1924 United States presidential election in New York

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1924 United States presidential election in New York

← 1920 November 4, 1924 1928 →
Turnout56.3%[1] Decrease 0.1 pp
 
Nominee Calvin Coolidge John W. Davis Robert M. La Follette
Party Republican Democratic Socialist
Alliance Progressive
Home state Massachusetts West Virginia Wisconsin
Running mate Charles G. Dawes Charles W. Bryan Burton K. Wheeler
Electoral vote 45 0 0
Popular vote 1,820,058 950,796 474,913
Percentage 55.76% 29.13% 14.55%

County Results
Coolidge
  30-40%
  40-50%
  50-60%
  60-70%
  70-80%


President before election

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

Elected President

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

The 1924 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 4, 1924. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1924 United States presidential election. Voters chose 45 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

New York was won by incumbent Republican President Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, who was running against Democratic Ambassador John W. Davis of West Virginia and the Progressive Party's Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin. Coolidge's running mate was former Budget Director Charles G. Dawes of Illinois and Davis ran with Governor Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska, while La Follette ran with Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana.

In a three-way race, Coolidge won with a decisive majority of 55.76% of the vote to Davis' 29.13% and La Follette's 14.55%, a victory margin of 26.63%. In the midst of a nationwide Republican landslide, New York's results in this election made the state about 2% more Republican than the national average. Support for Robert La Follette was strongest in the New York City area, where he took double-digit support, and even broke 20% in the boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx. La Follette also broke 20% in upstate Monroe County, home to the city of Rochester. La Follette got the majority of his votes in New York state under the Socialist label (268,518 votes) than under the Progressive label (206,395 votes), for a combined total of 474,913 votes.

Coolidge got 1,820,058 votes in the state of New York, swept every county in the state, winning every upstate county as well as sweeping all 5 boroughs of New York City, the last time a Republican presidential candidate has done so.[2]

The 1920s were a fiercely Republican decade in American politics, and New York during the Fourth Party System was a Republican-leaning state in presidential elections. The economic boom and social good feelings of the Roaring Twenties under popular Republican leadership virtually guaranteed Calvin Coolidge an easy win in the state against the conservative Southern Democrat John Davis, who had little appeal in Northern states like New York where large Catholic populations opposed his reticence on the anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan.[3] Coolidge won a strong majority statewide even with the Republican vote being split by the strong third party candidacy of Robert La Follette, a Republican Senator who had run as the Progressive Party candidate and peeled away the votes of many progressive Republicans.

Results[edit]

1924 United States presidential election in New York[4]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Calvin Coolidge (incumbent) 1,820,058 55.76% 45
Democratic John W. Davis 950,796 29.13% 0
Socialist Robert M. La Follette 268,518 8.23%
Progressive Robert M. La Follette 206,395 6.32%
Total Robert M. La Follette 474,913 14.55% 0
Socialist Labor Frank T. Johns 9,928 0.30% 0
Communist William Z. Foster 8,244 0.25% 0
Totals 3,263,939 100.0% 45

New York City results[edit]

1924 Presidential Election in New York City Manhattan The Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Total
Republican Calvin Coolidge 190,871 79,583 236,877 100,793 18,007 626,131 44.58%
41.20% 36.73% 47.50% 53.57% 47.91%
Democratic John W. Davis 183,249 72,840 158,907 58,402 15,801 489,199 34.83%
39.55% 33.62% 31.87% 31.04% 42.04%
Socialist/Progressive Robert M. La Follette 86,625 62,212 100,721 28,210 3,702 281,470 20.04%
18.70% 28.71% 20.20% 14.99% 9.85%
Communist William Z. Foster 1,858 1,410 1,530 547 44 5,389 0.38%
0.40% 0.65% 0.31% 0.29% 0.12%
Socialist Labor Frank T. Johns 723 612 652 217 32 2,236 0.16%
0.16% 0.28% 0.13% 0.12% 0.09%
TOTAL 463,326 216,657 498,687 188,169 37,586 1,404,425 100.00%

Results by county[edit]

