1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota

Main article: 1912 United States presidential election

The 1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota

← 1908 November 5, 1912 1916 →

Nominee Theodore Roosevelt Woodrow Wilson Party Progressive Democratic Home state New York New Jersey Running mate Hiram Johnson Thomas R. Marshall Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 58,811 48,942 Percentage 50.56% 42.07%

County Results Roosevelt   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Wilson   40-50%   50-60%   70-80%

President before election William Howard Taft Republican Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

South Dakota voted for the Republican nominee, former president Theodore Roosevelt, over the Democratic nominee, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, by a margin of 8.49%.

Despite incumbent president William Howard Taft winning the national Republican nomination, the South Dakota Republican Party, under the control of progressives and heavily influenced by senator Coe I. Crawford, instead nominated electors pledged to Theodore Roosevelt, with the Progressive Party not appearing on the ballot.^[1] This selection proved controversial with conservative Taft supporting Republicans who unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the decision in court.^[2] As a result, South Dakota was the only state in the 1912 election not to have president Taft either on the ballot or as a write in option (as in California).^[a] The state's other senator Robert J. Gamble, who supported Taft, predicted that the anger amongst conservative Republicans was such that many would support Woodrow Wilson purely to defeat Roosevelt.^[3] Despite this Roosevelt carried the state albeit with a much reduced margin from Taft's victory in 1908.

With 50.56% of the popular vote, South Dakota would prove to be Roosevelt's strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election and the only one in which he achieved a majority of the vote.^[4] This was the only non-former Confederate state to give any candidate an absolute majority of the vote.

Results

1912 United States presidential election in South Dakota^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Theodore Roosevelt	58,811	50.56%
	Democratic	Woodrow Wilson	48,942	42.07%
	Socialist	Eugene V. Debs	4,662	4.01%
	Prohibition	Eugene Chafin	3,910	3.36%
Total votes			116,325	100%

