1892 United States presidential election in California

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1892 United States presidential election in California

← 1888 November 8, 1892 1896 →
  StephenGroverCleveland.png Benjamin Harrison 1896.jpg James B. Weaver 1892 (cropped).jpg
Nominee Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison James Weaver
Party Democratic Republican Populist
Home state New York Indiana Iowa
Running mate Adlai E. Stevenson Whitelaw Reid James Field
Electoral vote 8 1 0
Popular vote 118,174 118,027 25,311
Percentage 43.83% 43.78% 9.39%

California Presidential Election Results 1892.svg
County Results

President before election

Benjamin Harrison
Republican

Elected President

Grover Cleveland
Democratic

The 1892 United States presidential election in California was held on November 8, 1892 as part of the 1892 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Incumbent President Benjamin Harrison’s administration had been plagued by divisions within his party and by controversy over foreign relations, notably with Italy and Chile.[1] In California, Harrison became less popular because it was believed that Senator Leland Stanford was dictating policies in the interest of the Southern Pacific Railroad.[1] Opposition to its power had already spawned several unsuccessful reform movements in California since 1873,[2] and the growing Populist movement also gained substantial support from small farmers in the state’s Central Valley region.[3] The relative weakness of partisan loyalties in California helped give the movement much more influence than in the East,[4] however the much greater urban character of the state’s economy, the diversity of its agricultural sector and the access of its wheat growers – the basis for Populist victories in the Plains States – to major ocean ports severely weakened the Populist Party under 1880 Greenback nominee James B. Weaver in California.[5] Consequently California would prove Weaver’s weakest state west of the Missouri River, giving him less than ten percent of the vote.

California voted for the Democratic challenger, former president Grover Cleveland, over the Republican incumbent, Benjamin Harrison by an extremely narrow margin of just 147 votes, or a 0.05452% margin, which constitutes the fifth-closest statewide presidential election result on record, behind Florida in 2000, Maryland in 1832 and 1904, and California itself 20 years later in 1912. Because the vote was so close and voters voted for individual electors, the ninth Cleveland elector received fewer votes than one Harrison elector, who was thus elected.[6] This was the second occasion in which California's electoral vote was split, rather than being awarded to a single candidate. The first occasion was in 1880. Such a split would only subsequently occur in California two subsequent times (1896, and 1912).[7]

Results[]

1892 United States presidential election in California[8]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Grover Cleveland 118,174 43.83% 8
Republican Benjamin Harrison (incumbent) 118,027 43.78% 1
People's James Weaver 25,311 9.39% 0
Prohibition John Bidwell 8,096 3.00% 0
No party Write-ins 1 0.00% 0
Invalid or blank votes
Totals 269,609 100.00% 9
Voter turnout

Results by county[]

