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 County results
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The1916 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 7, 1916, as part of the1916 United States presidential election in which all contemporary 48 states participated. Voters chose seven electors to represent them in theElectoral College via a popular vote pittingDemocratic incumbentsWoodrow WilsonThomas R. Marshall, againstRepublican challengers Associate JusticeCharles Evans Hughes and his running mate, former Vice-presidentCharles W. Fairbanks.
Washington had been a one-party Republican bastion for twenty years before this election.[1] Democratic representation in the Washington legislature would during this period at times be countable on one hand,[2] and neitherAlton B. Parker norWilliam Jennings Bryan in his third presidential run carried even one county in the state.Republican primaries had taken over as the chief mode of political competition when introduced in the late 1900s.[3]
However, a powerful "peace vote" in the Western states[4] due to opposition to participation inWorld War I, and the transfer of a considerable part of the substantial vote forEugene Debs from the previous election to Wilson owing to such Progressive reforms as theSixteenth andSeventeenth Amendments[5] allowed Woodrow Wilson to carry Washington by a 4.25 percentage point margin. In doing this, Wilson was the first ever Democratic victor in the Western WashingtonPuget Sound counties ofIsland,San Juan andKitsap,[6] and the only Democrat between1904 and1924 to carry any Washington county in a two-way presidential race.
After the votes were counted, there was some debate over who should be the seventh elector from the state. One of the original electors on the Democratic ticket, A. T. Steam, died prior to election day. The state's Democratic party replaced him with Edwin M. Connor, but Stream's name was not replaced on the ballot in ten of Washington's 39 counties.[7][8] Since voters chose electors directly at the time, this resulted in a split of the vote between Connor and Steam and a Republican elector, Warren H. Lewis, received the seventh-most votes and therefore would be entitled to the final elector position and subsequently cast a vote for Charles Evans Hughes. Many believed, however, that given the voters' clear intent to elect Wilson and Washington's potential split not affecting the outcome, Lewis should either cast his electoral vote for the Wilson ticket or step aside and allow Connor to be appointed the seventh elector. After consulting with the state's Republican committee, Lewis declined to contest Connor's appointment as elector.[9][10] As such, all seven of Washington's electoral votes were cast for Wilson and Marshall.
| Party | Pledged to | Elector | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | D. M. Drumheller | 183,388 | |
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | C. C. Brown | 183,242 | |
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | George F. Christensen | 183,230 | |
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | Francis Donahoe | 183,028 | |
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | Joseph A. Sloan | 182,813 | |
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | G. W. Hoxie | 182,806 | |
| Republican Party | Charles Evans Hughes | Warren H. Lewis[a] | 167,208 | |
