram W. Johnson of California	4,555	8.96%	0	0.00%
	Republican	William Howard Taft of Ohio	Nicholas Murray Butler of New York	4,279	8.42%	0	0.00%
	Prohibition	Eugene Chafin of Illinois	Aaron Watkins of Ohio	1,854	3.65%	0	0.00%
Total				50,837	100.00%	6	100.00%

Results by county

	Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic		William Howard Taft Republican		Eugene Victor Debs Socialist		Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Progressive		Eugene Wilder Chafin Prohibition		Total votes cast
County	#[7]	%	#[7]	%	#[8]	%	#[8]	%	#[8]	%	#
Alachua	1,304	75.33%	221	12.77%	56	3.24%	75	4.33%	75	4.33%	1,731
Baker	168	50.76%	37	11.18%	31	9.37%	93	28.10%	2	0.60%	331
Bradford	656	76.55%	95	11.09%	10	1.17%	40	4.67%	56	6.53%	857
Brevard	357	60.51%	61	10.34%	82	13.90%	82	13.90%	8	1.36%	590
Calhoun	332	50.30%	67	10.15%	152	23.03%	59	8.94%	50	7.58%	660
Citrus	417	82.90%	11	2.19%	21	4.17%	44	8.75%	10	1.99%	503
Clay	279	71.54%	26	6.67%	54	13.85%	21	5.38%	10	2.56%	390
Columbia	520	77.61%	66	9.85%	23	3.43%	50	7.46%	11	1.64%	670
Dade	1,171	65.71%	99	5.56%	188	10.55%	291	16.33%	33	1.85%	1,782
DeSoto	847	67.28%	110	8.74%	135	10.72%	78	6.20%	89	7.07%	1,259
Duval	3,514	75.26%	243	5.20%	350	7.50%	485	10.39%	77	1.65%	4,669
Escambia	1,593	77.11%	72	3.48%	158	7.65%	202	9.78%	41	1.98%	2,066
Franklin	266	68.21%	58	14.87%	38	9.74%	23	5.90%	5	1.28%	390
Gadsden	609	78.99%	75	9.73%	31	4.02%	54	7.00%	2	0.26%	771
Hamilton	405	72.71%	46	8.26%	60	10.77%	24	4.31%	22	3.95%	557
Hernando	272	71.02%	18	4.70%	42	10.97%	22	5.74%	29	7.57%	383
Hillsborough	2,641	67.63%	159	4.07%	672	17.21%	269	6.89%	164	4.20%	3,905
Holmes	411	61.16%	52	7.74%	79	11.76%	110	16.37%	20	2.98%	672
Jackson	1,205	71.01%	163	9.61%	146	8.60%	68	4.01%	115	6.78%	1,697
Jefferson	459	82.55%	47	8.45%	9	1.62%	39	7.01%	2	0.36%	556
Lafayette	473	76.79%	73	11.85%	8	1.30%	11	1.79%	51	8.28%	616
Lake	596	73.49%	92	11.34%	39	4.81%	63	7.77%	21	2.59%	811
Lee	432	60.50%	38	5.32%	116	16.25%	97	13.59%	31	4.34%	714
Leon	546	81.98%	56	8.41%	15	2.25%	46	6.91%	3	0.45%	666
Levy	375	70.49%	74	13.91%	30	5.64%	24	4.51%	29	5.45%	532
Liberty	206	77.74%	32	12.08%	7	2.64%	18	6.79%	2	0.75%	265
Madison	480	87.59%	16	2.92%	19	3.47%	30	5.47%	3	0.55%	548
Manatee	712	68.73%	55	5.31%	98	9.46%	108	10.42%	63	6.08%	1,036
Marion	1,165	70.73%	179	10.87%	124	7.53%	117	7.10%	62	3.76%	1,647
Monroe	1,023	55.72%	414	22.55%	221	12.04%	152	8.28%	26	1.42%	1,836
Nassau	441	82.89%	38	7.14%	31	5.83%	17	3.20%	5	0.94%	532
Orange	1,256	68.15%	228	12.37%	124	6.73%	134	7.27%	101	5.48%	1,843
Osceola	512	57.59%	110	12.37%	64	7.20%	159	17.89%	44	4.95%	889
Palm Beach	458	63.17%	31	4.28%	77	10.62%	146	20.14%	13	1.79%	725
Pasco	485	67.45%	60	8.34%	64	8.90%	74	10.29%	36	5.01%	719
Pinellas	853	60.16%	87	6.14%	189	13.33%	250	17.63%	39	2.75%	1,418
Polk	1,520	71.43%	106	4.98%	291	13.67%	141	6.63%	70	3.29%	2,128
Putnam	774	65.93%	229	19.51%	67	5.71%	53	4.51%	51	4.34%	1,174
St. Johns	836	73.08%	45	3.93%	116	10.14%	132	11.54%	15	1.31%	1,144
St. Lucie	352	69.57%	45	8.89%	64	12.65%	36	7.11%	9	1.78%	506
Santa Rosa	592	66.29%	70	7.84%	88	9.85%	48	5.38%	95	10.64%	893
Sumter	417	74.73%	22	3.94%	19	3.41%	71	12.72%	29	5.20%	558
Suwannee	714	69.59%	54	5.26%	214	20.86%	29	2.83%	15	1.46%	1,026
Taylor	236	65.01%	56	15.43%	9	2.48%	19	5.23%	43	11.85%	363
Volusia	942	67.48%	162	11.60%	98	7.02%	72	5.16%	122	8.74%	1,396
Wakulla	215	77.06%	25	8.96%	22	7.89%	15	5.38%	2	0.72%	279
Walton	612	57.95%	74	7.01%	69	6.53%	296	28.03%	5	0.47%	1,056
Washington	694	64.38%	82	7.61%	186	17.25%	68	6.31%	48	4.45%	1,078
Totals	35,343	69.52%	4,279	8.42%	4,806	9.45%	4,555	8.96%	1,854	3.65%	50,837

References

1. See Price, Hugh Douglas; ‘The Negro and Florida Politics, 1944-1954’; The Journal of Politics, Vol. 17, No. 2 (May, 1955), pp. 198-220
2. Silbey, Joel H. and Bogue, Allan G.; The History of American Electoral Behavior, p. 210 ISBN 140087114X
3. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
4. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 156-157 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press
5. Ford, Edward J.; ‘Life on the Campaign Trail: a Political Anthropology of Local Politics’ (thesis), published 2008 by University of South Florida, pp. 114-118
6. Leip, David. "1912 Presidential General Election Results – Florida". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
7. Robinson; The Presidential Vote, pp. 156-161
8. "Presidential Election of 1912 – Map by Counties (.xlsx file for €15)". Géoelections. Archived from the original on 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2017-06-06.

Notes

1. In the 1892 Presidential election, Republican Benjamin Harrison was not on the ballot and the party backed Populist James B. Weaver.