1904 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

Main article: 1904 United States presidential election
1904 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
← 1900 November 8, 1904 1908 →
 
Nominee Theodore Roosevelt Alton B. Parker Eugene V. Debs
Party Republican Democratic Social Democratic
Home state New York New York Indiana
Running mate Charles W. Fairbanks Henry G. Davis Ben Hanford
Electoral vote 13 0 0
Popular vote 280,164 124,107 28,220
Percentage 63.24% 28.01% 6.37%
County Results
President before election

Theodore Roosevelt
Republican

Elected President

Theodore Roosevelt
Republican

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The 1904 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 8, 1904, as part of the 1904 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Wisconsin during the Third Party System was a Republican-leaning but competitive state whereby historically anti-Civil War German Catholic counties stood opposed to highly pro-war and firmly Republican Yankee areas.[1] However, following the Populist movement, whose inflationary monetary policies were opposed by almost all urban classes and viewed as dangerously radical by rural German Catholics,[2] Wisconsin's upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan’s agrarian and free silver sympathies.[3]

Wisconsin would henceforth become almost a one-party polity dominated by the Republican Party.[4] The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside the previously anti-Yankee areas adjoining Lake Michigan in the eastern part of the state. As Democratic strength weakened severely after 1894 – although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP – Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the “League” under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative “Regular” faction.[5]

Neither Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt nor Democratic nominee Alton B. Parker would campaign in Wisconsin, as the state had been amongst the most Republican in the nation in the presidential elections in both 1896 and 1900. No official polls were taken in the state, but Frederick W. Cotzhausen, a lifelong Milwaukee Democrat, said during October that the state would vote strongly for Roosevelt.[6]

Wisconsin would vote powerfully for Roosevelt, who defeated Parker more than two-to-one, and beat William McKinley’s 1896 performance by almost four percent. Roosevelt was the first Republican since Abraham Lincoln in 1860 to win Calumet County.

Results

General Election Results[7][a]
Party Pledged to Elector Votes
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Charles F. Ilsley 280,164[b]
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Albert R. Hall 279,870
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt George Beyer 279,858
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt John I. Sherron 279,846
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt James M. Bushnell 279,820
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Fred C. Lorenz 279,758
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Fred W. Cords 279,722
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Jame H. Cabanis 279,712
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Carl S. Porter 279,671
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Hulbert A. Bright 279,630
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Edward McGlachlin 279,586
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Melvin D. Keith 279,527
Republican Party Theodore Roosevelt Ed L. Peet 278,690
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Harold L. North 124,107[c]
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Charles Abresch 124,036
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Patrick H. Martin 123,820
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Thomas McCarthy 123,791
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker John M. Baer 123,774
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Franz Markus 123,766
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Carl F. Justman 123,744
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Thomas H. Patterson 123,725
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Stephen Richmond 123,707
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Henry J. Millmann 123,706
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Henry Volkmann 123,703
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Gilbert T. Hodges 123,694
Democratic Party Alton B. Parker Thomas J. McCloskey 123,678
Social Democratic Party[d] Eugene V. Debs A. A. Blunt 28,220
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs William Kaufmann 28,178
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Eugene H. Rooney 28,175
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs William C. Young 28,170
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Ernst Schultz 28,167
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Edward Ziegler 28,166
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Fred Wilson 28,165
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Herman Hein 28,154
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Frank Weber 28,149
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Edward Scaife 28,140
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs John J. Handley 28,135
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs William Quinn 28,124
Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs George Gollwitzer 28,076
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Jasper Dexter 9,770
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Charles W. Rose 9,760
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Frank R. Derrick 9,748
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Lafayette Brockway 9,741
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Hermann H. Rottman 9,741
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Benjamin F. Thomas 9,741
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow James H. McManus 9,740
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow William Ager 9,739
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow John Sherman 9,735
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow William E. Monroe 9,733
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Edson Schatto 9,731
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow George C. Alborn 9,727
Prohibition Party Silas C. Swallow Elsworth McKenney 9,721
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Cyrus M. Butt 530
People's Party Silas C. Swallow William A. Ramsey 511
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Samuel Isaac 510
People's Party Silas C. Swallow William Munro 509
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Frederick W. Stearns 508
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Edward W. Luedtke 507
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Louis Elholm 506
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Ole Swennes 505
People's Party Silas C. Swallow John Gruhl 504
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Peter Haan 502
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Charles Hatch 500
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Michael Seidel 499
People's Party Silas C. Swallow Charles M. Boyles 497
Socialist Labor Party[e] Charles H. Corregan Theodore Horn 223
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Carl Doescher 218
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Carl Bartsch 217
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Herman Beyer 217
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan William Pietsch 215
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Carl Schulz 215
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Carl Slabey 215
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Joseph Pietsch 214
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Paul Unruh 214
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Ernest Wegner 214
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Rudolph Kler 212
Socialist Labor Party Charles H. Corregan Nicholas Semmelback 212
Votes cast[f] 443,014

