Election in South Dakota
Main article: 1896 United States presidential election
1896 United States presidential election in South Dakota
Nominee
William Jennings Bryan
William McKinley
Party
Populist
Republican
Home state
Nebraska
Ohio
Running mate
Arthur Sewall Thomas E. Watson
Garret Hobart
Electoral vote
4
0
Popular vote
41,225
41,042
Percentage
49.70%
49.48%
County Results
Bryan
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
McKinley
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
President before election
Grover Cleveland
Democratic
Elected President
William McKinley
Republican
The 1896 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 3, 1896. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1896 United States presidential election . Voters chose four electors to the Electoral College , which selected the president and vice president .
South Dakota was won by the Populist nominees,[a] former U.S. Representative William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and his running mate Arthur Sewall of Maine . Two electors cast their Vice Presidential ballots for Thomas E. Watson .
Bryan won the state by a very narrow margin of 0.22 percentage points, becoming the first national Democratic presidential candidate to win the state. Bryan would later lose the state to Republican incumbent president William McKinley four years later and would later lose the state again to William Howard Taft in 1908 . As of the 2020 United States presidential election , this is the only time that a Republican candidate has won the presidency without carrying South Dakota.
Results [ ]
1896 United States presidential election in South Dakota[1]
Party
Candidate
Votes
Percentage
Electoral votes
Populist
William Jennings Bryan
41,225
49.70%
4
Republican
William McKinley
41,042
49.48%
0
Prohibition
Joshua Levering
683
0.82%
0
Totals
82,950
100.00%
4
Voter turnout
—
Results by county [ ]
County[2]
William McKinley Republican
William Jennings Bryan Populist
Joshua Levering Prohibition
Margin
Total votes cast
#
%
#
%
#
%
#
%
Aurora
387
44.08%
479
54.56%
12
1.37%
-92
-10.48%
878
Beadle
935
49.84%
915
48.77%
26
1.39%
20
1.07%
1,876
Bon Homme
1,163
56.37%
893
43.29%
7
0.34%
270
13.09%
2,063
Brookings
1,263
48.71%
1,288
49.67%
42
1.62%
-25
-0.96%
2,593
Brown
1,618
46.15%
1,867
53.25%
21
0.60%
-249
-7.10%
3,506
Brule
441
39.59%
668
59.96%
5
0.45%
-227
-20.38%
1,114
Buffalo
68
46.26%
79
53.74%
0
0.00%
-11
-7.48%
147
Butte
222
43.53%
286
56.08%
2
0.39%
-64
-12.55%
510
Campbell
449
54.62%
369
44.89%
4
0.49%
80
9.73%
822
Charles Mix
698
53.57%
594
45.59%
11
0.84%
104
7.98%
1,303
Clark
695
45.01%
816
52.85%
33
2.14%
-121
-7.84%
1,544
Clay
1,238
53.36%
1,061
45.73%
21
0.91%
177
7.63%
2,320
Codington
1,041
57.10%
759
41.63%
23
1.26%
282
15.47%
1,823
Custer
429
45.30%
515
54.38%
3
0.32%
-86
-9.08%
947
Davison
616
45.13%
733
53.70%
16
1.17%
-117
-8.57%
1,365
Day
1,171
48.07%
1,230
50.49%
35
1.44%
-59
-2.42%
2,436
Deuel
698
50.95%
668
48.76%
4
0.29%
30
2.19%
1,370
Douglas
533
58.06%
380
41.39%
5
0.54%
153
16.67%
918
Edmunds
371
41.78%
510
57.43%
7
0.79%
-139
-15.65%
888
Fall River
532
48.76%
555
50.87%
4
0.37%
-23
-2.11%
1,091
Faulk
430
64.08%
237
35.32%
4
0.60%
193
28.76%
671
Grant
1,029
52.72%
902
46.21%
21
1.08%
127
6.51%
1,952
Gregory
110
48.67%
116
51.33%
0
0.00%
-6
-2.65%
226
Hamlin
702
55.10%
559
43.88%
13
1.02%
143
11.22%
1,274
Hand
451
43.96%
567
55.26%
8
0.78%
-116
-11.31%
1,026
Hanson
420
38.75%
658
60.70%
6
0.55%
-238
-21.96%
1,084
Hughes
462
58.33%
327
41.29%
3
0.38%
135
17.05%
792
Hutchinson
1,413
74.96%
458
24.30%
14
0.74%
955
50.66%
1,885
Hyde
223
64.45%
121
34.97%
2
0.58%
102
29.48%
346
Jerauld
274
44.48%
336
54.55%
6
0.97%
-62
-10.06%
616
Kingsbury
950
46.82%
1,051
51.80%
28
1.38%
-101
-4.98%
2,029
Lake
864
46.10%
999
53.31%
11
0.59%
-135
-7.20%
1,874
Lawrence
2,210
42.91%
2,905
56.41%
35
0.68%
-695
-13.50%
5,150
Lincoln
1,516
51.86%
1,393
47.66%
14
0.48%
123
4.21%
2,923
Lyman
114
59.07%
78
40.41%
1
0.52%
36
18.65%
193
Marshall
553
43.78%
694
54.95%
16
1.27%
-141
-11.16%
1,263
McCook
678
39.03%
1,047
60.28%
12
0.69%
-369
-21.24%
1,737
McPherson
512
58.25%
361
41.07%
6
0.68%
151
17.18%
879
Meade
550
40.56%
802
59.14%
4
0.29%
-252
-18.58%
1,356
Miner
582
45.05%
705
54.57%
5
0.39%
-123
-9.52%
1,292
Minnehaha
2,429
47.15%
2,667
51.77%
56
1.09%
-238
-4.62%
5,152
Moody
780
43.36%
1,012
56.25%
7
0.39%
-232
-12.90%
1,799
Pennington
739
41.40%
1,038
58.15%
8
0.45%
-299
-16.75%
1,785
Potter
333
45.74%
390
53.57%
5
0.69%
-57
-7.83%
728
Roberts
1,324
58.20%
929
40.84%
22
0.97%
395
17.36%
2,275
Sanborn
530
50.72%
500
47.85%
15
1.44%
30
2.87%
1,045
Spink
1,132
51.31%
1,061
48.10%
13
0.59%
71
3.22%
2,206
Stanley
89
38.53%
140
60.61%
2
0.87%
-51
-22.08%
231
Sully
262
56.34%
198
42.58%
5
1.08%
64
13.76%
465
Turner
1,616
62.47%
950
36.72%
21
0.81%
666
25.74%
2,587
Union
1,297
46.24%
1,491
53.16%
17
0.61%
-194
-6.92%
2,805
Walworth
250
46.21%
286
52.87%
5
0.92%
-36
-6.65%
541
Yankton
1,423
51.39%
1,330
48.03%
16
0.58%
93
3.36%
2,769
Unorganized
337
47.73%
368
52.12%
1
0.14%
-31
-4.39%
706
Totals
41,152
49.48%
41,341
49.70%
683
0.82%
-189
-0.23%
83,176
Notes [ ]
^ Although Bryan ran nationally as the Democratic nominee, that party was so weak in South Dakota that Bryan was instead endorsed by the state’s Populist Party, which was the major competitor with the GOP.
References [ ]
State and district results of the 1896 United States presidential election
Alabama
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Nebraska
Nevada
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New Jersey
New York
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Ohio
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Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
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Elections in the United States
See also
Presidential elections
Senate elections
House elections
Gubernatorial elections