1892 United States presidential election in Florida

Main article: 1892 United States presidential election

The 1892 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 8, 1892. All contemporary 44 states were part of the 1892 United States presidential election. Florida voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

1892 United States presidential election in Florida

← 1888 November 8, 1892 1896 →

Nominee Grover Cleveland James B. Weaver Party Democratic Populist Home state New York Iowa Running mate Adlai Stevenson I James G. Field Electoral vote 4 0 Popular vote 30,153 4,843 Percentage 85.01% 13.65%

County Results Cleveland   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100%

President before election Benjamin Harrison Republican Elected President Grover Cleveland Democratic

This election marks the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of Jim Crow-era politics in Florida. This change had been proposed as early as 1884, but the anti-Southern animus of the Harrison regime meant that Florida's large landowners felt the disfranchisement of blacks had become urgent.^[1] A poll tax was introduced in 1889^[2] as were the so-called “Myers” and “Dortch” laws which required voters in more populous settlements to register their voting precincts.^[3] This dramatically cut voter registration amongst blacks and poorer whites, almost halving the number of votes cast. Since Florida completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession, its Republican Party between 1872 and 1888 was entirely dependent upon black votes. Thus this disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by a poll tax introduced in 1889^[4] left Florida as devoid of Republican adherents as Louisiana, Mississippi or South Carolina.^[5]

Thus, Florida's few remaining Republicans decided not to put up presidential electors and urged their supported to back Populist James B. Weaver,^[6] creating the first case where an incumbent president standing for re-election has not been on all state's ballots.^[a] Weaver thought he had “magnificent” chances in the impoverished South,^[7] and campaigned heavily there.^[7] but as it turned out the halving of the electorate meant he could gain very little support. Weaver was not helped by his controversial decision to take a woman – Mary Lease – on his campaigns, as the South thought any political involvement degraded womanhood.^[8] Weaver did nonetheless win counties in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas.

Florida was won in a landslide by the Democratic nominees, former President Grover Cleveland of New York and his running mate Adlai Stevenson I of Illinois in what remains as the best performance in Florida as of 2020. Weaver took what remained of the Black Republican vote, but gained less than 14%; nonetheless this is one of only five times in Florida that a candidate other than a Republican, Democrat, or Whig (the Democrat's main opposition before the formation of the Republican Party) got over 10% of the vote.^[b]

Results

United States presidential election in Florida, 1892[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Grover Cleveland	30,153	85.01%	4
	People's	James Weaver	4,843	13.65%	0
	Prohibition	John Bidwell	475	1.34%	0
Totals			35,471	100.00%	4
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

