The 1892 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 8, 1892, as part of the wider United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

Background and vote

Following Reconstruction, Georgia would be the first former Confederate state to substantially disenfranchise its newly enfranchised freedmen and many

poor whites Poor White is a sociocultural classification used to describe economically disadvantaged Whites in the English-speaking world, especially White Americans with low incomes. In the United States, Poor White (or Poor Whites of the South for ...

, doing so in the early 1870s. This largely limited the Republican Party to a few North Georgia counties with substantial

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Unionist sentiment – chiefly Fannin but also to a lesser extent Pickens, Gilmer and

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– and in presidential elections to a small number of counties elsewhere where blacks were not fully disenfranchised. The Democratic Party served as the guardian of

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

against a Republican Party historically associated with memories of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

, and the main competition became

Democratic primaries This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Uni ...

, which were restricted to whites on the grounds of the Democratic Party being legally a private club. This restriction was done by local county laws, but combined with the highly efficacious cumulative poll tax introduced in 1877 meant that turnout declined steadily throughout the 1880s, unlike any other former Confederate state except South Carolina. However, politics after the first demobilization was always chaotic. Third-party movements, chiefly the Populist Party, gained support amongst the remaining poor white and black voters in opposition to the planter elite.Mickey, Robert W.; ‘The Beginning of the End for Authoritarian Rule in America: ''

Smith v. Allwright ''Smith v. Allwright'', 321 U.S. 649 (1944), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court with regard to voting rights and, by extension, racial desegregation. It overturned the Texas state law that authorized parties to set thei ...

'' and the Abolition of the White Primary in the Deep South, 1944-1948’; ''Studies in American Political Development'', Vol. 22 (Fall 2008), pp. 143-182. Whereas the Republican Party had not contested a statewide election seriously since 1876, the Populists made a significant run for governor in 1892 as they launched the most significant third-party campaign since John Bell in the sectionally divided 1860 election. In Georgia, the Populists would be led by

Thomas E. Watson Thomas Edward Watson (September 5, 1856 – September 26, 1922) was an American politician, attorney, newspaper editor and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an a ...

, who had won a seat in Congress in 1890. However, the strong emphasis by Cleveland and running mate

Adlai Stevenson I Adlai Ewing Stevenson (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician who served as the 23rd vice president of the United States from 1893 to 1897. He had served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois in the late 1870s and ...

on opposing the

Lodge Force Bill The Lodge Bill of 1890, also referred to as the Federal Elections Bill or by critics as the Lodge Force Bill, was a proposed bill to ensure the security of elections for U.S. Representatives. It was drafted and proposed by Representative Henry Cab ...

and on reducing tariffs was able to reduce defections to the Populists or the GOP, despite strong opposition in the state to Cleveland’s rigid support for the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the l ...

against free silver. The Populist influence caused voter turnout to rise substantially – some believing that many new voters had their poll taxes paid for – but despite opposition forces gaining more than twice as many votes as in 1888 Cleveland’s margin fell by less than five percent as his opposition was divided. Rather than in the poor white upcountry counties, Weaver actually did best in the northeastern part of the Black Belt where Watson was based and where Populist strength would remain greatest in 1904 and 1908.Holmes, William F.; ‘Populism in Black Belt Georgia: Racial Dynamics in Taliaferro County Politics, 1890-1900’; ''The Georgia Historical Quarterly'', Vol. 83, No. 2 (Summer 1999), pp. 242-266

Results

Results by county

Notes

References

{{1892 United States elections

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

1892 1892 Georgia (U.S. state) elections