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1904 United States presidential election in Florida

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1904 United States presidential election in Florida

← 1900 November 8, 1904 1908 →
 
Nominee Alton B. Parker Theodore Roosevelt Eugene V. Debs
Party Democratic Republican Socialist
Home state New York New York Indiana
Running mate Henry G. Davis Charles W. Fairbanks Ben Hanford
Electoral vote 5 0 0
Popular vote 27,046 8,314 2,337
Percentage 68.80% 21.15% 5.95%

County Results
Parker
  40–50%
  50–60%
  60–70%
  70–80%
  80–90%


President before election

Theodore Roosevelt
Republican

Elected President

Theodore Roosevelt
Republican

The 1904 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 8, 1904. Voter chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice-president.

With the disenfranchisement of African-Americans by a poll tax in 1889,[1] Florida become a one-party Democratic state, which it was to remain until the 1950s, apart from the anti-Catholic vote against Al Smith in 1928. 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. Thus Florida's Republican Party between 1872 and 1888 was entirely dependent upon black votes, a fact graphically seen when one considers that – although very few blacks in Florida had ever voted within the previous fifty-five years – at the time of the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright, half of Florida's registered Republicans were still black.[2] Thus disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites left Florida as devoid of Republican adherents as Louisiana, Mississippi or South Carolina.[3]

Nevertheless, Florida's one-party Democratic rule was to be marginally interrupted in the 1900s by considerable Socialist and Populist growth, centered in Tampa and Jacksonville, and southern Lee County with its "Koreshan Unity" sect[4] Immigrants and farmers fearing loss of tenure were able to give Eugene V. Debs, in the second of his five Presidential runs, over ten percent of the vote in several counties of South Florida, and Populist Thomas E. Watson substantial votes in many pineywoods counties. However, this did not threaten the Democrats' monopoly on statewide power except in Calhoun County which Democratic nominee Alton B. Parker held by just two votes and William Jennings Bryan was to lose in 1908.

Florida was won by the Democratic nominees, former Chief Judge of New York Court of Appeals Alton B. Parker and his running mate, former US Senator Henry G. Davis of West Virginia. They defeated the Republican nominees, incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt of New York and his running mate Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana. Parker won the state by a landslide margin of 47.65%.

Results

[edit]
1904 United States presidential election in Florida[5]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democrat Alton B. Parker 27,046 68.80% 5
Republican Theodore Roosevelt (incumbent) 8,314 21.15% 0
Socialist Eugene V. Debs 2,337 5.95% 0
People's Thomas E. Watson 1,605 4.08% 0
Write-ins[a] 7 0.02% 0
Totals 39,302 100.00% 5