Results by county

County[7] Theodore Roosevelt
Republican 		Alton B. Parker
Democratic 		Eugene V. Debs
Socialist 		Silas C. Swallow
Prohibition 		Thomas E. Watson
Populist 		Joseph F. Maloney
Socialist Labor 		Margin Total votes cast[g]
# % # % # % # % # % # % # %
Adams 1,399 80.08% 271 15.51% 29 1.66% 47 2.69% 1 0.06% 0 0.00% 1,128 64.57% 1,747
Ashland 3,406 71.30% 1,016 21.27% 235 4.92% 116 2.43% 2 0.04% 2 0.04% 2,390 50.03% 4,777
Barron 3,575 78.33% 625 13.69% 103 2.26% 242 5.30% 9 0.20% 10 0.22% 2,950 64.64% 4,564
Bayfield 2,665 85.31% 345 11.04% 32 1.02% 77 2.46% 0 0.00% 5 0.16% 2,320 74.26% 3,124
Brown 6,027 66.09% 2,636 28.91% 329 3.61% 108 1.18% 7 0.08% 12 0.13% 3,391 37.19% 9,119
Buffalo 2,147 68.35% 911 29.00% 10 0.32% 64 2.04% 9 0.29% 0 0.00% 1,236 39.35% 3,141
Burnett 1,262 88.13% 82 5.73% 31 2.16% 54 3.77% 1 0.07% 2 0.14% 1,180 82.40% 1,432
Calumet 1,736 55.04% 1,257 39.85% 116 3.68% 36 1.14% 9 0.29% 0 0.00% 479 15.19% 3,154
Chippewa 3,744 66.51% 1,669 29.65% 59 1.05% 141 2.50% 11 0.20% 5 0.09% 2,075 36.86% 5,629
Clark 4,091 75.69% 1,050 19.43% 79 1.46% 183 3.39% 1 0.02% 1 0.02% 3,041 56.26% 5,405
Columbia 4,737 67.59% 1,907 27.21% 158 2.25% 204 2.91% 2 0.03% 0 0.00% 2,830 40.38% 7,008
Crawford 2,281 61.12% 1,363 36.52% 31 0.83% 57 1.53% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 918 24.60% 3,732
Dane 11,041 63.77% 5,610 32.40% 242 1.40% 417 2.41% 3 0.02% 0 0.00% 5,431 31.37% 17,313
Dodge 4,248 44.51% 5,092 53.35% 67 0.70% 133 1.39% 4 0.04% 0 0.00% -844 -8.84% 9,544
Door 2,689 81.21% 515 15.55% 33 1.00% 72 2.17% 2 0.06% 0 0.00% 2,174 65.66% 3,311
Douglas 4,564 73.05% 968 15.49% 549 8.79% 130 2.08% 8 0.13% 29 0.46% 3,596 57.55% 6,248
Dunn 3,303 81.27% 546 13.44% 83 2.04% 123 3.03% 7 0.17% 2 0.05% 2,757 67.84% 4,064
Eau Claire 4,343 73.20% 1,224 20.63% 196 3.30% 155 2.61% 10 0.17% 5 0.08% 3,119 52.57% 5,933
Florence 562 85.54% 82 12.48% 5 0.76% 8 1.22% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 480 73.06% 657
Fond du Lac 7,021 59.57% 4,416 37.47% 149 1.26% 178 1.51% 21 0.18% 1 0.01% 2,605 22.10% 11,786
Forest 988 82.68% 159 13.31% 23 1.92% 23 1.92% 2 0.17% 0 0.00% 829 69.37% 1,195
Gates 1,415 81.70% 245 14.15% 23 1.33% 47 2.71% 1 0.06% 1 0.06% 1,170 67.55% 1,732
Grant 5,802 64.50% 2,888 32.11% 77 0.86% 219 2.43% 8 0.09% 1 0.01% 2,914 32.40% 8,995
Green 2,990 62.11% 1,460 30.33% 139 2.89% 219 4.55% 5 0.10% 1 0.02% 1,530 31.78% 4,814
Green Lake 2,181 60.90% 1,269 35.44% 43 1.20% 84 2.35% 3 0.08% 1 0.03% 912 25.47% 3,581
Iowa 3,328 64.58% 1,640 31.83% 21 0.41% 162 3.14% 2 0.04% 0 0.00% 1,688 32.76% 5,153
Iron 1,250 81.17% 246 15.97% 16 1.04% 25 1.62% 2 0.13% 1 0.06% 1,004 65.19% 1,540
Jackson 2,746 82.22% 479 14.34% 26 0.78% 89 2.66% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,267 67.87% 3,340
Jefferson 3,669 47.78% 3,764 49.02% 96 1.25% 147 1.91% 2 0.03% 1 0.01% -95 -1.24% 7,679
Juneau 3,234 70.15% 1,243 26.96% 42 0.91% 78 1.69% 11 0.24% 2 0.04% 1,991 43.19% 4,610
Kenosha 3,307 60.96% 1,592 29.35% 440 8.11% 77 1.42% 5 0.09% 4 0.07% 1,715 31.61% 5,425
Kewaunee 1,578 49.76% 1,455 45.88% 99 3.12% 36 1.14% 3 0.09% 0 0.00% 123 3.88% 3,171
La Crosse 5,506 61.82% 3,086 34.65% 115 1.29% 189 2.12% 7 0.08% 3 0.03% 2,420 27.17% 8,906
Lafayette 2,875 58.28% 1,921 38.94% 28 0.57% 106 2.15% 1 0.02% 2 0.04% 954 19.34% 4,933