	Stephen Grover Cleveland[10] Democratic		James Baird Weaver[11] People's		John Bidwell[12] Prohibition		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Alachua	1,447	84.27%	234	13.63%	36	2.10%	1,213	70.65%	1,717
Baker	187	54.84%	154	45.16%	0	0.00%	33	9.68%	341
Bradford	551	79.39%	139	20.03%	4	0.58%	412	59.37%	694
Brevard	449	88.74%	36	7.11%	21	4.15%	413	81.62%	506
Calhoun	155	73.46%	56	26.54%	0	0.00%	99	46.92%	211
Citrus	316	80.82%	71	18.16%	4	1.02%	245	62.66%	391
Clay	404	85.41%	68	14.38%	1	0.21%	336	71.04%	473
Columbia	822	94.16%	49	5.61%	2	0.23%	773	88.55%	873
Dade	109	95.61%	1	0.88%	4	3.51%	105[c]	92.11%	114
De Soto	566	68.61%	256	31.03%	3	0.36%	310	37.58%	825
Duval	1,442	95.18%	68	4.49%	5	0.33%	1,374	90.69%	1,515
Escambia	2,616	95.37%	127	4.63%	0	0.00%	2,489	90.74%	2,743
Franklin	304	100.00%	0	0.00%			304	100.00%	304
Gadsden	522	91.90%	46	8.10%			476	83.80%	568
Hamilton	605	79.19%	159	20.81%			446	58.38%	764
Hernando	227	73.23%	81	26.13%	2	0.65%	146	47.10%	310
Hillsborough	2,718	95.60%	58	2.04%	67	2.36%	2,660	93.56%	2,843
Holmes	285	66.28%	145	33.72%	0	0.00%	140	32.56%	430
Jackson	1,091	79.12%	288	20.88%			803	58.23%	1,379
Jefferson	1,533	100.00%	0	0.00%			1,533	100.00%	1,533
Lafayette	258	90.53%	27	9.47%			231	81.05%	285
Lake	1,137	85.68%	105	7.91%	85	6.41%	1,032	77.77%	1,327
Lee	153	96.23%	5	3.14%	1	0.63%	148	93.08%	159
Leon	634	100.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	634	100.00%	634
Levy	436	71.59%	172	28.24%	1	0.16%	264	43.35%	609
Liberty	84	54.19%	71	45.81%	0	0.00%	13	8.39%	155
Madison	855	95.64%	39	4.36%		0.00%	816	91.28%	894
Manatee	348	83.25%	62	14.83%	8	1.91%	286	68.42%	418
Marion	1,133	67.32%	533	31.67%	17	1.01%	600	35.65%	1,683
Monroe	767	90.98%	67	7.95%	9	1.07%	700	83.04%	843
Nassau	597	98.84%	7	1.16%	0	0.00%	590	97.68%	604
Orange	1,142	92.10%	39	3.15%	59	4.76%	1,083[c]	87.34%	1,240
Osceola	259	94.18%	13	4.73%	3	1.09%	246	89.45%	275
Pasco	471	83.22%	92	16.25%	3	0.53%	379	66.96%	566
Polk	801	80.66%	168	16.92%	24	2.42%	633	63.75%	993
Putnam	885	78.74%	174	15.48%	65	5.78%	711	63.26%	1,124
Santa Rosa	452	83.86%	87	16.14%	0	0.00%	365	67.72%	539
St. Johns	589	95.46%	28	4.54%			561	90.92%	617
Sumter	444	59.28%	305	40.72%			139	18.56%	749
Suwannee	648	71.52%	258	28.48%			390	43.05%	906
Taylor	125	52.30%	114	47.70%			11	4.60%	239
Volusia	785	85.14%	91	9.87%	46	4.99%	694	75.27%	922
Wakulla	173	94.54%	10	5.46%	0	0.00%	163	89.07%	183
Walton	313	53.05%	274	46.44%	3	0.51%	39	6.61%	590
Washington	315	82.25%	66	17.23%	2	0.52%	249	65.01%	383
Totals	30,153	85.01%	4,843	13.65%	475	1.34%	25,310	71.35%	35,471

Notes

1. This has occurred three times since. William Howard Taft in 1912 was not on the ballot in either California or South Dakota, while Harry S. Truman in 1948 and Lyndon Johnson in 1964 were both kept off the Alabama ballot.
2. The others are Constitutional Unionist John Bell in 1860, States’ Rights Democrat Strom Thurmond in 1948, American Independent George Wallace in 1968 and Ross Perot in 1992.
3. In this county where Bidwell ran second ahead of Weaver, margin given is Cleveland vote minus Bidwell vote and percentage margin Cleveland percentage minus Bidwell percentage.

References

1. Perman, Michael; Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888-1908, pp. 67-68
2. Brooker, Russell; The American Civil Rights Movement 1865-1950: Black Agency and People of Good Will, p. 61 ISBN 0739179926
3. Ogden, Frederick D. (1958); The Poll Tax in the South, p. 118
4. Silbey, Joel H. and Bogue, Allan G.; The History of American Electoral Behavior, p. 210 ISBN 140087114X
5. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
6. Knowles, George Harmon (1942); The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1892, p. 242
7. Richardson, Darcy G.; Others: Third Parties During the Populist Period, p. 138 ISBN 0595443044
8. Kauffman, Gina; More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Kansas Women, p. 36 ISBN 0762776331
9. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – Florida
10. Géoelections; Presidential election of 1892 Popular Vote (.xlsx file for €15)
11. Géoelections; Popular Vote for John Bidwell (.xlsx file for €15)
12. Géoelections; Popular Vote for James B. Weaver (.xlsx file for €15)