Results by county

County[6]	Theodore Roosevelt Republican		Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic		Eugene Victor Debs Socialist		Eugene Wilder Chafin Prohibition		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Aurora	652	41.69%	801	51.21%	43	2.75%	68	4.35%	-149	-9.53%	1,564
Beadle	1,493	46.76%	1,464	45.85%	166	5.20%	70	2.19%	29	0.91%	3,193
Bennett	68	26.88%	179	70.75%	3	1.19%	3	1.19%	-111	-43.87%	253
Bon Homme	1,228	51.77%	1,059	44.65%	45	1.90%	40	1.69%	169	7.12%	2,372
Brookings	1,389	58.00%	740	30.90%	58	2.42%	208	8.68%	649	27.10%	2,395
Brown	1,746	35.57%	2,488	50.69%	385	7.84%	289	5.89%	-742	-15.12%	4,908
Brule	643	40.96%	842	53.63%	67	4.27%	18	1.15%	-199	-12.68%	1,570
Buffalo	83	42.56%	105	53.85%	4	2.05%	3	1.54%	-22	-11.28%	195
Butte	649	44.36%	601	41.08%	189	12.92%	24	1.64%	48	3.28%	1,463
Campbell	574	74.93%	150	19.58%	10	1.31%	32	4.18%	424	55.35%	766
Charles Mix	1,817	51.26%	1,625	45.84%	59	1.66%	44	1.24%	192	5.42%	3,545
Clark	949	54.67%	668	38.48%	36	2.07%	83	4.78%	281	16.19%	1,736
Clay	1,262	55.69%	929	41.00%	27	1.19%	48	2.12%	333	14.70%	2,266
Codington	1,195	48.44%	1,111	45.03%	71	2.88%	90	3.65%	84	3.40%	2,467
Corson	508	49.42%	455	44.26%	49	4.77%	16	1.56%	53	5.16%	1,028
Custer	395	43.26%	419	45.89%	91	9.97%	8	0.88%	-24	-2.63%	913
Davison	1,364	48.78%	1,266	45.28%	68	2.43%	98	3.51%	98	3.51%	2,796
Day	1,209	51.87%	787	33.76%	111	4.76%	224	9.61%	422	18.10%	2,331
Deuel	887	62.69%	441	31.17%	15	1.06%	72	5.09%	446	31.52%	1,415
Dewey	509	52.26%	411	42.20%	42	4.31%	12	1.23%	98	10.06%	974
Douglas	765	50.80%	714	47.41%	11	0.73%	16	1.06%	51	3.39%	1,506
Edmunds	640	43.13%	729	49.12%	26	1.75%	89	6.00%	-89	-6.00%	1,484
Fall River	846	50.09%	712	42.16%	100	5.92%	31	1.84%	134	7.93%	1,689
Faulk	568	43.76%	615	47.38%	23	1.77%	92	7.09%	-47	-3.62%	1,298
Grant	828	52.34%	619	39.13%	55	3.48%	80	5.06%	209	13.21%	1,582
Gregory	1,348	50.96%	1,176	44.46%	96	3.63%	25	0.95%	172	6.50%	2,645
Hamlin	1,058	66.79%	474	29.92%	17	1.07%	35	2.21%	584	36.87%	1,584
Hand	738	43.54%	826	48.73%	44	2.60%	87	5.13%	-88	-5.19%	1,695
Hanson	708	50.46%	632	45.05%	21	1.50%	42	2.99%	76	5.42%	1,403
Harding	600	54.45%	325	29.49%	113	10.25%	64	5.81%	275	24.95%	1,102
Hughes	447	41.50%	544	50.51%	63	5.85%	23	2.14%	-97	-9.01%	1,077
Hutchinson	1,451	67.84%	647	30.25%	12	0.56%	29	1.36%	804	37.59%	2,139
Hyde	398	56.86%	232	33.14%	53	7.57%	17	2.43%	166	23.71%	700
Jerauld	545	47.52%	436	38.01%	11	0.96%	155	13.51%	109	9.50%	1,147
Kingsbury	1,152	53.23%	747	34.52%	113	5.22%	152	7.02%	405	18.72%	2,164
Lake	1,174	59.87%	657	33.50%	79	4.03%	51	2.60%	517	26.36%	1,961
Lawrence	1,692	37.84%	2,412	53.95%	326	7.29%	41	0.92%	-720	-16.10%	4,471
Lincoln	1,674	66.40%	719	28.52%	56	2.22%	72	2.86%	955	37.88%	2,521
Lyman	990	51.43%	766	39.79%	135	7.01%	34	1.77%	224	11.64%	1,925
Marshall	601	47.85%	541	43.07%	45	3.58%	69	5.49%	60	4.78%	1,256
McCook	1,063	49.33%	962	44.64%	56	2.60%	74	3.43%	101	4.69%	2,155
McPherson	649	65.23%	327	32.86%	6	0.60%	13	1.31%	322	32.36%	995
Meade	1,032	46.28%	975	43.72%	152	6.82%	71	3.18%	57	2.56%	2,230
Mellette	261	44.01%	320	53.96%	5	0.84%	7	1.18%	-59	-9.95%	593
Miner	851	51.33%	720	43.43%	39	2.35%	48	2.90%	131	7.90%	1,658
Minnehaha	3,051	50.20%	2,576	42.38%	256	4.21%	195	3.21%	475	7.82%	6,078
Moody	932	52.10%	637	35.61%	119	6.65%	101	5.65%	295	16.49%	1,789
Pennington	1,073	45.52%	1,135	48.15%	117	4.96%	32	1.36%	-62	-2.63%	2,357
Perkins	1,052	50.07%	832	39.60%	177	8.42%	40	1.90%	220	10.47%	2,101
Potter	439	48.72%	423	46.95%	17	1.89%	22	2.44%	16	1.78%	901
Roberts	1,361	55.35%	812	33.02%	201	8.17%	85	3.46%	549	22.33%	2,459
Sanborn	880	56.63%	577	37.13%	19	1.22%	78	5.02%	303	19.50%	1,554
Spink	1,432	47.34%	1,347	44.53%	128	4.23%	118	3.90%	85	2.81%	3,025
Stanley	981	44.29%	1,051	47.45%	137	6.19%	46	2.08%	-70	-3.16%	2,215
Sully	292	51.05%	242	42.31%	19	3.32%	19	3.32%	50	8.74%	572
Tripp	1,153	51.27%	982	43.66%	82	3.65%	32	1.42%	171	7.60%	2,249
Turner	1,603	61.35%	906	34.67%	22	0.84%	82	3.14%	697	26.67%	2,613
Union	1,396	56.54%	965	39.08%	22	0.89%	86	3.48%	431	17.46%	2,469
Walworth	585	52.19%	451	40.23%	55	4.91%	30	2.68%	134	11.95%	1,121
Yankton	1,511	51.61%	1,289	44.02%	61	2.08%	67	2.29%	222	7.58%	2,928
Ziebach	371	48.43%	349	45.56%	36	4.70%	10	1.31%	22	2.87%	766
Totals	58,811	50.56%	48,942	42.07%	4,662	4.01%	3,910	3.36%	9,869	8.48%	116,325

See also

• United States presidential elections in South Dakota

Notes

1. Other incumbent Presidents not on the ballot in all states have been Benjamin Harrison in Florida in 1892, Taft in California also during the 1912 election, Harry S. Truman in Alabama in 1948, and Lyndon B. Johnson in also in Alabama in 1964.

References

1. Holt, James (1967). Congressional Insurgents and the Party System, 1909-1916. Harvard University Press. p. 68.
2. Schlup, Leonard. Coe I. Crawford and the Progressive Campaign of 1912 (PDF). p. 122. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
3. Schlup, Leonard. Coe I. Crawford and the Progressive Campaign of 1912 (PDF). p. 126. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
4. "1912 Presidential Election Statistics". US Election Atlas. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
5. "1912 Presidential Election Results South Dakota".
6. South Dakota Secretary of State; Official Vote November Election, 1912 Presidential Electors