Langlade 2,103 65.72% 1,018 31.81% 30 0.94% 46 1.44% 2 0.06% 1 0.03% 1,085 33.91% 3,200
Lincoln 2,850 70.49% 1,004 24.83% 106 2.62% 69 1.71% 13 0.32% 1 0.02% 1,846 45.66% 4,043
Manitowoc 4,626 53.31% 3,271 37.69% 687 7.92% 93 1.07% 1 0.01% 0 0.00% 1,355 15.61% 8,678
Marathon 6,144 63.11% 3,245 33.33% 178 1.83% 158 1.62% 3 0.03% 7 0.07% 2,899 29.78% 9,735
Marinette 3,977 77.30% 816 15.86% 195 3.79% 144 2.80% 11 0.21% 2 0.04% 3,161 61.44% 5,145
Marquette 1,604 65.68% 747 30.59% 9 0.37% 81 3.32% 1 0.04% 0 0.00% 857 35.09% 2,442
Milwaukee 32,587 46.22% 18,547 26.31% 18,339 26.01% 935 1.33% 30 0.04% 61 0.09% 14,040 19.92% 70,499
Monroe 3,892 66.78% 1,749 30.01% 35 0.60% 145 2.49% 7 0.12% 0 0.00% 2,143 36.77% 5,828
Oconto 3,279 73.95% 1,017 22.94% 62 1.40% 68 1.53% 5 0.11% 3 0.07% 2,262 51.01% 4,434
Oneida 1,710 75.66% 373 16.50% 130 5.75% 44 1.95% 1 0.04% 2 0.09% 1,337 59.16% 2,260
Outagamie 5,951 63.72% 3,138 33.60% 113 1.21% 133 1.42% 2 0.02% 2 0.02% 2,813 30.12% 9,339
Ozaukee 1,492 47.67% 1,494 47.73% 111 3.55% 26 0.83% 6 0.19% 1 0.03% -2 -0.06% 3,130
Pepin 1,033 74.16% 327 23.47% 3 0.22% 29 2.08% 0 0.00% 1 0.07% 706 50.68% 1,393
Pierce 3,492 82.32% 594 14.00% 24 0.57% 129 3.04% 3 0.07% 0 0.00% 2,898 68.32% 4,242
Polk 2,985 85.55% 296 8.48% 98 2.81% 101 2.89% 2 0.06% 7 0.20% 2,689 77.07% 3,489
Portage 3,634 61.10% 2,168 36.45% 44 0.74% 101 1.70% 1 0.02% 0 0.00% 1,466 24.65% 5,948
Price 2,202 80.25% 399 14.54% 71 2.59% 70 2.55% 2 0.07% 0 0.00% 1,803 65.71% 2,744
Racine 5,573 55.62% 2,584 25.79% 1,453 14.50% 257 2.57% 147 1.47% 5 0.05% 2,989 29.83% 10,019
Richland 2,696 61.52% 1,340 30.58% 48 1.10% 295 6.73% 3 0.07% 0 0.00% 1,356 30.94% 4,382
Rock 7,972 71.69% 2,350 21.13% 458 4.12% 316 2.84% 22 0.20% 2 0.02% 5,622 50.56% 11,120
Sauk 4,805 67.55% 1,914 26.91% 52 0.73% 342 4.81% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,891 40.64% 7,113
Sawyer 782 75.05% 204 19.58% 13 1.25% 29 2.78% 13 1.25% 1 0.10% 578 55.47% 1,042
Shawano 3,684 72.61% 1,237 24.38% 24 0.47% 118 2.33% 10 0.20% 1 0.02% 2,447 48.23% 5,074
Sheboygan 6,121 57.19% 3,430 32.05% 901 8.42% 198 1.85% 33 0.31% 19 0.18% 2,691 25.14% 10,702
St. Croix 3,898 68.35% 1,569 27.51% 108 1.89% 116 2.03% 10 0.18% 2 0.04% 2,329 40.84% 5,703
Taylor 1,725 68.10% 719 28.39% 44 1.74% 42 1.66% 2 0.08% 1 0.04% 1,006 39.72% 2,533
Trempealeau 3,560 75.63% 976 20.74% 10 0.21% 156 3.31% 5 0.11% 0 0.00% 2,584 54.90% 4,707
Vernon 4,744 82.42% 758 13.17% 28 0.49% 220 3.82% 6 0.10% 0 0.00% 3,986 69.25% 5,756
Vilas 1,467 79.17% 321 17.32% 39 2.10% 25 1.35% 0 0.00% 1 0.05% 1,146 61.85% 1,853
Walworth 4,892 73.33% 1,378 20.66% 135 2.02% 263 3.94% 3 0.04% 0 0.00% 3,514 52.68% 6,671
Washburn 989 77.51% 207 16.22% 48 3.76% 31 2.43% 0 0.00% 1 0.08% 782 61.29% 1,276
Washington 2,565 52.10% 2,233 45.36% 68 1.38% 55 1.12% 2 0.04% 0 0.00% 332 6.74% 4,923
Waukesha 5,247 62.68% 2,686 32.09% 231 2.76% 205 2.45% 1 0.01% 1 0.01% 2,561 30.59% 8,371
Waupaca 5,471 81.45% 941 14.01% 70 1.04% 233 3.47% 2 0.03% 0 0.00% 4,530 67.44% 6,717
Waushara 3,140 87.59% 319 8.90% 25 0.70% 96 2.68% 3 0.08% 2 0.06% 2,821 78.69% 3,585
Winnebago 7,565 62.19% 4,006 32.93% 311 2.56% 259 2.13% 15 0.12% 8 0.07% 3,559 29.26% 12,164
Wood 4,002 67.02% 1,674 28.04% 195 3.27% 96 1.61% 4 0.07% 0 0.00% 2,328 38.99% 5,971
Total 280,164[h] 63.24% 124,107[i] 28.01% 28,220 6.37% 9,770 2.21% 530 0.12% 223 0.05% 156,057 35.23% 443,014

