1924 United States presidential election in California

The 1924 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 1924 as part of the 1924 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1924 United States presidential election in California

November 4, 1924
Turnout	73.34% (of registered voters) 1.47 pp 48.53% (of eligible voters) 1.27 pp [1]
Nominee Calvin Coolidge Robert M. La Follette John W. Davis Party Republican Socialist[lower-alpha 1] Democratic Home state Massachusetts Wisconsin West Virginia Running mate Charles G. Dawes Burton K. Wheeler Charles W. Bryan Electoral vote 13 0 0 Popular vote 733,250 424,649 105,514 Percentage 57.20% 33.13% 8.23%
County Results Coolidge   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   80-90% La Follette   40-50%   50-60%
President before election Calvin Coolidge Republican Elected President Calvin Coolidge Republican

Background

Since the "Panic of 1893" and large-scale voter registration, California had become a one-party state dominated by the Republican Party.[2] The Democratic Party was largely moribund as a result of its association with the Populist revolt, the rural formerly slave South, and the polyglot metropolis – which held no appeal in an old-stock Western state with very few Southern and Eastern European immigrants.[3] Rigid registration laws and, before 1914, poll taxes, largely disfranchised what immigrants (who had leaned Democratic during the Third Party System) did enter the state.[4]

Nonetheless, the appeal of Progressivism and tendency towards nonpartisan politics[3] allowed Woodrow Wilson to nearly carry the state in 1912 and do so in 1916 despite substantial Socialist votes in both elections; however, James M. Cox lost most of this support by 1920 as a result of a powerful reaction in the West against the social upheaval Wilson had caused.[5]

Following the Cox debacle, the Democratic Party disintegrated even further: in 1922 they elected only four seats in the state House of Representatives, and had failed to elect an open Senator in 1920, and defeated James D. Phelan's efforts to have William Gibbs McAdoo nominated as Democratic presidential candidate in 1924 further ruined the party's organization and furthered cleavages between the "dry" and "wet" sections of the party.[6]

California's large "Progressive" electorate had been divided by issues such as the League of Nations and Prohibition, and was weakened by the election of economy-minded Friend W. Richardson as Governor in 1922.[7] When Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette announced he would run a third-party presidential campaign in 1924,[8] there remained division, but radical San Francisco Progressive Rudolph Spreckels supported him on the "Socialist" line[9] against indifference from Hiram Johnson (who had attempted to unseat Coolidge in the GOP primaries)[7] and State Senators Herbert Jones and Inman.

Vote

Democratic nominee John W. Davis of West Virginia and Coolidge both spent most of their campaign attacking La Follette as a political extremist.[10]

At the beginning of the campaign, Davis had substantial hope of recovering support lost in 1920.[11] However, Davis' opposition to women's suffrage, and belief in strictly limited government with no expansion in nonmilitary fields[12] had almost no appeal in California.[13] Although in September Davis underwent an extensive tour of the region and of the Great Plains,[14] and campaigned to eliminate the income tax burden of the poorer classes,[8] he received a mere 8.23 percent of the vote in California – the worst for any major party nominee in California's history and his fourth-worst state nationwide.

Reduced to a battle between Coolidge and La Follette, the incumbent President campaigned upon present prosperity in addition to his opponent's perceived extremism. Despite perception the state may be doubtful,[11] Coolidge won a plurality of over 24 percentage points, aided by a campaign based upon vilification.[15] La Follette did nonetheless match Coolidge outside conservative, heavily populated Southern California, and he carried most urban working class districts in Northern California, as well as most of the Sierra logging counties that were to become Democratic strongholds between FDR and Jimmy Carter. La Follette's vote was later to revive the moribund Democratic Party when it turned largely to Al Smith (whom his family was to endorse when he died) in the following election.

