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1908 United States presidential election in Oregon

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1908 United States presidential election in Oregon

← 1904 November 3, 1908 1912 →
 
Nominee William Howard Taft William Jennings Bryan Eugene V. Debs
Party Republican Democratic Socialist
Home state Ohio Nebraska Indiana
Running mate James S. Sherman John W. Kern Ben Hanford
Electoral vote 4 0 0
Popular vote 62,530 38,049 7,339
Percentage 56.39% 34.31% 6.62%

County Results
Taft
  40-50%
  50-60%
  60-70%


President before election

Theodore Roosevelt
Republican

Elected President

William Howard Taft
Republican

The 1908 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 3, 1908. All contemporary 46 states were part of the 1908 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

Polls always said that Oregon, which had voted Democratic only once over twelve presidential elections since statehood,[a] would ultimately be easily retained by Taft.[1] Despite differences with the state GOP, a New York Times opinion poll continued to show a Taft victory as certain,[2] although The Washington Post was much less certain.[3] Ultimately, however, Taft would repeat Roosevelt's feat of sweeping every county in Oregon, but his winning margin was less than half as large as that by which Alton Brooks Parker had been defeated in 1904.

Bryan had previously lost Oregon twice to Republican William McKinley in both 1896 and 1900.

Oregon had been earlier in the 1900s solidified as a one-party Republican bastion, which it would remain at a Presidential level apart from the 1910s GOP split until Franklin D. Roosevelt rose to power in 1932,[4] and apart from a very short New Deal interlude at state level until the “Revolution of 1954”. Democratic representation in the Oregon legislature would never exceed fifteen percent during this period except for the above-mentioned 1930s interlude,[5] and Republican primaries would become the chief mode of competition.[6]

The Beaver State's few Democrats pledged themselves to Bryan – who had been the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry any of the state's counties – in June.[7] In contrast, Senator Jonathan Bourne wanted incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt to run for effectively a third term;[8] however once it was clear that Taft would be the GOP nominee Bourne campaigned for him vigorously in spite of his history as a “silver Republican” who backed Bryan in 1896.[9]

Results

[edit]
1908 United States presidential election in Oregon[10]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican William Howard Taft 62,530 56.39% 4
Democratic William Jennings Bryan 38,049 34.31% 0
Socialist Eugene V. Debs 7,339 6.62% 0
Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin 2,682 2.42% 0
Independence Thomas L. Hisgen 289 0.26% 0
Totals 110,889 100.00% 4
Voter turnout