County Stephen Grover Cleveland
Democratic
Benjamin Harrison
Republican
James Baird Weaver
Populist
John Bidwell
Prohibition
Margin
% # % # % # % # % #
Colusa 57.20% 1,187 31.08% 645 9.20% 191 2.51% 52 26.12% 542
Glenn 51.70% 808 33.78% 528 11.71% 183 2.82% 44 17.91% 280
Modoc 52.05% 596 35.46% 406 9.26% 106 3.23% 37 16.59% 190
Del Norte 52.72% 339 36.55% 235 9.18% 59 1.56% 10 16.17% 104
Stanislaus 53.69% 1,369 38.90% 992 2.27% 58 5.14% 131 14.78% 377
Mariposa 51.98% 526 39.92% 404 6.92% 70 1.19% 12 12.06% 122
San Francisco 53.09% 31,022 41.78% 24,416 4.29% 2,508 0.84% 489 11.30% 6,606
Kern 50.38% 1,266 39.47% 992 8.00% 201 2.15% 54 10.90% 274
Merced 50.46% 995 39.66% 782 6.39% 126 3.50% 69 10.80% 213
Tulare 42.09% 2,613 31.96% 1,984 22.71% 1,410 3.24% 201 10.13% 629
Yolo 50.74% 1,707 40.78% 1,372 4.01% 135 4.46% 150 9.96% 335
Tuolumne 50.27% 916 40.56% 739 6.20% 113 2.96% 54 9.71% 177
San Benito 45.56% 759 36.97% 616 15.37% 256 2.10% 35 8.58% 143
Lake 44.97% 644 37.15% 532 14.53% 208 3.35% 48 7.82% 112
Mendocino 49.56% 2,023 41.87% 1,709 3.87% 158 4.70% 192 7.69% 314
Sonoma 49.65% 3,451 43.40% 3,016 4.27% 297 2.68% 186 6.26% 435
Fresno 42.35% 3,453 37.18% 3,031 15.88% 1,295 4.59% 374 5.18% 422
Yuba 50.42% 1,198 45.41% 1,079 2.40% 57 1.77% 42 5.01% 119
Amador 48.01% 1,255 43.04% 1,125 6.27% 164 2.68% 70 4.97% 130
El Dorado 48.00% 1,270 43.80% 1,159 6.58% 174 1.63% 43 4.20% 111
Siskiyou 49.74% 1,605 46.27% 1,493 3.38% 109 0.62% 20 3.47% 112
Tehama 46.80% 1,045 43.39% 969 7.61% 170 2.19% 49 3.40% 76
San Joaquin 44.19% 3,106 42.08% 2,958 8.42% 592 5.31% 373 2.11% 148
Sutter 46.64% 735 47.27% 745 2.86% 45 3.24% 51 -0.63% -10
Butte 45.89% 2,141 46.73% 2,180 3.92% 183 3.45% 161 -0.84% -39
Lassen 46.66% 524 48.09% 540 3.56% 40 1.69% 19 -1.42% -16
Monterey 39.14% 1,606 41.65% 1,709 16.72% 686 2.49% 102 -2.51% -103
Calaveras 46.79% 1,276 49.69% 1,355 2.75% 75 0.77% 21 -2.90% -79
Nevada 39.84% 1,634 42.84% 1,757 15.02% 616 2.29% 94 -3.00% -123
San Mateo 47.40% 1,020 50.56% 1,088 1.49% 32 0.56% 12 -3.16% -68
Shasta 39.41% 1,137 42.77% 1,234 15.11% 436 2.70% 78 -3.36% -97
Trinity 46.92% 457 50.82% 495 1.95% 19 0.31% 3 -3.90% -38
Santa Clara 40.12% 4,167 44.48% 4,620 10.50% 1,091 4.90% 509 -4.36% -453
Solano 44.52% 2,174 49.21% 2,403 4.36% 213 1.90% 93 -4.69% -229
Orange 34.49% 1,000 39.74% 1,152 16.56% 480 9.21% 267 -5.24% -152
Placer 43.08% 1,524 49.27% 1,743 5.23% 185 2.43% 86 -6.19% -219
San Luis Obispo 31.88% 1,199 38.10% 1,433 26.51% 997 3.51% 132 -6.22% -234
Santa Barbara 34.88% 1,228 42.12% 1,483 18.15% 639 4.83% 170 -7.24% -255
Santa Cruz 36.77% 1,512 44.82% 1,843 13.67% 562 4.74% 195 -8.05% -331
Napa 42.43% 1,478 50.79% 1,769 4.97% 173 1.81% 63 -8.35% -291
Plumas 43.62% 537 52.15% 642 2.19% 27 2.03% 25 -8.53% -105
Alameda 38.52% 7,114 47.60% 8,792 11.45% 2,114 2.44% 450 -9.09% -1,678
Los Angeles 35.64% 8,119 44.89% 10,226 13.55% 3,086 5.92% 1,348 -9.25% -2,107
Contra Costa 42.30% 1,332 51.79% 1,631 3.84% 121 2.06% 65 -9.50% -299
Sacramento[a] 39.23% 3,498 48.92% 4,362 9.97% 889 1.88% 168 -9.69% -864
Humboldt 33.98% 1,844 44.53% 2,416 19.09% 1,036 2.40% 130 -10.54% -572
Marin 42.88% 949 53.59% 1,186 2.67% 59 0.86% 19 -10.71% -237
Ventura 34.80% 958 46.60% 1,283 15.07% 415 3.52% 97 -11.81% -325
San Bernardino 33.65% 2,546 48.71% 3,686 9.53% 721 8.11% 614 -15.07% -1,140
San Diego 30.26% 2,334 45.71% 3,525 19.70% 1,519 4.33% 334 -15.44% -1,191
Inyo 33.25% 266 51.13% 409 10.63% 85 5.00% 40 -17.88% -143
Sierra 38.61% 529 57.45% 787 3.36% 46 0.58% 8 -18.83% -258
Mono 30.97% 166 53.36% 286 14.37% 77 1.31% 7 -22.39% -120
Alpine 19.77% 17 75.58% 65 4.65% 4 0.00% 0 -55.81% -48

Notes[]

  1. ^ One write-in vote was recorded from this county

References[]

  1. ^ a b Dozer, Donald Marquand; ‘Benjamin Harrison and the Presidential Campaign of 1892’; The American Historical Review, Vol. 54, No. 1 (October 1948), pp. 49-77
  2. ^ Graffiths, David B.; ‘Anti-Monopoly Movement in California 1873-1898’; Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2 (June 1970), pp. 93-121
  3. ^ Hall, Tom G.; ‘California Populism at the Grass-Roots: The Case of Tulare County, 1892’; Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 2 (June 1967), pp. 193-204
  4. ^ Kleppner, Paul; ‘Voters and Parties in the Western States, 1876-1900’; Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 1983), pp. 49-68
  5. ^ Magliari, Michael; ‘Populism, Steamboats, and the Octopus: Transportation Rates and Monopoly in California's Wheat Regions, 1890-1896’; Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 58, No. 4 (November 1989), pp. 449-469
  6. ^ Knoles, George Harmon; The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1892, Volume 5 (1942), p. 229
  7. ^ "DIVIDED ELECTORAL VOTES". Newspapers.com. The Boston Globe. 11 Nov 1912. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  8. ^ "1892 Presidential General Election Results – California". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
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