1908 United States presidential election in Colorado

Main article: 1908 United States presidential election

The 1908 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 3, 1908, as part of the 1908 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1908 United States presidential election in Colorado

← 1904 November 3, 1908 (1908-11-03) 1912 →

Nominee William Jennings Bryan William Howard Taft Party Democratic Republican Home state Nebraska Ohio Running mate John W. Kern James S. Sherman Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 126,644 123,693 Percentage 48.00% 46.88%

County Results Bryan   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Taft   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%

President before election Theodore Roosevelt Republican Elected President William Howard Taft Republican

The 1908 Democratic National Convention was held in Denver between July 7 and 10.

Colorado was won by the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan and his running mate John W. Kern. They defeated the Republican nominee, Secretary of War William Howard Taft and his running mate James S. Sherman. Bryan won the state by a narrow margin of 1.12%.

Bryan had previously won Colorado against William McKinley in both 1896 and 1900. Until 2016, this was the last presidential election where a Democrat carried Colorado without winning the presidency, and was the last time until 2024 that the state had backed a Democrat who lost the popular vote.

Results

1908 United States presidential election in Colorado[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	William Jennings Bryan	126,644	48.00%	5
	Republican	William Howard Taft	123,693	46.88%	0
	Socialist	Eugene V. Debs	7,960	3.02%	0
	Prohibition	Eugene W. Chafin	5,559	2.11%	0
	Write-ins	Scattered	2[a]	0.00%	0