Results

1924 United States presidential election in California[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Calvin Coolidge	733,250	57.20%	13
	Socialist	Robert M. La Follette, Sr.	424,649	33.13%	0
	Democratic	John W. Davis	105,514	8.23%	0
	Prohibition	Herman P. Faris	18,365	1.43%	0
	No party	Write-ins	122	0.01%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			1,281,900	100.00%	13
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	John Calvin Coolidge Republican		John William Davis Democratic		Robert M. La Follette, Sr. Socialist		Various candidates Other parties		Margin[lower-alpha 2]
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Alpine	88.14%	52	8.47%	5	1.69%	1	1.69%	1	79.66%[lower-alpha 3]	47
Orange	67.35%	19,913	8.68%	2,565	21.92%	6,480	2.06%	608	45.43%	13,433
Ventura	65.16%	5,705	10.41%	911	23.18%	2,029	1.26%	110	41.99%	3,676
Santa Barbara	64.69%	8,615	9.33%	1,242	24.72%	3,292	1.27%	169	39.97%	5,323
Los Angeles	65.51%	299,675	7.33%	33,554	25.63%	117,249	1.53%	6,979	39.88%	182,426
Riverside	61.99%	9,619	8.49%	1,318	27.09%	4,204	2.42%	375	34.90%	5,415
Monterey	61.07%	4,744	11.41%	886	26.20%	2,035	1.33%	103	34.87%	2,709
Santa Cruz	60.84%	5,402	9.02%	801	28.80%	2,557	1.34%	119	32.04%	2,845
Alameda	61.48%	81,454	6.05%	8,020	31.27%	41,434	1.19%	1,582	30.21%	40,020
Mendocino	56.46%	3,465	12.04%	739	30.15%	1,850	1.35%	83	26.32%	1,615
Stanislaus	56.86%	7,569	9.57%	1,274	30.99%	4,125	2.58%	344	25.87%	3,444
San Bernardino	56.93%	15,974	9.39%	2,634	31.08%	8,720	2.61%	733	25.85%	7,254
Santa Clara	58.02%	20,056	7.41%	2,560	33.19%	11,474	1.38%	478	24.83%	8,582
Sonoma	56.00%	9,535	10.38%	1,767	32.12%	5,469	1.51%	257	23.88%	4,066
Humboldt	56.82%	6,767	7.09%	845	34.83%	4,148	1.26%	150	21.99%	2,619
Mono	53.55%	166	14.52%	45	31.61%	98	0.32%	1	21.94%	68
San Benito	53.54%	1,443	13.40%	361	31.80%	857	1.26%	34	21.74%	586
Kings	50.00%	2,812	19.72%	1,109	28.65%	1,611	1.64%	92	21.35%	1,201
Tulare	50.79%	9,484	18.34%	3,425	29.47%	5,504	1.40%	261	21.31%	3,980
Napa	54.82%	3,605	10.19%	670	34.02%	2,237	0.97%	64	20.80%	1,368
Del Norte	52.63%	530	12.12%	122	31.98%	322	3.28%	33	20.66%	208
Merced	52.94%	3,573	10.52%	710	34.09%	2,301	2.44%	165	18.85%	1,272
Contra Costa	54.67%	9,061	6.72%	1,114	37.60%	6,231	1.01%	167	17.08%	2,830
San Mateo	55.27%	8,126	5.24%	771	38.73%	5,694	0.75%	111	16.54%	2,432
Marin	53.52%	5,780	6.07%	656	39.17%	4,230	1.24%	134	14.35%	1,550
Imperial	50.28%	3,455	11.04%	759	37.09%	2,549	1.59%	109	13.18%	906
Sutter	49.92%	1,617	11.33%	367	37.64%	1,219	1.11%	36	12.29%	398
Modoc	43.72%	731	22.37%	374	32.72%	547	1.20%	20	11.00%	184
Kern	46.08%	8,646	16.84%	3,159	36.00%	6,754	1.09%	204	10.08%	1,892
San Joaquin	48.91%	11,056	10.60%	2,397	39.30%	8,885	1.19%	269	9.60%	2,171
San Luis Obispo	49.01%	3,804	9.42%	731	39.44%	3,061	2.13%	165	9.57%	743
Colusa	43.84%	1,127	19.25%	495	34.58%	889	2.33%	60	9.26%	238
Inyo	47.52%	950	12.81%	256	38.97%	779	0.70%	14	8.55%	171
Lake	44.94%	795	14.75%	261	37.20%	658	3.11%	55	7.74%	137
Yuba	45.88%	1,735	11.26%	426	38.45%	1,454	4.42%	167	7.43%	281
Yolo	45.35%	2,470	14.63%	797	38.50%	2,097	1.52%	83	6.85%	373
Solano	48.00%	4,782	9.61%	957	41.39%	4,123	1.00%	100	6.62%	659
Tehama	45.97%	1,943	11.50%	486	39.44%	1,667	3.10%	131	6.53%	276
San Diego	48.99%	22,726	6.35%	2,944	43.54%	20,200	1.12%	521	5.45%	2,526
Glenn	44.84%	1,444	11.40%	367	41.30%	1,330	2.45%	79	3.54%	114
San Francisco	47.75%	73,494	6.37%	9,811	44.74%	68,864	1.14%	1,751	3.01%	4,630
Fresno	44.01%	15,635	12.98%	4,610	41.76%	14,836	1.26%	446	2.25%	799
Mariposa	40.23%	344	19.65%	168	38.83%	332	1.29%	11	1.40%	12
Madera	42.66%	1,518	12.65%	450	42.55%	1,514	2.14%	76	0.11%	4
Tuolumne	43.03%	1,287	11.94%	357	44.37%	1,327	0.67%	20	-1.34%	-40
Butte	42.25%	4,382	12.52%	1,299	44.18%	4,582	1.05%	109	-1.93%	-200
Shasta	41.95%	1,951	12.86%	598	44.06%	2,049	1.14%	53	-2.11%	-98
Lassen	40.78%	1,072	13.54%	356	44.28%	1,164	1.41%	37	-3.50%	-92
Amador	38.93%	719	17.11%	316	42.61%	787	1.35%	25	-3.68%	-68
Calaveras	39.44%	872	15.06%	333	44.10%	975	1.40%	31	-4.66%	-103
Nevada	42.23%	1,513	8.57%	307	46.94%	1,682	2.26%	81	-4.72%	-169
Siskiyou	40.58%	2,437	9.73%	584	47.36%	2,844	2.33%	140	-6.78%	-407
Trinity	36.48%	336	16.72%	154	44.95%	414	1.85%	17	-8.47%	-78
Sacramento	41.08%	13,400	7.01%	2,285	50.80%	16,570	1.11%	362	-9.72%	-3,170
Sierra	38.93%	276	10.30%	73	49.37%	350	1.41%	10	-10.44%	-74
Placer	36.63%	2,192	6.52%	390	54.98%	3,290	1.87%	112	-18.35%	-1,098
Plumas	32.92%	564	10.62%	182	55.81%	956	0.64%	11	-22.88%	-392
El Dorado	28.49%	852	12.07%	361	58.48%	1,749	0.97%	29	-29.99%	-897

