1912 United States presidential election in Florida explained

See main article: 1912 United States presidential election.

The 1912 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 5, 1912. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since the disfranchisement of black Americans at the beginning of the 1890s, Florida had been a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Because, unlike southern states extending into the Appalachian Mountains or Ozarks, or Texas with its German settlements in the Edwards Plateau, Florida completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession, its Republican Party between 1872 and 1888 was entirely dependent upon black votes. An illustration of the original Florida GOP's dependence upon black votes can be seen in that, as late as the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright, half of Florida's registered Republicans were still black^[1] – although very few blacks in Florida had ever voted within the previous fifty-five years. Thus this disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by a poll tax introduced in 1889^[2] left Florida nearly as devoid of Republican adherents as Louisiana, Mississippi or South Carolina.^[3]

The Democratic Party won every county in Florida in each election from 1892 until 1904, and all bar Calhoun County in 1908.^[4] Only once since 1897 – and then only for a single term – had a Republican served in either house of the state legislature.

Despite this disfranchisement of most of the state's lower classes, by the 1912 election, southern Florida – settled after the Civil War – was to develop a considerable socialist movement at the beginning of the 1910s – most strongly in Tampa.^[5] Although this movement had no effect on the overall presidential result – Democrat Woodrow Wilson was to win every county with an absolute majority of votes – it did allow Socialist Eugene Debs to achieve the unique feat for an American socialist of finishing second, ahead of both factions of the splintered national Republican Party.