Results by county

County	William Jennings Bryan[2] Democratic		William Howard Taft[2] Republican		Eugene Victor Debs[2] Socialist		Eugene Wilder Chafin[2] Prohibition		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Dolores	61.95%	184	23.23%	69	14.81%	44	0.00%	0	38.72%	115
Pitkin	65.94%	1,262	27.74%	531	5.59%	107	0.73%	14	38.19%	731
Mineral	67.13%	488	29.99%	218	2.34%	17	0.55%	4	37.14%	270
Montezuma	63.37%	948	29.41%	440	5.75%	86	1.47%	22	33.96%	508
Summit	64.95%	743	31.99%	366	2.62%	30	0.44%	5	32.95%	377
Ouray	64.24%	1,085	31.91%	539	3.67%	62	0.18%	3	32.33%	546
Clear Creek	65.26%	1,702	33.44%	872	0.92%	24	0.38%	10	31.83%	830
Park	61.74%	807	35.58%	465	2.45%	32	0.23%	3	26.17%	342
Gunnison	58.89%	1,481	35.35%	889	4.53%	114	1.23%	31	23.54%	592
Eagle	59.06%	828	37.16%	521	3.21%	45	0.57%	8	21.90%	307
La Plata	53.40%	2,004	36.80%	1,381	8.66%	325	1.15%	43	16.60%	623
Gilpin	55.56%	1,185	39.52%	843	3.61%	77	1.31%	28	16.03%	342
San Juan	54.51%	774	38.52%	547	6.62%	94	0.35%	5	15.99%	227
Teller	56.26%	4,192	40.45%	3,014	2.89%	215	0.40%	30	15.81%	1,178
Lake	55.41%	2,652	40.08%	1,918	4.07%	195	0.44%	21	15.34%	734
Hinsdale	53.35%	215	38.71%	156	6.95%	28	0.99%	4	14.64%	59
Chaffee	52.06%	1,679	38.23%	1,233	8.25%	266	1.46%	47	13.83%	446
Routt	54.57%	1,403	42.71%	1,098	1.71%	44	1.01%	26	11.86%	305
Garfield	52.99%	1,898	41.99%	1,504	2.79%	100	2.23%	80	11.00%	394
Rio Blanco	53.38%	466	43.99%	384	2.18%	19	0.46%	4	9.39%	82
Montrose	47.40%	1,461	38.71%	1,193	10.87%	335	3.02%	93	8.70%	268
Boulder	49.63%	5,772	41.76%	4,856	4.33%	503	4.28%	498	7.88%	916
Custer	52.21%	555	46.94%	499	0.38%	4	0.47%	5	5.27%	56
Pueblo	50.77%	8,092	46.04%	7,337	1.56%	249	1.63%	259	4.74%	755
Denver	50.44%	33,145	45.95%	30,193	2.30%	1,508	1.31%	861	4.49%	2,952
Otero	48.73%	3,542	44.47%	3,232	2.45%	178	4.35%	316	4.27%	310
Delta	46.85%	2,006	42.92%	1,838	7.96%	341	2.27%	97	3.92%	168
Yuma	48.34%	1,148	44.67%	1,061	4.88%	116	2.11%	50	3.66%	87
San Miguel	47.61%	927	45.30%	882	5.75%	112	1.34%	26	2.31%	45
Fremont	47.31%	3,146	46.15%	3,069	3.14%	209	3.40%	226	1.16%	77
Rio Grande	49.24%	1,139	48.51%	1,122	1.12%	26	1.12%	26	0.73%	17
Saguache	49.43%	817	49.06%	811	1.15%	19	0.36%	6	0.36%	6
Archuleta	46.25%	505	46.06%	503	4.49%	49	3.21%	35	0.18%	2
Jefferson	47.84%	2,583	48.58%	2,623	1.98%	107	1.59%	86	-0.74%	-40
Adams	46.46%	1,232	49.06%	1,301	2.98%	79	1.51%	40	-2.60%	-69
Mesa	41.56%	2,824	44.87%	3,049	7.37%	501	6.20%	421	-3.31%	-225
Grand	47.24%	487	51.31%	529	1.07%	11	0.39%	4	-4.07%	-42
Logan	44.94%	950	49.86%	1,054	1.09%	23	4.12%	87	-4.92%	-104
Bent	45.40%	819	50.72%	915	0.72%	13	3.16%	57	-5.32%	-96
Arapahoe	44.70%	1,340	50.50%	1,514	2.97%	89	1.83%	55	-5.80%	-174
Kiowa	44.52%	406	51.97%	474	0.88%	8	2.63%	24	-7.46%	-68
Weld	42.87%	4,650	51.05%	5,537	2.23%	242	3.84%	417	-8.18%	-887
Baca	44.53%	179	53.48%	215	1.74%	7	0.25%	1	-8.96%	-36
Larimer	41.30%	3,629	51.09%	4,489	2.73%	240	4.87%	428	-9.79%	-860
Elbert	42.23%	785	52.34%	973	3.71%	69	1.72%	32	-10.11%	-188
Douglas	44.23%	629	54.78%	779	0.49%	7	0.49%	7	-10.55%	-150
Phillips	42.89%	401	54.33%	508	0.43%	4	2.35%	22	-11.44%	-107
Kit Carson	41.39%	752	54.10%	983	2.26%	41	2.26%	41	-12.71%	-231
Conejos	43.13%	1,335	56.09%	1,736	0.39%	12	0.39%	12	-12.96%	-401
El Paso	39.79%	5,995	53.25%	8,022	3.24%	488	3.72%	560	-13.46%	-2,027
Cheyenne	40.42%	331	54.33%	445	2.56%	21	2.69%	22	-13.92%	-114
Las Animas	41.55%	4,212	56.39%	5,716	1.67%	169	0.39%	40	-14.84%	-1,504
Morgan	39.75%	1,208	55.02%	1,672	1.78%	54	3.46%	105	-15.27%	-464
Prowers	37.72%	1,015	53.14%	1,430	4.24%	114	4.91%	132	-15.42%	-415
Lincoln	40.79%	576	56.23%	794	1.35%	19	1.63%	23	-15.44%	-218
Washington	40.42%	424	57.10%	599	1.14%	12	1.33%	14	-16.68%	-175
Costilla	34.36%	559	64.60%	1,051	0.74%	12	0.31%	5	-30.24%	-492
Sedgwick	32.86%	278	64.30%	544	0.35%	3	2.48%	21	-31.44%	-266
Huerfano	19.85%	776	78.64%	3,074	1.07%	42	0.43%	17	-58.79%	-2,298

Notes

1. These two write-in votes were not ascribed to any county.

References

1. "1908 Presidential General Election Results – Colorado". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
2. Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1908 (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)