1916 United States presidential election in Virginia

← 1912 November 7, 1916 1920 →

Nominee Woodrow Wilson Charles Evans Hughes Party Democratic Republican Home state New Jersey New York Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Charles W. Fairbanks Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 102,824 49,356 Percentage 66.77% 32.05%

County Results Wilson   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Hughes   50–60%   60–70%

President before election Woodrow Wilson Democratic Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

The1916 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 7, 1916. 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]

This limited electorate meant Virginian politics was controlled bypolitical machines based inSouthside Virginia — firstly one led byThomas Staples Martin and after he died theByrd Organization. Progressive “antiorganization” factions were rendered impotent by the inability of almost all of their potential electorate to vote.^[2] Unlike the Deep South, historicalfusion withthe “Readjuster” Democrats,^[3] defection of substantial proportions of theNortheast-aligned white electorate of theShenandoah Valley andSouthwest Virginia overfree silver,^[4] and an early move towards a“lily white”Jim Crow party^[3] meant that in general elections the Republicans retained around one-third of the small statewide electorate,^[5] with the majority of GOP support located in the western part of the state. However, in many parts of the state — like in Tennessee during the same period — the parties avoided competition by an agreed division over local offices.^[2]

Unlike in 1908, neither major party campaigned in the state — which had voted Democratic in every election since 1876 — during the fall. A straw ballot taken early in September sawDemocratic nominee and incumbentPresidentWoodrow Wilson gaining seventy-nine votes to theRepublican nominee, formerU.S. Supreme Court JusticeCharles E. Hughes’ six.^[6] Later straw polls in October did not even include the state, and ultimate Virginia voted for Wilson by a slightly greater majority than he had won four years previously. Wilson ultimately won the national election with 49.24 percent of the vote.

Elections in Virginia
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• United States presidential elections in Virginia
• 1916 Virginia elections

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