United States presidential election in New York, 1920
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The 1920 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 2, 1920. All contemporary 48 states were part of the
1920 United States presidential election The 1920 United States presidential election was the 34th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1920. In the first election held after the end of World War I and the first election after the ratification of the Ninete ...
. Voters chose 45 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
was won by Republican
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Warren G. Harding of Ohio, who was running against Democratic Ohio Governor
James M. Cox James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the United St ...
. Harding’s running mate was Governor
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
of Massachusetts, while Cox ran with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt of
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. Also running that year was Socialist candidate
Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialism, socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate ...
of Indiana and his running mate Seymour Stedman of Illinois. Harding won New York State with an overwhelming landslide of 64.56% of the vote to Cox’s 26.95%, a victory margin of 37.61%. Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs finished with a relatively strong showing for a third party candidate, taking 7.01% of the vote, more than twice his national vote share, making New York his third strongest state in the nation. The strongest county for Debs within the state was the New York City borough of the Bronx, where Debs broke 15% of the vote. With the deeply unpopular Democratic administration of Woodrow Wilson as the backdrop for the 1920 campaign, Warren G. Harding promised a “ return to normalcy” that appealed to many voters, while Cox was tied to the policies of the Wilson administration, which had even in 1916 been criticized for insensitivity to Irish-American wishes. Harding won nationally in one of the most decisive landslides in American history, and New York, already a fiercely Republican state during the
Fourth Party System The Fourth Party System is the term used in political science and history for the period in American political history from about 1896 to 1932 that was dominated by the Republican Party, except the 1912 split in which Democrats captured the Whit ...
, went even harder for Harding than the nation, making New York a solid 12% more Republican than the national average. The
Irish-Americans , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
were offended by Cox’ close ties to Wilson’s proposed League of Nations; whilst Palatine Germans who had been the Democratic Party’s other base in the Empire State since before the Civil War were similarly offended by Wilson’s pro-British policies. Schoharie County, which had been the only New York county to stay Democratic during the “free silver” election of
1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...
, went Republican for the first time ever and has only twice voted Democratic since.These were for
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
against
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
in
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
and for Bill Clinton against
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
in
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
.
Harding swept every county in the state of New York, winning every upstate county as well as winning all
five boroughs 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awar ...
of New York City and
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
. All but five of New York State’s 62 counties went Republican with more than 60% of the vote. Harding won heavily populated New York City as a whole with a commanding majority, sweeping all 5 boroughs. Harding received over 60% of the vote in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
, and also won majorities in Manhattan and the Bronx. 1920 was the first of only two occasions in which a Republican presidential candidate has won all 5 boroughs of New York City since the city’s incorporation in 1898, the other occasion being
1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...
. Likewise, this was the first of only two occasions (the other being 1924) in which a Republican has won the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx since they took their modern forms with the creation of Bronx County in 1914.Sullivan, Robert David
‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’
''America Magazine'' in ''The National Catholic Review''; June 29, 2016
Finally, since the city's incorporation, 1920 remains the only election ever in which a Republican presidential candidate has won an absolute majority of the vote in all five boroughs as well as in New York City as a whole. In 1924,
Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...
would win New York City for the GOP once more, but with a plurality, and beginning in
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
, the city would become a Democratic stronghold that no Republican has since been able to win. As of 2020, this is the most recent election where New York's most Democratic county was not one of the five boroughs of New York City, as Cox had his best performance in Upstate Rensselaer County. Harding also won decisive majorities in upstate New York in rural and urban counties. Harding won over 60% in Albany County, home to the state capital of Albany, as well as in Erie County, home to the city of Buffalo, and in
Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...
, home to the city of Rochester. 1920 made Warren G. Harding the first of three presidential candidates of either party who has been able to sweep every county in New York State, the only others being Republican Calvin Coolidge in 1924 and Democrat
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
in 1964. Harding's 64.56% of the vote in New York State remains the highest vote share any Republican presidential candidate has ever received in the state, and the second-highest vote share any candidate of either party has ever gotten in the state, beaten only by Democrat Lyndon Johnson’s 68.56% in the Democratic landslide of 1964. Harding’s landslide victory margin of 37.61% remains the widest margin by which any candidate of either party has ever won New York State, beating even Lyndon Johnson's 37.25% in 1964.Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
Presidential General Election Results Comparison – New York
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Results


Results by county


See also

* United States presidential elections in New York *
Presidency of Warren G. Harding Warren G. Harding's tenure as the 29th president of the United States lasted from March 4, 1921 until his death on August 2, 1923. Harding presided over the country in the aftermath of World War I. A Republican from Ohio, Harding held office du ...
*
Presidency of Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge's tenure as the 30th president of the United States began on August 2, 1923, when Coolidge became president upon Warren G. Harding's death, and ended on March 4, 1929. A Republican from Massachusetts, Coolidge had been vice pres ...


Notes


References

{{United States elections
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...
1920 New York (state) elections