Results by New York City assembly district. Colors are as above with the following added:
  Davis—30-40%
  Davis—40-50%
  Davis—50-60%
  Davis—60-70%
  La Follette—30-40%
  La Follette—40-50%
County John Calvin Coolidge
Republican
John William Davis
Democratic
Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Socialist/
Progressive
Frank Tetes Johns
Socialist Labor
William Z. Foster
Communist
Margin Total votes cast[5]
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Albany 48,253 52.01% 38,671 41.68% 5,736 6.18% 71 0.08% 41 0.04% 9,582 10.33% 92,772
Allegany 12,203 75.35% 2,755 17.01% 1,202 7.42% 24 0.15% 12 0.07% 9,448 58.34% 16,196
Bronx 79,583 36.73% 72,840 33.62% 62,212 28.71% 612 0.28% 1,410 0.65% 6,743 3.11% 216,657
Broome 28,262 67.70% 9,289 22.25% 3,994 9.57% 133 0.32% 71 0.17% 18,973 45.45% 41,749
Cattaraugus 17,307 63.94% 5,369 19.84% 4,200 15.52% 138 0.51% 52 0.19% 11,938 44.11% 27,066
Cayuga 17,252 63.66% 7,369 27.19% 2,296 8.47% 107 0.39% 76 0.28% 9,883 36.47% 27,100
Chautauqua 29,757 71.25% 5,560 13.31% 5,995 14.35% 313 0.75% 139 0.33% 23,762[a] 56.90% 41,764
Chemung 18,599 64.66% 7,162 24.90% 2,972 10.33% 18 0.06% 14 0.05% 11,437 39.76% 28,765
Chenango 11,323 72.60% 3,392 21.75% 841 5.39% 31 0.20% 9 0.06% 7,931 50.85% 15,596
Clinton 7,918 57.80% 5,138 37.51% 625 4.56% 15 0.11% 2 0.01% 2,780 20.29% 13,698
Columbia 10,774 63.70% 5,466 32.32% 623 3.68% 39 0.23% 12 0.07% 5,308 31.38% 16,914
Cortland 10,032 76.93% 2,170 16.64% 797 6.11% 34 0.26% 8 0.06% 7,862 60.29% 13,041
Delaware 13,020 72.66% 4,158 23.20% 722 4.03% 12 0.07% 7 0.04% 8,862 49.46% 17,919
Dutchess 22,173 64.64% 8,864 25.84% 3,092 9.01% 130 0.38% 44 0.13% 13,309 38.80% 34,303
Erie 112,070 58.53% 40,780 21.30% 36,042 18.82% 1,969 1.03% 619 0.32% 71,290 37.23% 191,480
Essex 8,553 73.96% 2,639 22.82% 365 3.16% 3 0.03% 5 0.04% 5,914 51.14% 11,565
Franklin 9,352 64.43% 4,364 30.07% 788 5.43% 5 0.03% 6 0.04% 4,988 34.36% 14,515
Fulton 11,858 72.49% 3,143 19.21% 1,274 7.79% 47 0.29% 36 0.22% 8,715 53.28% 16,358
Genesee 11,101 71.43% 3,384 21.77% 1,013 6.52% 38 0.24% 6 0.04% 7,717 49.65% 15,542
Greene 7,503 61.56% 3,951 32.42% 703 5.77% 25 0.21% 6 0.05% 3,552 29.14% 12,188
Hamilton 1,063 61.23% 631 36.35% 39 2.25% 2 0.12% 1 0.06% 432 24.88% 1,736
Herkimer 15,625 66.31% 6,464 27.43% 1,386 5.88% 66 0.28% 22 0.09% 9,161 38.88% 23,563
Jefferson 21,159 68.38% 7,665 24.77% 2,044 6.61% 52 0.17% 22 0.07% 13,494 43.61% 30,942
Kings 236,877 47.50% 158,907 31.87% 100,721 20.20% 652 0.13% 1,530 0.31% 77,970 15.64% 498,687
Lewis 6,066 66.98% 2,801 30.93% 182 2.01% 3 0.03% 5 0.06% 3,265 36.05% 9,057
Livingston 10,472 69.56% 3,676 24.42% 866 5.75% 28 0.19% 13 0.09% 6,796 45.14% 15,055
Madison 11,589 71.01% 3,430 21.02% 1,226 7.51% 55 0.34% 21 0.13% 8,159 49.99% 16,321
Monroe 80,577 57.09% 28,956 20.52% 30,261 21.44% 957 0.68% 377 0.27% 50,316[a] 35.65% 141,128
Montgomery 12,869 63.20% 5,939 29.17% 1,472 7.23% 55 0.27% 27 0.13% 6,930 34.03% 20,362
Nassau 45,825 70.47% 14,322 22.02% 4,699 7.23% 103 0.16% 82 0.13% 31,503 48.44% 65,031
New York 190,871 41.20% 183,249 39.55% 86,625 18.70% 723 0.16% 1,858 0.40% 7,622 1.65% 463,326
Niagara 25,874 67.98% 7,993 21.00% 3,977 10.45% 168 0.44% 50 0.13% 17,881 46.98% 38,062
Oneida 37,545 61.82% 18,124 29.84% 4,758 7.83% 194 0.32% 113 0.19% 19,421 31.98% 60,734
Onondaga 65,395 64.90% 24,773 24.58% 10,167 10.09% 338 0.34% 96 0.10% 40,622 40.31% 100,769
Ontario 15,013 66.66% 5,933 26.34% 1,517 6.74% 47 0.21% 13 0.06% 9,080 40.31% 22,523
Orange 29,184 67.74% 9,765 22.67% 3,956 9.18% 138 0.32% 40 0.09% 19,419 45.07% 43,083
