1916 United States presidential election in Louisiana

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Nominee Woodrow Wilson Charles Evans Hughes No candidate Party Democratic Republican Progressive Home state New Jersey New York N/A Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Charles W. Fairbanks John M. Parker Electoral vote 10 0 0 Popular vote 79,875 6,466 6,349 Percentage 85.90% 6.95% 6.83%

Parish Results Wilson   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% No Candidate   40–50%   50–60%

President before election Woodrow Wilson Democratic ElectedPresident Woodrow Wilson Democratic

The1916 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 7, 1916 as part of the1916 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

Ever since the passage of a new constitution in 1898,Louisiana had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party became moribund due to thedisenfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as Louisiana completely lacked upland or German refugee whitesopposed to secession.^[1] Despite this absolute single-party dominance, non-partisan tendencies remained strong among wealthy sugar planters inAcadiana and within the business elite of New Orleans.^[2]

Following disfranchisement, the state's politics became dominated by the Choctaw Club of Louisiana, generally called the “Old Regulars”. This political machine was based in New Orleans and united withBlack Beltcotton planters.^[3] Opposition emerged in the north and west of the state visthe Socialist Party, who elected a few officials inWinn Parish between 1908 and 1912,^[4] and by theIndustrial Workers of the World in the lumbering parishes of Imperial Calcasieu.^[5] This opposition was mortally weakened almost immediately after the 1912 election by the unresolved conflict between electoral and antipolitical strategies for reform.^[6] Stronger opposition came via the Progressive movement soon after, although this time in the southernsugarcane-growing parishes, where conflicts with President Wilson'sUnderwood-Simmons Act^[7] even allowed aProgressive Party member inWhitmell P. Martin^[a] to be elected tothe Third Congressional District in 1914.

Whereas Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party disintegrated after the 1914 elections in most of the United States, in Louisiana it had a brief revival during the following election cycle asJohn M. Parker, a long-time business progressive^[8] and wealthy landowner^[9] ran for governor against Democratic primary winnerRuffin G. Pleasant in April 1916, and at the same time sixteen Progressives were elected to the state legislature, the first time any non-Democrat had been so elected since before the 1898 Constitution. Despite carrying sixteen parishes – mostly in the sugar belt – Parker carried only 38 percent of the vote.^[10]

However, this would be the high point of the Progressive movement in Louisiana. Parker was nominated for vice-president by the national Progressive Party, but when Roosevelt declined the presidential place on this ticket and endorsed national Republican nomineeCharles Evans Hughes, the top spot was left empty and Parker endorsed incumbent president Wilson.^[10] Despite this, opposition to Wilson's tariff policy in the sugar parishes was sufficient that the Progressive ticket did very well in this area, becoming the first non-Democrat to carry any Louisiana parish since1900.

• United States presidential elections in Louisiana

• 1916 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Louisiana
• 1916 Louisiana elections

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