| Republican Party | Charles Evans Hughes | J. Henry Smith | 166,406 | |
| Republican Party | Charles Evans Hughes | George E. Finley | 166,375 | |
| Republican Party | Charles Evans Hughes | Luther Weedin | 166,340 | |
| Republican Party | Charles Evans Hughes | E. E. Beard | 166,298 | |
| Republican Party | Charles Evans Hughes | Richard M. Buttle | 166,143 | |
| Republican Party | Charles Evans Hughes | J. A. Perkins | 165,971 | |
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | Edwin M. Connor[b][c] | 134,481 | |
| Democratic Party | Woodrow Wilson | A. T. Stream[d] | 47,977 | |
| Socialist Party | Allan L. Benson | Marie Nielsen | 22,800 | |
| Socialist Party | Allan L. Benson | Allen Brooks | 22,518 | |
| Socialist Party | Allan L. Benson | Laura M. House | 22,515 | |
| Socialist Party | Allan L. Benson | Helen Camp | 22,510 | |
| Socialist Party | Allan L. Benson | Kate Sutton | 22,490 | |
| Socialist Party | Allan L. Benson | Bertha Zietz | 22,486 | |
| Socialist Party | Allan L. Benson | Bonner Bartlett | 22,482 | |
| Prohibition Party | Frank Hanly | Salome R. Lippy | 6,868 | |
| Prohibition Party | Frank Hanly | Walter F. McDowell | 6,840 | |
| Prohibition Party | Frank Hanly | John Anderson | 6,838 | |
| Prohibition Party | Frank Hanly | R. M. Shoemake | 6,819 | |
| Prohibition Party | Frank Hanly | L. Stanton | 6,814 | |
| Prohibition Party | Frank Hanly | E. B. Crary | 6,812 | |
| Prohibition Party | Frank Hanly | C. C. Gridley | 6,790 | |
| Socialist Labor Party | Arthur E. Reimer | Gotfried Gustafson | 730 | |
| Socialist Labor Party | Arthur E. Reimer | Jerry E. Sullivan | 711 | |
| Socialist Labor Party | Arthur E. Reimer | Andrew P. Anderson | 701 | |
| Socialist Labor Party | Arthur E. Reimer | John C. Schafer | 701 | |
| Socialist Labor Party | Arthur E. Reimer | Arne Hage | 699 | |
| Socialist Labor Party | Arthur E. Reimer | Leslie H. Sawyer | 697 | |
| Socialist Labor Party | Arthur E. Reimer | Fred Kurtzman | 690 | |
| Votes cast[e] | 380,994 | |||
| County | Woodrow Wilson Democratic | Charles Evans Hughes Republican | Allan L. Benson Socialist | Frank Hanly Prohibition | Arthur E. Reimer Socialist Labor | Margin | Total votes cast[f] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Adams | 1,294 | 48.41% | 1,237 | 46.28% | 112 | 4.19% | 21 | 0.79% | 9 | 0.34% | 57 | 2.13% | 2,673 |
| Asotin | 1,136 | 48.59% | 1,004 | 42.94% | 117 | 5.00% | 80 | 3.42% | 1 | 0.04% | 132 | 5.65% | 2,338 |
| Benton | 1,351 | 42.03% | 1,460 | 45.43% | 342 | 10.64% | 53 | 1.65% | 8 | 0.25% | -109 | -3.39% | 3,214 |
| Chelan | 2,747 | 43.46% | 3,011 | 47.63% | 405 | 6.41% | 151 | 2.39% | 7 | 0.11% | -264 | -4.18% | 6,321 |
| Clallam | 1,339 | 41.06% | 1,475 | 45.23% | 418 | 12.82% | 19 | 0.58% | 10 | 0.31% | -136 | -4.17% | 3,261 |
| Clark | 3,728 | 41.28% | 4,419 | 48.93% | 677 | 7.50% | 198 | 2.19% | 10 | 0.11% | -691 | -7.65% | 9,032 |
| Columbia | 1,164 | 47.57% | 1,148 | 46.91% | 108 | 4.41% | 25 | 1.02% | 2 | 0.08% | 16 | 0.65% | 2,447 |
| Cowlitz | 1,282 | 33.44% | 2,113 | 55.11% | 378 | 9.86% | 57 | 1.49% | 4 | 0.10% | -831 | -21.67% | 3,834 |
| Douglas | 1,916 | 59.52% | 1,125 | 34.95% | 148 | 4.60% | 28 | 0.87% | 2 | 0.06% | 791 | 24.57% | 3,219 |
| Ferry | 913 | 52.99% | 581 | 33.72% | 221 | 12.83% | 5 | 0.29% | 3 | 0.17% | 332 | 19.27% | 1,723 |
