1920 United States presidential election in Arizona

The 1920 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election in which all 48 states participated. Arizona voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting Democratic nominee James M. Cox and his running mate, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt, against Republican challenger U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding and his running mate, Governor Calvin Coolidge.

1920 United States presidential election in Arizona

November 2, 1920

Nominee Warren G. Harding James M. Cox Party Republican Democratic Home state Ohio Ohio Running mate Calvin Coolidge Franklin D. Roosevelt Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 37,016 29,546 Percentage 55.61% 44.39%

County Results Harding   50-60%   60-70% Cox   50-60%

President before election Woodrow Wilson Democratic Elected President Warren G. Harding Republican

By the beginning of 1920 skyrocketing inflation and Wilson's focus upon his proposed League of Nations at the expense of domestic policy had helped make the incumbent President Woodrow Wilson very unpopular[1] – besides which Wilson also had major health problems that had left First Lady Edith effectively running the nation. Political unrest seen in the Palmer Raids and the "Red Scare" further added to the unpopularity of the Democratic Party, since this global political turmoil produced considerable fear of alien revolutionaries invading the country.[2] Demand in the West for exclusion of Asian immigrants became even stronger than it had been before,[3] and the factionalism that would almost destroy the Democratic Party later in the decade had already simmered.[4]

Resultant opposition to the Democrats allowed Warren Harding to win the election in Arizona with 55.91% of the vote to James Cox' 43.72%. This was the first Republican presidential victory in Arizona as a whole, and in all but three of the state's fourteen contemporary counties: Pima County, which Charles Evans Hughes had won in 1916, Graham County, where no Republican would win until Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, and Greenlee County, which no Republican would carry until George W. Bush in 2000.[5]

Results

1920 United States presidential election in Arizona[6]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Warren G. Harding	Calvin Coolidge	37,016	55.91%	3
	Democratic	James M. Cox	Franklin D. Roosevelt	29,546	43.72%	0
	Socialist	Eugene Debs	Seymour Stedman	222[7]	0.33%	0
	Farmer-Labor	Parley P. Christensen	Max S. Hayes	15[7]	0.02%	0
	Prohibition	Aaron S. Watkins	—	4[7]	0.01%	0
Totals				66,562	100.00%	3

Results by county

County	Warren Gamaliel Harding Republican		James Middleton Cox Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast[6]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Apache	679	52.15%	618	47.47%	5	0.38%	61	4.69%	1,302
Cochise	5,341	54.66%	4,430	45.34%	0	0.00%	911	9.32%	9,771
Coconino	1,342	63.21%	781	36.79%	0	0.00%	561	26.42%	2,123
Gila	3,311	52.31%	2,894	45.72%	125	1.97%	417	6.59%	6,330
Graham	1,062	45.72%	1,261	54.28%	0	0.00%	-199	-8.57%	2,323
Greenlee	905	43.97%	1,131	54.96%	22	1.07%	-226	-10.98%	2,058
Maricopa	11,336	56.23%	8,825	43.77%	0	0.00%	2511	12.45%	20,161
Mohave	996	55.61%	722	40.31%	73	4.08%	274	15.30%	1,791
Navajo	1,078	50.97%	1,031	48.75%	6	0.28%	47	2.22%	2,115
Pima	3,392	58.01%	2,455	41.99%	0	0.00%	937	16.03%	5,847
Pinal	1,493	53.96%	1,264	45.68%	10	0.36%	229	8.28%	2,767
Santa Cruz	850	54.63%	706	45.37%	0	0.00%	144	9.25%	1,556
Yavapai	3,625	61.69%	2,251	38.31%	0	0.00%	1374	23.38%	5,876
Yuma	1,606	57.71%	1,177	42.29%	0	0.00%	429	15.42%	2,783
Totals	37,016	55.91%	29,546	43.72%	241	0.36%	7,470	12.19%	66,803

References

1. Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 44 ISBN 0801860059
2. Leuchtenburg, William E.; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, p. 75 ISBN 0226473724
3. Vought, Hans P. ; The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents And The Immigrant, 1897-1933, p. 167 ISBN 0865548870
4. 'Arizona and the West', Journal of the Southwest 14(1972), p. 89
5. Menendez Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, p. 121 ISBN 0786422173
6. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 138-139 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press
7. Robinson; The Presidential Vote, p. 379