1912 United States presidential election in Virginia

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Nominee Woodrow Wilson William Howard Taft Theodore Roosevelt Party Democratic Republican Progressive Home state New Jersey Ohio New York Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Nicholas Murray Butler Hiram W. Johnson Electoral vote 12 0 0 Popular vote 90,332 23,288 21,777 Percentage 65.95% 17.00% 15.90%

County Results Wilson   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   >90% Taft   40–50% Roosevelt   50–60%

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

The1912 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 5, 1912. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

The 1900s had seen Virginia, like all former Confederate States, almost completelydisenfranchise its black and poor white populations through the use ofa cumulative poll tax and literacy tests.^[1] So severe was the disenfranchising effect of the new 1902 Constitution that the electorate for the 1904 presidential election was halved compared to that of previous elections, and it has been calculated that a third of those who voted were state employees and officeholders.^[1] The limited electorate meant Virginian politics was controlled bypolitical machines — firstly one led byThomas Staples Martin and after he died theByrd Organization.

However, unlike the Deep South, historicalfusion withthe “Readjuster” Democrats,^[2] defection of substantial proportions of theNortheast-aligned white electorate of theShenandoah Valley andSouthwest Virginia overfree silver,^[3] and an early move towards a“lily white”Jim Crow party^[2] meant that in general elections the Republicans retained around one-third of the small statewide electorate,^[4] with the majority of GOP support located in the western part of the state.

With the already minority state Republican Party divided between conservative incumbentPresidentWilliam Howard Taft andProgressive nominee, formerPresidentTheodore Roosevelt, it was clear that the gains Taft had long hoped for in the South would not be made at this election. Polls as early as July showed Virginia as completely safe for Democratic nominee andNew Jersey Governor Wilson.^[5] By October it was widely believed that only a few dissident officeholders were behind the Progressive Party.^[6]

Ultimately Wilson won Virginia by 48.96 percentage points over Taft, with Roosevelt a close third. Wilson carried all but two counties, and won the largest popular-vote victory in Virginia sinceAndrew Jackson in1832 — althoughFranklin D. Roosevelt would three times exceed his popular vote percentage. Wilson ultimately won the national election with 41.84 percent of the vote. As of the2024 presidential election^[update], this is the last election in whichFloyd County did not vote for theRepublican candidate.^[7]

• United States presidential elections in Virginia

• 1912 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Virginia
• 1912 Virginia elections

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