Notes

1. Although La Follette ran under his own Progressive Party nationally, he ran in California under the endorsement of the Socialist Party of America and the "Committee for Progressive Political Action".
2. Because La Follette finished ahead of Davis in California as a whole, all margins given are Coolidge minus La Follette unless stated in the total for the county in question.
3. In this county where Davis did run second ahead of La Follette, the margin given is Coolidge vote minus Davis vote.

References

1. https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2018-general/sov/04-historical-voter-reg-participation.pdf
2. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798
3. Burnham Walter Dean; 'The "System of 1896" and the American Electorate', in Critical elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics (1970), pp. 74-79
4. Bentele, Keith G. and O'Brien, Erin E.; 'Jim Crow 2.0? Why States Consider and Adopt Restrictive Voter Access Policies', p. 1092; in Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 11, No. 4 (December 2013), pp. 1088-1116
5. Faykosh, Joseph D., Bowling Green State University; The Front Porch of the American People: James Cox and the Presidential Election of 1920 (thesis), p. 68
6. Hennings, Robert E.; 'California Democratic Politics in the Period of Republican Ascendancy'; Pacific Historical Review, vol. 31, no. 3 (August 1962), pp. 267-280
7. Shover, John L.; 'The California Progressives and the 1924 Campaign', in California Historical Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 1 (Spring, 1972), pp. 59-74
8. Richardson, Danny G.; Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s, p. 180 ISBN 0595481264
9. Johnston, Scott D.; 'Robert La Follette and the Socialists: Aspects of the 1924 Presidential Campaign Reexamined'; Social Science, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Spring 1975), pp. 69-77
10. Parrish, Michael E.; Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920-1941, pp. 70-71 ISBN 0393311341
11. Melcher, Daniel P.; 'The Challenge to Normalcy: The 1924 Election in California'; Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 2 (Summer 1978), pp. 155-182
12. Newman, Roger K.; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law, p. 153 ISBN 0300113005
13. Stark, Rodney and Christiano, Kevin J.; 'Support for the American Left, 1920-1924: The Opiate Thesis Reconsidered'; Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 31, No. 1 (March, 1992), pp. 62-75
14. Tucker, Garland; High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election, p. 191 ISBN 193711029X
15. Melcher, Daniel; "The Politics of Discontent: California Politics, 1920-1932,' (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, San Diego, 1975), pp. 152-156, 164-173.
16. "1924 Presidential General Election Results – California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2008-08-25.