| Franklin | 1,110 | 57.93% | 671 | 35.02% | 109 | 5.69% | 23 | 1.20% | 3 | 0.16% | 439 | 22.91% | 1,916 |
| Garfield | 728 | 45.02% | 845 | 52.26% | 32 | 1.98% | 11 | 0.68% | 1 | 0.06% | -117 | -7.24% | 1,617 |
| Grant | 1,563 | 51.58% | 1,205 | 39.77% | 221 | 7.29% | 38 | 1.25% | 3 | 0.10% | 358 | 11.82% | 3,030 |
| Grays Harbor | 4,992 | 44.04% | 5,024 | 44.32% | 1,209 | 10.67% | 96 | 0.85% | 15 | 0.13% | -32 | -0.28% | 11,336 |
| Island | 855 | 46.34% | 804 | 43.58% | 170 | 9.21% | 16 | 0.87% | 0 | 0.00% | 51 | 2.76% | 1,845 |
| Jefferson | 861 | 40.77% | 1,094 | 51.80% | 134 | 6.34% | 22 | 1.04% | 1 | 0.05% | -233 | -11.03% | 2,112 |
| King | 52,362 | 54.71% | 38,959 | 40.71% | 3,193 | 3.34% | 922 | 0.96% | 272 | 0.28% | 13,403 | 14.00% | 95,708 |
| Kitsap | 3,479 | 49.89% | 2,638 | 37.83% | 751 | 10.77% | 94 | 1.35% | 12 | 0.17% | 841 | 12.06% | 6,974 |
| Kittitas | 2,609 | 49.40% | 2,310 | 43.74% | 262 | 4.96% | 93 | 1.76% | 7 | 0.13% | 299 | 5.66% | 5,281 |
| Klickitat | 1,478 | 45.35% | 1,570 | 48.17% | 186 | 5.71% | 23 | 0.71% | 2 | 0.06% | -92 | -2.82% | 3,259 |
| Lewis | 4,318 | 40.73% | 5,186 | 48.92% | 845 | 7.97% | 239 | 2.25% | 13 | 0.12% | -868 | -8.19% | 10,601 |
| Lincoln | 2,827 | 51.67% | 2,356 | 43.06% | 221 | 4.04% | 62 | 1.13% | 5 | 0.09% | 471 | 8.61% | 5,471 |
| Mason | 779 | 45.19% | 764 | 44.32% | 162 | 9.40% | 16 | 0.93% | 3 | 0.17% | 15 | 0.87% | 1,724 |
| Okanogan | 2,924 | 54.82% | 1,896 | 35.55% | 474 | 8.89% | 33 | 0.62% | 7 | 0.13% | 1,028 | 19.27% | 5,334 |
| Pacific | 1,537 | 34.02% | 2,688 | 59.50% | 257 | 5.69% | 30 | 0.66% | 6 | 0.13% | -1,151 | -25.48% | 4,518 |
| Pend Oreille | 1,080 | 50.94% | 916 | 43.21% | 111 | 5.24% | 9 | 0.42% | 4 | 0.19% | 164 | 7.74% | 2,120 |
| Pierce | 18,940 | 48.85% | 16,780 | 43.28% | 1,894 | 4.89% | 1,059 | 2.73% | 97 | 0.25% | 2,160 | 5.57% | 38,770 |
| San Juan | 669 | 47.96% | 591 | 42.37% | 122 | 8.75% | 13 | 0.93% | 0 | 0.00% | 78 | 5.59% | 1,395 |
| Skagit | 4,936 | 47.88% | 4,142 | 40.17% | 951 | 9.22% | 256 | 2.48% | 25 | 0.24% | 794 | 7.70% | 10,310 |
| Skamania | 451 | 46.07% | 489 | 49.95% | 34 | 3.47% | 5 | 0.51% | 0 | 0.00% | -38 | -3.88% | 979 |
| Snohomish | 8,390 | 41.52% | 8,625 | 42.68% | 2,543 | 12.58% | 606 | 3.00% | 43 | 0.21% | -235 | -1.16% | 20,207 |
| Spokane | 21,339 | 49.49% | 19,503 | 45.23% | 1,321 | 3.06% | 877 | 2.03% | 80 | 0.19% | 1,836 | 4.26% | 43,120 |
| Stevens | 3,184 | 47.84% | 2,684 | 40.32% | 678 | 10.19% | 104 | 1.56% | 6 | 0.09% | 500 | 7.51% | 6,656 |
| Thurston | 2,658 | 39.39% | 3,223 | 47.76% | 624 | 9.25% | 231 | 3.42% | 12 | 0.18% | -565 | -8.37% | 6,748 |
| Wahkiakum | 340 | 36.13% | 490 | 52.07% | 103 | 10.95% | 7 | 0.74% | 1 | 0.11% | -150 | -15.94% | 941 |
| Walla Walla | 4,456 | 48.29% | 4,429 | 48.00% | 218 | 2.36% | 120 | 1.30% | 4 | 0.04% | 27 | 0.29% | 9,227 |
| Whatcom | 5,629 | 35.53% | 7,632 | 48.18% | 2,075 | 13.10% | 465 | 2.94% | 41 | 0.26% | -2,003 | -12.64% | 15,842 |
| Whitman | 5,888 | 52.33% | 4,933 | 43.84% | 239 | 2.12% | 186 | 1.65% | 5 | 0.04% | 955 | 8.49% | 11,251 |
| Yakima | 6,136 | 41.91% | 7,188 | 49.10% | 735 | 5.02% | 575 | 3.93% | 6 | 0.04% | -1,052 | -7.19% | 14,640 |
| Totals | 183,388 | 48.13% | 167,208 | 43.89% | 22,800 | 5.98% | 6,868 | 1.80% | 730 | 0.19% | 16,180 | 4.25% | 380,994 |
State and district results of the1916 United States presidential election | ||
|---|---|---|
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