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| Turnout | 62.8%[1] 0.6pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Municipality results
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The1916 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 7, 1916, as part of the1916 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 18 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.
Massachusetts was won by theRepublican nominee,U.S. Supreme Court JusticeCharles Evans Hughes ofNew York, and his running mateSenatorCharles W. Fairbanks ofIndiana. Hughes and Fairbanks defeated theDemocratic nominees, incumbent DemocraticPresidentWoodrow Wilson andVice PresidentThomas R. Marshall.
Hughes carried the state with 50.54%, to Wilson's 46.61%, a Republican victory margin of 3.93%. Coming in a distant third wasSocialist candidateAllan L. Benson, who took 2.08%.
Massachusetts had long been a typical Yankee Republican bastion in the wake of theCivil War, having voted Republican in every election from1856 through1908.[2] However, in1912, former Republican PresidentTheodore Roosevelt had run as aProgressive candidate against incumbent Republican PresidentWilliam Howard Taft, splitting the Republican vote and allowing Woodrow Wilson to win Massachusetts, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to do so, though with a plurality of only 35.53% of the vote. With the Republican base re-united behind Hughes in 1916, Massachusetts was returned to the Republican column.
Hughes won 12 out of 14 counties in the State of Massachusetts, while Wilson won only 2. The race was kept close statewide by the fact that Wilson carriedSuffolk County, home to the state's capital and largest city,Boston. Wilson's only other county victory was the small island ofNantucket. However, both candidates had fair levels of support across the state, as neither got more than 60% of the vote in any county. As Wilson narrowly won re-election nationwide, Massachusetts ended up weighing in as about 7% more Republican than the national average. To date, this is the last time that the town ofGranville voted Democratic.
As of 2024, Wilson remains the last Democrat to win the presidency without carrying Massachusetts.
| 1916 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[3] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | Charles Evans Hughes | 268,784 | 50.54% | 18 | |
| Democratic | Woodrow Wilson (incumbent) | 247,885 | 46.61% | 0 | |
| Socialist | Allan L. Benson | 11,058 | 2.08% | 0 | |
| Prohibition | Frank Hanly | 2,993 | 0.56% | 0 | |
| Socialist Labor | Arthur E. Reimer | 1,097 | 0.21% | 0 | |
| Write-ins | Write-ins | 6 | 0.00% | 0 | |
| Totals | 531,823 | 100.00% | 18 | ||
| County | Charles Evans Hughes Republican | Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic | Allan Louis Benson[4] Socialist | James Franklin Hanly[4] Prohibition | Arthur Elmer Reimer[4] Socialist Labor | Total votes cast[5] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Barnstable | 2,836 | 58.68% | 1,892 | 39.15% | 39 | 0.81% | 55 | 1.14% | 11 | 0.23% | 4,833 |
| Berkshire | 9,787 | 52.09% | 8,357 | 44.48% | 484 | 2.58% | 103 | 0.55% | 58 | 0.31% | 18,789 |
| Bristol | 22,578 | 53.69% | 18,065 | 42.96% | 932 | 2.22% | 332 | 0.79% | 143 | 0.34% | 42,050 |
| Dukes | 464 | 58.96% | 309 | 39.26% | 9 | 1.14% | 5 | 0.64% | 0 | 0.00% | 787 |
| Essex | 35,909 | 50.51% | 32,498 | 45.71% | 2,093 | 2.94% | 426 | 0.60% | 169 | 0.24% | 71,095 |
| Franklin | 4,353 | 56.93% | 3,054 | 39.94% | 166 | 2.17% | 60 | 0.78% | 13 | 0.17% | 7,646 |
| Hampden | 18,207 | 50.19% | 17,028 | 46.94% | 761 | 2.10% | 204 | 0.56% | 77 | 0.21% | 36,277 |
| Hampshire | 5,748 | 56.15% | 4,202 | 41.05% | 190 | 1.86% | 83 | 0.81% | 13 | 0.13% | 10,236 |
| Middlesex | 60,802 | 53.77% | 49,844 | 44.08% | 1,660 | 1.47% | 609 | 0.54% | 151 | 0.13% | 113,072 |
| Nantucket | 249 | 44.15% | 307 | 54.43% | 6 | 1.06% | 1 | 0.18% | 1 | 0.18% | 564 |
| Norfolk | 19,284 | 58.71% | 12,702 | 38.67% | 615 | 1.87% | 188 | 0.57% | 55 | 0.17% | 32,844 |
| Plymouth | 13,515 | 52.48% | 11,009 | 42.75% | 1,041 | 4.04% | 142 | 0.55% | 45 | 0.17% | 25,752 |
| Suffolk | 42,492 | 40.03% | 61,047 | 57.51% | 1,998 | 1.88% | 353 | 0.33% | 258 | 0.24% | 106,148 |
| Worcester | 32,541 | 52.76% | 27,540 | 44.65% | 1,064 | 1.73% | 432 | 0.70% | 103 | 0.17% | 61,680 |
| Absentee[6] | 19 | 32.20% | 40 | 67.80% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 59 |
| Totals | 268,784 | 50.54% | 247,894 | 46.61% | 11,058 | 2.08% | 2,993 | 0.56% | 1,097 | 0.21% | 531,832 |
State and district results of the1916 United States presidential election | ||
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