1896 United States presidential election in Montana

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1896 United States presidential election in Montana

← 1892 November 3, 1896 (1896-11-03) 1900 →
 
Nominee William Jennings Bryan William McKinley
Party Democratic Republican
Alliance Populist
Silver
Home state Nebraska Ohio
Running mate Arthur Sewall
(Democratic, Silver)
Thomas E. Watson
(Populist)
Garret Hobart
Electoral vote 3 0
Popular vote 42,628 10,509
Percentage 79.93% 19.71%

County Results

President before election

Grover Cleveland
Democratic

Elected President

William McKinley
Republican

The 1896 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 3, 1896, as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Montana overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan over the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley. Bryan won the state by a landslide margin of 60.22 percentage points. To date this is the best performance ever by a presidential candidate in Montana.

Bryan's support for many Populist goals resulted in him being nominated by both the Democratic Party and the People's Party (Populists), though with different running mates. One electoral vote from Montana was cast for the Populist Bryan-Watson ticket with Thomas E. Watson as vice-president and two votes were cast for the Bryan-Sewall ticket.

Bryan would later beat McKinley in the state again four years later but would lose the state to William Howard Taft in 1908. This is one of two elections where the Republican candidate won without the state, the other being in 1900. McKinley is the only Republican to win the White House without carrying Yellowstone County.

Results[edit]

1896 United States presidential election in Montana[1]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic/Silver William Jennings Bryan 42,628 79.93% 2
Populist William Jennings Bryan 0 0.00% 1
Total William Jennings Bryan 42,628 79.93% 3
Republican William McKinley 10,509 19.71% 0
Prohibitionist Joshua Levering 193 0.36% 0
Totals 53,330 100.00% 3

Results by county[edit]

County William Jennings Bryan
Democratic
William McKinley
Republican
Joshua Levering
Prohibitionist
Margin Total votes cast[2]
# % # % # % # %
Beaverhead 1,246 88.56% 154 10.95% 7 0.50% 1,092 77.61% 1,407
Carbon 739 66.94% 365 33.06% 0 0.00% 374 33.88% 1,104
Cascade 2,920 75.10% 953 24.51% 15 0.39% 1,967 50.59% 3,888
Chouteau 701 52.67% 624 46.88% 6 0.45% 77 5.79% 1,331
Custer 676 48.15% 723 51.50% 5 0.36% -47 -3.35% 1,404
Dawson 177 31.33% 385 68.14% 3 0.53% -208 -36.81% 565
Deer Lodge 4,916 91.55% 446 8.31% 8 0.15% 4,470 83.24% 5,370
Fergus 834 53.39% 725 46.41% 3 0.19% 109 6.98% 1,562
Flathead 1,360 76.45% 413 23.22% 6 0.34% 947 53.23% 1,779
Gallatin 1,649 78.23% 423 20.07% 36 1.71% 1,226 58.16% 2,108
Granite 1,746 96.25% 61 3.36% 7 0.39% 1,685 92.89% 1,814
Jefferson 2,185 93.42% 153 6.54% 1 0.04% 2,032 86.87% 2,339
Lewis and Clark 3,939 78.53% 1,057 21.07% 20 0.40% 2,882 57.46% 5,016
Madison 1,633 83.40% 315 16.09% 10 0.51% 1,318 67.31% 1,958
Meagher 1,305 79.62% 333 20.32% 1 0.06% 972 59.30% 1,639
Missoula 2,259 85.89% 365 13.88% 6 0.23% 1,894 72.02% 2,630
Park 1,252 78.69% 328 20.62% 11 0.69% 924 58.08% 1,591
Ravalli 1,542 87.91% 207 11.80% 5 0.29% 1,335 76.11% 1,754
Silver Bow 9,992 88.46% 1,275 11.29% 29 0.26% 8,717 77.17% 11,296
Sweet Grass 298 50.42% 292 49.41% 1 0.17% 6 1.02% 591
Teton 321 52.20% 293 47.64% 1 0.16% 28 4.55% 615
Valley 204 53.83% 175 46.17% 0 0.00% 29 7.65% 379
Yellowstone 575 56.99% 429 42.52% 5 0.50% 146 14.47% 1,009
Totals 42,469 79.91% 10,494 19.74% 186 0.35% 31,975 60.16% 53,149

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ David Leip. "1896 Presidential General Election Results – Montana". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  2. ^ Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 256-261 ISBN 9780804716963