1904 United States presidential election in Louisiana

← 1900 November 8, 1904 1908 →

Nominee Alton B. Parker Theodore Roosevelt Party Democratic Republican Home state New York New York Running mate Henry G. Davis Charles W. Fairbanks Electoral vote 9 0 Popular vote 47,708 5,205 Percentage 88.50% 9.66%

Parish Results Parker   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100%

President before election Theodore Roosevelt Republican Elected President Theodore Roosevelt Republican

The1904 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 1904. All contemporary 45 states were part of the1904 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine electors to theElectoral College, which selected thepresident andvice president.

Following the overthrow of Reconstruction Republican government, Louisiana, like most of the former Confederacy, established aDemocratic-dominated but highlyfraudulent political system^[1] that would from 1890 be challenged by the rise ofthe Populist Party due to declining conditions for farmers. Both the Populists and the earlier Greenback Party — who shared key leaders likeJames B. Weaver — would be supported by the state Republican Party,^[2] and in the 1896 gubernatorial election a fusion candidate was undoubtedly denied by the continued fraud.^[3] Consequently, the state's plantation elite radically rewrote the state's constitution in the next gubernatorial term witha poll tax, literacy test,grandfather clause, and a secret ballot. The consequence was a reduction in the number of registered black voters by 96 percent,^[4] and virtual elimination of black voting inAcadiana until the 1950s.^[a]

Louisiana consequently became aone-party state dominated by the Democratic Party, as the now-moribund Republican party lacked any white base because Louisiana completely lacked upland or German refugee whitesopposed to secession.^[7] After 1900, not until 1964 would another Republican serve in the state legislature.^[8]

Despite this absolute single-party dominance, non-partisan tendencies remained strong among wealthy sugar planters inAcadiana, within the business elite of New Orleans,^[9] and even amongst the“lily-white” “National Republican” GOP faction who supported black disenfranchisement in an effort to become respectable amongst the white elite.^[10] State politics became controlled by the Choctaw Club of Louisiana, generally called the “Old Regulars”. Thispolitical machine was based in New Orleans and united withBlack Beltcotton planters.^[11] Although white Republicans continued to work towards taking over Federal patronage from the“black and tans”, throughout most of the 1900s Louisiana politics was under firm Choctaw control as the Populist movement weakened with the disenfranchisement of manypoor whites via the poll tax.^[10]

Louisiana was won by theDemocratic nominees,Chief JudgeAlton B. Parker ofNew York and his running mateHenry G. Davis ofWest Virginia. They defeated theRepublican nominees, incumbent PresidentTheodore Roosevelt ofNew York and his running mateCharles W. Fairbanks ofIndiana. Parker won the state by a landslide margin of 78.84%.

With 88.5 percent of the popular vote, Louisiana would be Parker's third strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote afterSouth Carolina and neighboringMississippi.^[12]

• United States presidential elections in Louisiana

• 1904 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Louisiana
• 1904 Louisiana elections

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