Results

Results by county

	Thomas Woodrow WilsonDemocratic		William Howard TaftRepublican		Eugene Victor DebsSocialist		Theodore Roosevelt Jr.Progressive "Bull Moose"		Eugene Wilder ChafinProhibition		Total votes cast
County	[6]	%		%	[7]	%		%		%
	Alachua		1,304		75.33%		221		12.77%		56		3.24%		75		4.33%		75		4.33%		1,731
	Baker		168		50.76%		37		11.18%		31		9.37%		93		28.10%		2		0.60%		331
	Bradford		656		76.55%		95		11.09%		10		1.17%		40		4.67%		56		6.53%		857
	Brevard		357		60.51%		61		10.34%		82		13.90%		82		13.90%		8		1.36%		590
	Calhoun		332		50.30%		67		10.15%		152		23.03%		59		8.94%		50		7.58%		660
	Citrus		417		82.90%		11		2.19%		21		4.17%		44		8.75%		10		1.99%		503
	Clay		279		71.54%		26		6.67%		54		13.85%		21		5.38%		10		2.56%		390
	Columbia		520		77.61%		66		9.85%		23		3.43%		50		7.46%		11		1.64%		670
	Dade		1,171		65.71%		99		5.56%		188		10.55%		291		16.33%		33		1.85%		1,782
	DeSoto		847		67.28%		110		8.74%		135		10.72%		78		6.20%		89		7.07%		1,259
	Duval		3,514		75.26%		243		5.20%		350		7.50%		485		10.39%		77		1.65%		4,669
	Escambia		1,593		77.11%		72		3.48%		158		7.65%		202		9.78%		41		1.98%		2,066
	Franklin		266		68.21%		58		14.87%		38		9.74%		23		5.90%		5		1.28%		390
	Gadsden		609		78.99%		75		9.73%		31		4.02%		54		7.00%		2		0.26%		771
	Hamilton		405		72.71%		46		8.26%		60		10.77%		24		4.31%		22		3.95%		557
	Hernando		272		71.02%		18		4.70%		42		10.97%		22		5.74%		29		7.57%		383
	Hillsborough		2,641		67.63%		159		4.07%		672		17.21%		269		6.89%		164		4.20%		3,905
	Holmes		411		61.16%		52		7.74%		79		11.76%		110		16.37%		20		2.98%		672
	Jackson		1,205		71.01%		163		9.61%		146		8.60%		68		4.01%		115		6.78%		1,697
	Jefferson		459		82.55%		47		8.45%		9		1.62%		39		7.01%		2		0.36%		556
	Lafayette		473		76.79%		73		11.85%		8		1.30%		11		1.79%		51		8.28%		616
	Lake		596		73.49%		92		11.34%		39		4.81%		63		7.77%		21		2.59%		811
	Lee		432		60.50%		38		5.32%		116		16.25%		97		13.59%		31		4.34%		714
	Leon		546		81.98%		56		8.41%		15		2.25%		46		6.91%		3		0.45%		666
	Levy		375		70.49%		74		13.91%		30		5.64%		24		4.51%		29		5.45%		532
	Liberty		206		77.74%		32		12.08%		7		2.64%		18		6.79%		2		0.75%		265
	Madison		480		87.59%		16		2.92%		19		3.47%		30		5.47%		3		0.55%		548
	Manatee		712		68.73%		55		5.31%		98		9.46%		108		10.42%		63		6.08%		1,036
	Marion		1,165		70.73%		179		10.87%		124		7.53%		117		7.10%		62		3.76%		1,647
	Monroe		1,023		55.72%		414		22.55%		221		12.04%		152		8.28%		26		1.42%		1,836
	Nassau		441		82.89%		38		7.14%		31		5.83%		17		3.20%		5		0.94%		532
	Orange		1,256		68.15%		228		12.37%		124		6.73%		134		7.27%		101		5.48%		1,843
	Osceola		512		57.59%		110		12.37%		64		7.20%		159		17.89%		44		4.95%		889
	Palm Beach		458		63.17%		31		4.28%		77		10.62%		146		20.14%		13		1.79%		725
	Pasco		485		67.45%		60		8.34%		64		8.90%		74		10.29%		36		5.01%		719
	Pinellas		853		60.16%		87		6.14%		189		13.33%		250		17.63%		39		2.75%		1,418
	Polk		1,520		71.43%		106		4.98%		291		13.67%		141		6.63%		70		3.29%		2,128
	Putnam		774		65.93%		229		19.51%		67		5.71%		53		4.51%		51		4.34%		1,174
	St. Johns		836		73.08%		45		3.93%		116		10.14%		132		11.54%		15		1.31%		1,144
	St. Lucie		352		69.57%		45		8.89%		64		12.65%		36		7.11%		9		1.78%		506
	Santa Rosa		592		66.29%		70		7.84%		88		9.85%		48		5.38%		95		10.64%		893
	Sumter		417		74.73%		22		3.94%		19		3.41%		71		12.72%		29		5.20%		558
	Suwannee		714		69.59%		54		5.26%		214		20.86%		29		2.83%		15		1.46%		1,026
	Taylor		236		65.01%		56		15.43%		9		2.48%		19		5.23%		43		11.85%		363
	Volusia		942		67.48%		162		11.60%		98		7.02%		72		5.16%		122		8.74%		1,396
	Wakulla		215		77.06%		25		8.96%		22		7.89%		15		5.38%		2		0.72%		279
	Walton		612		57.95%		74		7.01%		69		6.53%		296		28.03%		5		0.47%		1,056
	Washington		694		64.38%		82		7.61%		186		17.25%		68		6.31%		48		4.45%		1,078
Totals	35,343	69.52%	4,279	8.42%	4,806	9.45%	4,555	8.96%	1,854	3.65%	50,837

See also

• United States presidential elections in Florida

Notes and References

1. See Price, Hugh Douglas; ‘The Negro and Florida Politics, 1944-1954’; The Journal of Politics, Vol. 17, No. 2 (May, 1955), pp. 198-220
2. [Joel H. Silbey|Silbey, Joel H.]
3. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210
4. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 156-157 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press
5. Ford, Edward J.; ‘Life on the Campaign Trail: a Political Anthropology of Local Politics’ (thesis), published 2008 by University of South Florida, pp. 114-118
6. Robinson; The Presidential Vote, pp. 156-161
7. Web site: Presidential Election of 1912 – Map by Counties (.xlsx file for €15) . 2017-06-06 . Géoelections . https://web.archive.org/web/20180613185010/http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1912.htm . 2018-06-13 . dead .