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The 1905 Blue Book gives the totals as Roosevelt 285,315; Parker 124,205; Debs 28,240; Swallow 9,872; Watson 560; Corregan 249. Based on the Board of Canvassers report, these totals are simply incorrect; no elector on any ticket received those numbers of votes. Indeed, the Blue Book is an unreliable source for Wisconsin election data from about 1890 to 1920 and its figures frequently differ from the figures listed in the Board of Canvassers reports.
  2. ^ The county figures add up to 280,169
  3. ^ The county figures add up to 124,081
  4. ^ In Wisconsin, the Socialist Party was still referred to as the Social Democratic Party in 1904
  5. ^ The Socialist Labor Party ran only 12 electors on its Wisconsin ticket
  6. ^ Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket
  7. ^ Based on highest elector on each ticket
  8. ^ The county figures add up to 280,169
  9. ^ The county figures add up to 124,081

References

  1. ^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 381-382, 414 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
  2. ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 384
  3. ^ Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN 0815719094
  4. ^ Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798
  5. ^ Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; ‘Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980’; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168 ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0
  6. ^ ‘Will Vote for Roosevelt’; Appleton Post, October 20, 1904, p. 4
  7. ^ a b Wisconsin Historical Society, Tabular Statement of votes given for President and Vice President of the United States at the general election held in the several towns, wards, villages, and election districts in the several counties of the State of Wisconsin, on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday, being the eighth day of November A.D. 1904