1924 United States presidential election in Idaho

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Nominee Calvin Coolidge Robert M. La Follette John W. Davis Party Republican Progressive Democratic Home state Massachusetts Wisconsin West Virginia Running mate Charles G. Dawes Burton K. Wheeler Charles W. Bryan Electoral vote 4 0 0 Popular vote 69,879 54,160 24,256 Percentage 47.12% 36.52% 16.36%

County Results Coolidge   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% La Follette   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%

President before election Calvin Coolidge Republican Elected President Calvin Coolidge Republican

The1924 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the1924 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

At state level,Idaho had begun in 1902 to be very much a one-party Republican state,^[1] which it has largely remained since apart from the New Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s. For a time there was also a perception that theWilliam Jennings Bryan-led Democratic Party had failed as a "party of reform".^[2]

However, with the aid of a powerful "peace vote" due to opposition to participation inWorld War I,^[3] and a considerable part of the substantial vote forEugene Debs,^[4]Woodrow Wilson almost completely swept the Western andPlains States in1916 (Idaho included), losing onlySouth Dakota andOregon. These gains were to be lost due to growing anti-Asian and isolationist feelings in the West^[5] –James M. Cox in1920 lost every Idaho county by double digits.

To further marginalize the Democrats, in1922 "Progressive Party"^[a] nomineeH.F. Samuels ran ahead of Democratic candidate and former GovernorMoses Alexander.^[6] The conservatism of Coolidge and Davis resulted inWisconsin SenatorRobert M. La Follette mounting athird-party challenge – which La Follette had planned even before the Democratic Convention.^[7] In agricultural western and midwestern states like Idaho, there was widespread discontent with the policies of the incumbent Coolidge Administration, and Idaho became one of La Follette's primary targets from the start of his campaign with running mateBurton K. Wheeler of Montana.^[8] By the end of July, the GOP was concerned that La Follette was showing strength in Idaho,^[9] and this fear grew as the election drew nearer.^[10] It was always clear Democrat Davis had no chance in this GOP bastion,^[11] and this was backed up by polls in the middle of October, which showed Davis running third and that many of the state's small number of Democrats were backing La Follette.^[12]

Thinking he had won most of the West, despite polls actually showing him well behind Coolidge except inhis home state,Nevada, and the northern Plains States,^[13] La Follette did not campaign in the state during October, preferring to work in the eastern states where he felt he could gain more additional support.^[14] In Idaho itself, polls in the four weeks of October showed Coolidge well ahead with around fifty percent of the vote.^[15]

Coolidge ultimately underperformed the October polls in Idaho, but still comfortably carried the state by a double-digit margin over La Follette. Coolidge's strong performance in the conservative, highly Mormon southeast and also inNorthern Idaho ensured his victory, whilst La Follette did best in rural areas of the southwest and central mountains, where he carried eight counties.

During the pre-election primaries the Democratic Party was divided between a rural, southern and Western wing led by Woodrow Wilson's son-in-law William Giibs McAdoo, opposed to an urban, immigrant and anti-Prohibition faction in major northern cities.^[18] The man who would ultimately represent this urban faction wasNew York GovernorAl Smith, whose Catholic faith was vehemently opposed by many ruralAppalachian Democrats.^[18] Even in his adopted West, McAdoo was not universally liked because of his links to Edward L. Doheny and Harding's "Teapot Dome" petroleum scandal;^[19] nonetheless there was sufficient hostility in Idaho to Smith that the state's delegation – alongside others in the West – held a parade for McAdoo at the beginning ofthe party's convention in New York City.^[20] Delegates in Idaho continued to support McAdoo as the convention remained undecided,^[21][22] until the one hundred and first ballot when they finally shifted to formerAgriculture SecretaryDavid F. Houston and then toMontana SenatorThomas J. Walsh on the one hundred and second.^[23] The 103rd ballot saw Idaho switch to West Virginian John W. Davis,^[23] who won the nomination thereon.

• United States presidential elections in Idaho

• 1924 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Idaho
• 1924 Idaho elections

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