1924 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

The 1924 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 18 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1924 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

November 4, 1924
Turnout	56.6%[1] 3.3 pp
Nominee Calvin Coolidge John W. Davis Robert M. La Follette Party Republican Democratic Progressive Home state Massachusetts West Virginia Wisconsin Running mate Charles G. Dawes Charles W. Bryan Burton K. Wheeler Electoral vote 18 0 0 Popular vote 703,476 280,831 141,225 Percentage 62.26% 24.86% 12.50%
County Results Coolidge   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%
President before election Calvin Coolidge Republican Elected President Calvin Coolidge Republican

Massachusetts was won in a landslide by incumbent Republican President Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, who was running against Democratic Ambassador John W. Davis of West Virginia and the Progressive Party’s Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin. Coolidge’s running mate was former Budget Director Charles G. Dawes of Illinois and Davis ran with Governor Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska, while La Follette ran with Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana.

Coolidge carried his home state overwhelmingly with 62.26% of the vote to Davis's 24.86%, a Republican victory margin of 37.41%. La Follette finished a strong third in the state with 12.50%.

Massachusetts had long been a typical Yankee Republican bastion in the wake of the Civil War, having voted Republican in every election since 1856, except in 1912, when former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt had run as a third party candidate against incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft, splitting the Republican vote and allowing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win Massachusetts with a plurality of only 35.53% of the vote.

Calvin Coolidge, a traditional Yankee Republican born in neighboring Vermont, had served as a popular former Governor of Massachusetts, and thus easily was able to dominate the state on the presidential level. Even in the midst of the nationwide Republican landslide, Massachusetts weighed in as a solid 12% more Republican than the national average.

The 1920s were a fiercely Republican decade in American politics, and Massachusetts in that era was a fiercely Republican state in presidential elections. The economic boom and social good feelings of the Roaring Twenties under popular Republican leadership virtually guaranteed Calvin Coolidge an easy win in the state against the conservative Southern Democrat John Davis,[2] who had little appeal in Northern states like Massachusetts. Coolidge won a strong majority statewide even with the Republican vote being split by the strong third party candidacy of Robert La Follette, a Republican Senator who ran as the Progressive Party candidate and peeled away the votes of many progressive Republicans.

Coolidge swept every county in the state of Massachusetts, and his 65.34% of the popular vote would prove to be his fifth strongest state in the 1924 election in terms of popular vote percentage after neighboring Vermont, Michigan, Maine and Pennsylvania.[3] To date, this is the last time a Republican presidential candidate has carried every county in Massachusetts as well as the last election in which a Republican presidential candidate has won Suffolk County, home to the state's capital and largest city, Boston.[4] From his time as governor, Coolidge remained relatively popular, for a Republican, among Irish Catholics and the other ethnic immigrant groups who populated Boston. Many of these voters would defect to the Democrats for Catholic Al Smith in 1928 and become reliable Democratic voters after that, making Boston a reliably Democratic city in every election that followed.

Results

1924 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Calvin Coolidge	703,476	62.26%	18
	Democratic	John W. Davis	280,831	24.86%	0
	Progressive	Robert M. La Follette	141,225	12.50%	0
	Communist	William Z. Foster	2,635	0.23%	0
	Socialist Labor	Frank T. Johns	1,668	0.15%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins	2	0.00%	0
Totals			1,129,837	100.00%	18

Results by county

County	John Calvin Coolidge Republican		John William Davis Democratic		Robert M. La Follette, Sr. Progressive[6]		Various candidates Other parties		Total votes cast[7]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Barnstable	7,333	85.50%	881	10.27%	339	3.95%	24	0.28%	8,577
Berkshire	21,106	58.93%	10,956	30.59%	3,637	10.15%	116	0.32%	35,815
Bristol	58,929	66.23%	19,802	22.25%	9,624	10.82%	625	0.70%	88,980
Dukes	1,182	86.91%	108	7.94%	69	5.07%	1	0.07%	1,360
Essex	92,918	66.58%	25,635	18.37%	20,390	14.61%	607	0.43%	139,550
Franklin	11,350	77.12%	2,089	14.19%	1,253	8.51%	25	0.17%	14,717
Hampden	46,489	59.97%	19,079	24.61%	11,683	15.07%	264	0.34%	77,515
Hampshire	13,918	66.23%	5,037	23.97%	2,014	9.58%	45	0.21%	21,014
Middlesex	162,530	63.68%	64,544	25.29%	27,510	10.78%	651	0.26%	255,235
Nantucket	708	79.64%	167	18.79%	12	1.35%	2	0.22%	889
Norfolk	57,948	71.12%	15,014	18.43%	8,269	10.15%	247	0.30%	81,478
Plymouth	34,728	68.97%	8,863	17.60%	6,549	13.01%	215	0.43%	50,355
Suffolk	104,658	47.14%	78,702	35.45%	37,574	16.93%	1,059	0.48%	221,993
Worcester	89,679	67.14%	31,171	23.34%	12,302	9.21%	424	0.32%	133,576
Totals	703,476	62.26%	280,831	24.86%	141,225	12.50%	4,305	0.38%	1,130,086

See also

• United States presidential elections in Massachusetts

References

1. Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.
2. Roseboom, Eugene Holloway and Eckes, Alfred E.; A History of Presidential Elections, from George Washington to Jimmy Carter; pp. 151-158 ISBN 0020364202
3. "1924 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
4. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
5. "1924 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
6. Geoelections; Popular Vote for Robert La Follette (.xlsx file for €15)
7. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 226-227 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press