Results by county

[edit]
County William Howard Taft[11]
Republican
William Jennings Bryan[11]
Democratic
Eugene Victor Debs[11]
Socialist
Eugene Wilder Chafin[11]
Prohibition
Thomas Hisgen[11]
Independence
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Baker 1,689 46.79% 1,596 44.21% 270 7.48% 23 0.64% 32 0.89% 93 2.58% 3,610
Benton 1,183 55.99% 773 36.58% 66 3.12% 87 4.12% 4 0.19% 410 19.40% 2,113
Clackamas 2,776 53.91% 1,866 36.24% 363 7.05% 123 2.39% 21 0.41% 910 17.67% 5,149
Clatsop 1,482 59.78% 658 26.54% 282 11.38% 51 2.06% 6 0.24% 824 33.24% 2,479
Columbia 1,242 63.69% 454 23.28% 201 10.31% 42 2.15% 11 0.56% 788 40.41% 1,950
Coos 1,850 56.94% 894 27.52% 431 13.27% 50 1.54% 24 0.74% 956 29.42% 3,249
Crook 915 56.87% 548 34.06% 106 6.59% 39 2.42% 1 0.06% 367 22.81% 1,609
Curry 268 58.64% 148 32.39% 33 7.22% 0 0.00% 8 1.75% 120 26.26% 457
Douglas 2,092 53.81% 1,359 34.95% 370 9.52% 60 1.54% 7 0.18% 733 18.85% 3,888
Gilliam 470 61.92% 242 31.88% 37 4.87% 6 0.79% 4 0.53% 228 30.04% 759
Grant 748 56.93% 433 32.95% 106 8.07% 13 0.99% 14 1.07% 315 23.97% 1,314
Harney 450 52.39% 329 38.30% 65 7.57% 11 1.28% 4 0.47% 121 14.09% 859
Hood River 767 62.16% 359 29.09% 58 4.70% 47 3.81% 3 0.24% 408 33.06% 1,234
Jackson 2,032 50.09% 1,537 37.89% 379 9.34% 98 2.42% 11 0.27% 495 12.20% 4,057
Josephine 967 47.47% 732 35.94% 295 14.48% 20 0.98% 23 1.13% 235 11.54% 2,037
Klamath 634 54.61% 427 36.78% 82 7.06% 11 0.95% 7 0.60% 207 17.83% 1,161
Lake 465 60.78% 239 31.24% 53 6.93% 6 0.78% 2 0.26% 226 29.54% 765
Lane 3,313 54.91% 2,174 36.04% 422 6.99% 108 1.79% 16 0.27% 1,139 18.88% 6,033
Lincoln 595 58.51% 282 27.73% 119 11.70% 15 1.47% 6 0.59% 313 30.78% 1,017
Linn 2,202 48.87% 1,813 40.24% 333 7.39% 155 3.44% 3 0.07% 389 8.63% 4,506
Malheur 800 54.42% 543 36.94% 74 5.03% 53 3.61% 0 0.00% 257 17.48% 1,470
Marion 3,788 57.24% 2,239 33.83% 301 4.55% 275 4.16% 15 0.23% 1,549 23.41% 6,618
Morrow 680 62.10% 272 24.84% 111 10.14% 24 2.19% 8 0.73% 408 37.26% 1,095
Multnomah 17,819 59.82% 9,850 33.07% 1,454 4.88% 629 2.11% 35 0.12% 7,969 26.75% 29,787
Polk 1,456 51.87% 1,113 39.65% 159 5.66% 75 2.67% 4 0.14% 343 12.22% 2,807
Sherman 437 58.27% 252 33.60% 35 4.67% 25 3.33% 1 0.13% 185 24.67% 750
Tillamook 641 60.13% 253 23.73% 128 12.01% 39 3.66% 5 0.47% 388 36.40% 1,066
Umatilla 2,328 55.63% 1,568 37.47% 180 4.30% 109 2.60% 0 0.00% 760 18.16% 4,185
Union 1,510 50.67% 1,191 39.97% 232 7.79% 36 1.21% 11 0.37% 319 10.70% 2,980
Wallowa 905 58.69% 506 32.81% 109 7.07% 20 1.30% 2 0.13% 399 25.88% 1,542
Wasco 1,309 57.14% 764 33.35% 155 6.77% 58 2.53% 5 0.22% 545 23.79% 2,291
Washington 2,319 61.96% 1,153 30.80% 137 3.66% 124 3.31% 10 0.27% 1,166 31.15% 3,743
Wheeler 418 61.65% 236 34.81% 9 1.33% 14 2.06% 1 0.15% 182 26.84% 678
Yamhill 1,980 54.49% 1,246 34.29% 167 4.60% 236 6.49% 5 0.14% 734 20.20% 3,634
Totals 62,530 56.39% 38,049 34.31% 7,322 6.60% 2,682 2.42% 309 0.28% 24,481 22.08% 110,892

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ This was in the Reconstruction election of 1868, for Horatio Seymour.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ ‘Hitchcock Poll Says Taft: Claims Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado’; New York Times, September 25, 1908, p. 4
  2. ^ ‘Republicans Figure on a Sweep for Taft: Party's Latest Reports Give Its Candidate 27 States and 305 Electoral Votes’; New York Times, October 22, 1908, p. 4
  3. ^ Starek, Fred; ‘Bryan Gaining, but Taft Ahead: Republicans on the Defensive to Hold Their Ground’; The Washington Post, October 18, 1908, p. 1
  4. ^ Burnham, Walter Dean; ‘The System of 1896’, in Kleppner, Paul (editor), The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 176-179 ISBN 0313213798
  5. ^ Schattschneider, Elmer Eric; The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America, pp. 76-84 ISBN 0030133661
  6. ^ Murray, Keith; ‘Issues and Personalities of Pacific Northwest Politics, 1889-1950’, The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 3 (July 1950), pp. 213-233
  7. ^ ‘Oregon Goes for Bryan: Delegates Instructed to Stay with Him to the End’; New York Times, June 10, 1908, p. 2
  8. ^ ‘Bourne Says Roosevelt: Oregon Senator Starts for Chicago Still Predicting Stampede to President’; New York Times, June 13, 1908, p. 2
  9. ^ Schlup, Leonard; ‘Republican Insurgent: Jonathan Bourne and the Politics of Progressivism, 1908-1912’; Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 87, no. 3 (Fall, 1986), pp. 229-244
  10. ^ Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – Oregon
  11. ^ a b c d e Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1908 (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)