Results by county

[edit]
County Alton Brooks Parker
Democratic
Theodore Roosevelt
Republican
Eugene Victor Debs[6]
Socialist
Thomas E. Watson[6]
People's
Margin Total votes cast[7]
# % # % # % # % # %
Alachua 1,277 66.41% 543 28.24% 58 3.02% 45 2.34% 734 38.17% 1,923
Baker 207 61.06% 120 35.40% 12 3.54% 0 0.00% 87 25.66% 339
Bradford 633 79.32% 124 15.54% 26 3.26% 15 1.88% 509 63.78% 798
Brevard 553 77.78% 125 17.58% 30 4.22% 3 0.42% 428 60.20% 711
Calhoun 162 40.81% 160 40.30% 21 5.29% 54 13.60% 2 0.50% 397
Citrus 369 88.49% 21 5.04% 17 4.08% 10 2.40% 348 83.45% 417
Clay 247 76.00% 50 15.38% 26 8.00% 2 0.62% 197 60.62% 325
Columbia 595 60.22% 317 32.09% 33 3.34% 43 4.35% 278 28.14% 988
Dade 887 69.57% 307 24.08% 59 4.63% 22 1.73% 580 45.49% 1,275
De Soto 721 71.32% 188 18.60% 26 2.57% 76 7.52% 533 52.72% 1,011
Duval 2,011 65.65% 671 21.91% 235 7.67% 146 4.77% 1,340 43.75% 3,063
Escambia 1,573 72.86% 497 23.02% 66 3.06% 23 1.07% 1,076 49.84% 2,159
Franklin 336 69.28% 144 29.69% 2 0.41% 3 0.62% 192 39.59% 485
Gadsden 471 87.87% 54 10.07% 4 0.75% 7 1.31% 417 77.80% 536
Hamilton 455 71.99% 155 24.53% 6 0.95% 16 2.53% 300 47.47% 632
Hernando 172 85.57% 12 5.97% 6 2.99% 11 5.47% 160 79.60% 201
Hillsborough 1,976 62.71% 516 16.38% 441 14.00% 218 6.92% 1,460 46.33% 3,151
Holmes 284 60.04% 140 29.60% 16 3.38% 33 6.98% 144 30.44% 473
Jackson 1,186 68.59% 354 20.47% 96 5.55% 93 5.38% 832 48.12% 1,729
Jefferson 471 77.34% 123 20.20% 9 1.48% 6 0.99% 348 57.14% 609
Lafayette 275 63.36% 122 28.11% 20 4.61% 17 3.92% 153 35.25% 434
Lake 529 72.66% 148 20.33% 33 4.53% 18 2.47% 381 52.34% 728
Lee 266 53.96% 84 17.04% 122 24.75% 21 4.26% 144[b] 29.21% 493
Leon 649 87.82% 84 11.37% 4 0.54% 2 0.27% 565 76.45% 739
Levy 426 69.38% 151 24.59% 20 3.26% 17 2.77% 275 44.79% 614
Liberty 143 71.14% 50 24.88% 3 1.49% 5 2.49% 93 46.27% 201
Madison 595 87.76% 66 9.73% 12 1.77% 5 0.74% 529 78.02% 678
Manatee 592 69.24% 91 10.64% 124 14.50% 48 5.61% 501 58.60% 855
Marion 1,091 75.14% 230 15.84% 69 4.75% 62 4.27% 861 59.30% 1,452
Monroe 680 61.21% 287 25.83% 75 6.75% 69 6.21% 393 35.37% 1,111
Nassau 509 67.33% 161 21.30% 56 7.41% 30 3.97% 348 46.03% 756
Orange 874 70.09% 315 25.26% 42 3.37% 16 1.28% 559 44.83% 1,247
Osceola 271 76.77% 65 18.41% 12 3.40% 5 1.42% 206 58.36% 353
Pasco 453 79.47% 96 16.84% 10 1.75% 11 1.93% 357 62.63% 570
Polk 869 81.44% 125 11.72% 57 5.34% 16 1.50% 744 69.73% 1,067
Putnam 562 69.13% 210 25.83% 16 1.97% 25 3.08% 352 43.30% 813
St. Johns 550 56.76% 204 21.05% 148 15.27% 67 6.91% 346 35.71% 969
Santa Rosa 403 73.41% 73 13.30% 46 8.38% 27 4.92% 330 60.11% 549
Sumter 316 63.20% 61 12.20% 55 11.00% 68 13.60% 248[c] 49.60% 500
Suwannee 584 75.84% 125 16.23% 29 3.77% 32 4.16% 459 59.61% 770
Taylor 168 53.00% 119 37.54% 4 1.26% 26 8.20% 49 15.46% 317
Volusia 654 62.29% 263 25.05% 70 6.67% 63 6.00% 391 37.24% 1,050
Wakulla 233 82.33% 39 13.78% 10 3.53% 1 0.35% 194 68.55% 283
Walton 354 46.89% 322 42.65% 44 5.83% 35 4.64% 32 4.24% 755
Washington 414 53.35% 202 26.03% 67 8.63% 93 11.98% 212 27.32% 776
Totals 27,046 68.82% 8,314 21.15% 2,337 5.95% 1,605 4.08% 18,732 47.66% 39,302

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ These write-in votes were not listed by county.
  2. ^ In this county where Debs ran second ahead of Roosevelt, margin given is Parker vote minus Debs vote and percentage margin Parker percentage minus Watson percentage.
  3. ^ In this county where Watson ran second ahead of Roosevelt, margin given is Parker vote minus Watson vote and percentage margin Parker percentage minus Watson percentage.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Silbey, Joel H. and Bogue, Allan G.; The History of American Electoral Behavior, p. 210 ISBN 140087114X
  2. ^ See Price, Hugh Douglas; 'The Negro and Florida Politics, 1944-1954'; The Journal of Politics, Vol. 17, No. 2 (May, 1955), pp. 198-220
  3. ^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
  4. ^ Griffin, R. Steven; ‘Workers of the Sunshine State, Unite! The Florida Socialist Party during the Progressive Era, 1900-1920’ (thesis)
  5. ^ "1904 Presidential General Election Results – Florida". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Géoelections; Popular Vote for Eugene V. Debs (1904) (.xlsx file for €15)
  7. ^ Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 156-161 ISBN 9780804716963