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1912 United States presidential election in Maine

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1912 United States presidential election in Maine

← 1908 November 5, 1912 1916 →
 
Nominee Woodrow Wilson Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft
Party Democratic Progressive Republican
Home state New Jersey New York Ohio
Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Hiram Johnson Nicholas Murray Butler
Electoral vote 6 0 0
Popular vote 51,113 48,495 26,545
Percentage 39.43% 37.41% 20.48%

County Results

President before election

William Howard Taft
Republican

Elected President

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic

The 1912 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Maine was won by the Democratic nominees, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall. Wilson and Marshall defeated incumbent President William Howard Taft, and his running mate Vice President James S. Sherman and Progressive Party candidates, former President Theodore Roosevelt and his running mate California Governor Hiram Johnson.

Wilson won Maine by a narrow margin of 2.02%, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin Pierce in 1852 to win the state. This would be the final time until Lyndon B. Johnson won the state in 1964 where a Democratic presidential candidate would carry Maine. This is one of only two such cases since 1852 where Maine has not voted for the same candidate as fellow New England state Vermont, the other being 1968.

This was the only state that Wilson won in either of his two victories that would never support fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in any of his landslide victories in the 1930s and 1940s.[1] Lincoln County and Waldo County voted Democratic for the first time since 1880. Androscoggin, Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Sagadahoc, Washington, and York counties voted Democratic for the first time since 1852.

With 37.41% of the popular vote, Maine would prove to be Roosevelt's fifth strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election after South Dakota, California, Michigan and Minnesota.[2]

The Maine Republican Party supported Theodore Roosevelt during the 1912 Republican presidential primaries against President William Howard Taft. The Progressive Party was founded by Roosevelt supporters on July 31, 1912, at a convention in Portland, Maine. The Republicans was weakened after losing members including Charles H. Hitchborn, who was the treasurer of the party, although Warren C. Philbrook, the chair of the party, remained. Roosevelt's largest amount of support came from Aroostook County where he received over sixty percent of the vote. Three-fourths of Roosevelt's votes, worth 38,000 votes, came from Republicans while the remainder, worth 10,000 votes, came from Democrats.[3]

Results

[edit]
1912 United States presidential election in Maine[4]
Party Candidate Running mate Popular vote Electoral vote
Count % Count %
Democratic Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey Thomas Riley Marshall of Indiana 51,113 39.43% 6 100.00%
Progressive Theodore Roosevelt of New York Hiram Warren Johnson of California 48,495 37.41% 0 0.00%
Republican William Howard Taft of Ohio (incumbent) Nicholas Murray Butler of New York 26,545 20.48% 0 0.00%
Socialist Eugene Victor Debs of Indiana Emil Seidel of Wisconsin 2,541 1.96% 0 0.00%
Prohibition Eugene Wilder Chafin of Illinois Aaron Sherman Watkins of Ohio 946 0.73% 0 0.00%
Total 129,640 100.00% 6 100.00%

Results by county

[edit]
County Thomas Woodrow Wilson[3]
Democratic
William Howard Taft[3]
Republican
Theodore Roosevelt[5][3]
Progressive "Bull Moose"
Eugene Victor Debs[6][3]
Socialist
Eugene Wilder Chafin[6][3]
Prohibition
Margin[a] Total votes cast[7][3]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Androscoggin 4,516 44.38% 859 8.44% 4,424 43.47% 316 3.11% 61 0.60% 92 0.91% 10,176
Aroostook 1,924 24.63% 898 11.49% 4,799 61.42% 100 1.28% 92 1.18% -2,875 -36.79% 7,813
Cumberland 8,480 41.04% 5,154 24.95% 6,537 31.64% 355 1.72% 135 0.65% 1,943 9.40% 20,661
Franklin 1,421 37.36% 668 17.56% 1,633 42.93% 38 1.00% 43 1.13% -212 -5.57% 3,804
Hancock 2,655 43.09% 1,399 22.70% 1,932 31.35% 156 2.53% 20 0.32% 723 11.74% 6,162
Kennebec 4,397 37.82% 1,782 15.33% 5,196 44.69% 175 1.51% 76 0.65% -799 -6.87% 11,626
Knox 2,751 50.03% 1,097 19.95% 1,392 25.31% 233 4.24% 26 0.47% 1,359 24.72% 5,499
Lincoln 1,633 43.89% 457 12.28% 1,527 41.04% 83 2.23% 21 0.56% 106 2.85% 3,721
Oxford 2,941 39.79% 1,234 16.69% 3,068 41.50% 111 1.50% 38 0.51% -127 -1.71% 7,392
Penobscot 5,093 36.17% 3,367 23.91% 5,294 37.59% 145 1.03% 183 1.30% -201 -1.42% 14,082
Piscataquis 1,210 32.10% 807 21.41% 1,705 45.23% 20 0.53% 28 0.74% -495 -13.13% 3,770
Sagadahoc 1,331 38.06% 885 25.31% 1,129 32.28% 108 3.09% 44 1.26% 202 5.78% 3,497
Somerset 2,317 36.45% 1,235 19.43% 2,479 39.00% 286 4.50% 39 0.61% -162 -2.55% 6,356
Waldo 2,145 44.31% 881 18.20% 1,636 33.79% 146 3.02% 33 0.68% 509 10.52% 4,841
Washington 3,178 44.44% 1,862 26.03% 1,993 27.87% 86 1.20% 33 0.46% 1,185 16.57% 7,152
York 5,121 39.12% 3,960 30.25% 3,751 28.66% 183 1.40% 74 0.57% 1,161[b] 8.87% 13,089
Totals 51,113 39.43% 26,545 20.48% 48,495 37.41% 2,541 1.96% 946 0.73% 2,618 2.02% 129,641

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Because Wilson finished first and Roosevelt second in Maine as a whole and in all but one county, margin given is Wilson vote minus Roosevelt vote and percentage margin Wilson percentage minus Roosevelt percentage unless otherwise stated.
  2. ^ In this county where Taft did run second ahead of Roosevelt, margin given is Wilson vote minus Taft vote and percentage margin Wilson percentage minus Taft percentage.

References

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  1. ^ "Historical U.S. Presidential Elections 1789-2020 - 270toWin". 270toWin.com. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  2. ^ "1912 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g King, Elizabeth (1933). The Progressive Movement of 1912 and Third Party Movement of 1924 in Maine. University of Maine Press.
  4. ^ "1912 Presidential General Election Results – Maine". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  5. ^ Géoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote Archived 2018-06-13 at the Wayback Machine (.xlsx file for €15)
  6. ^ a b Géoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Eugene Debs (.xlsx file for €15)
  7. ^ Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 223-224 ISBN 9780804716963