Orleans 8,543 71.91% 2,320 19.53% 967 8.14% 18 0.15% 32 0.27% 6,223 52.38% 11,880
Oswego 18,576 65.08% 7,864 27.55% 2,006 7.03% 68 0.24% 28 0.10% 10,712 37.53% 28,542
Otsego 13,573 65.67% 5,841 28.26% 1,193 5.77% 52 0.25% 11 0.05% 7,732 37.41% 20,670
Putnam 3,796 67.73% 1,472 26.26% 320 5.71% 8 0.14% 9 0.16% 2,324 41.46% 5,605
Queens 100,793 53.57% 58,402 31.04% 28,210 14.99% 217 0.12% 547 0.29% 42,391 22.53% 188,169
Rensselaer 30,549 55.88% 19,783 36.18% 3,940 7.21% 263 0.48% 138 0.25% 10,766 19.69% 54,673
Richmond 18,007 47.91% 15,801 42.04% 3,702 9.85% 32 0.09% 44 0.12% 2,206 5.87% 37,586
Rockland 11,915 60.92% 5,640 28.84% 1,911 9.77% 66 0.34% 27 0.14% 6,275 32.08% 19,559
Saratoga 17,682 65.84% 7,026 26.16% 2,069 7.70% 65 0.24% 14 0.05% 10,656 39.68% 26,856
Schenectady 24,514 61.75% 9,167 23.09% 5,746 14.47% 218 0.55% 54 0.14% 15,347 38.66% 39,699
Schoharie 6,142 62.17% 3,413 34.55% 306 3.10% 12 0.12% 6 0.06% 2,729 27.62% 9,879
Schuyler 4,301 70.81% 1,555 25.60% 211 3.47% 4 0.07% 3 0.05% 2,746 45.21% 6,074
Seneca 6,598 66.15% 2,727 27.34% 619 6.21% 19 0.19% 11 0.11% 3,871 38.81% 9,974
St. Lawrence 22,583 71.50% 7,103 22.49% 1,826 5.78% 44 0.14% 28 0.09% 15,480 49.01% 31,584
Steuben 21,481 66.79% 7,194 22.37% 3,223 10.02% 216 0.67% 46 0.14% 14,287 44.42% 32,160
Suffolk 31,456 69.20% 10,024 22.05% 3,745 8.24% 177 0.39% 53 0.12% 21,432 47.15% 45,455
Sullivan 7,734 56.85% 4,057 29.82% 1,755 12.90% 39 0.29% 19 0.14% 3,677 27.03% 13,604
Tioga 7,834 72.47% 2,234 20.67% 715 6.61% 18 0.17% 9 0.08% 5,600 51.80% 10,810
Tompkins 11,766 72.98% 3,701 22.95% 619 3.84% 15 0.09% 22 0.14% 8,065 50.02% 16,123
Ulster 20,048 63.32% 9,361 29.57% 2,175 6.87% 36 0.11% 40 0.13% 10,687 33.76% 31,660
Warren 9,627 67.95% 3,663 25.85% 831 5.87% 45 0.32% 2 0.01% 5,964 42.09% 14,168
Washington 13,774 71.50% 4,321 22.43% 1,132 5.88% 31 0.16% 6 0.03% 9,453 49.07% 19,264
Wayne 14,358 73.69% 3,991 20.48% 1,109 5.69% 14 0.07% 13 0.07% 10,367 53.21% 19,485
Westchester 85,029 63.91% 30,964 23.28% 15,943 11.98% 871 0.65% 228 0.17% 54,065 40.64% 133,035
Wyoming 10,148 74.05% 2,512 18.33% 1,014 7.40% 25 0.18% 6 0.04% 7,636 55.72% 13,705
Yates 6,334 77.69% 1,568 19.23% 238 2.92% 10 0.12% 3 0.04% 4,766 58.46% 8,153
Totals 1,820,058 55.76% 950,796 29.13% 474,913 14.55% 9,928 0.30% 8,244 0.25% 869,262 26.63% 3,263,939

Analysis[edit]

Nevertheless, Coolidge won all five boroughs of New York City, and thus won the city as a whole. Coolidge won with pluralities of the vote in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and took an absolute majority of the vote in Queens. From his time as governor of neighboring Massachusetts, Coolidge remained, for a Republican, relatively popular with Irish Catholic and other ethnic immigrant communities,[6] helping him to hold on to New York City. Many of these voters would defect to the Democrats for Catholic New Yorker Al Smith in 1928 and become reliable Democratic voters after that.

This is the last time that a Republican presidential candidate won New York City as a whole (after 1908 and 1920). This is the second and final time that a Republican presidential candidate won Manhattan and the Bronx, and thus every county in New York state (after having done so in 1920).[2] This is the last of six elections in which Brooklyn voted Republican (including the elections from 1896 to 1908, and 1920).

Combined with decisive Republican majorities in every county in upstate New York and in Long Island, Coolidge easily dominated New York State's election returns in 1924. No Republican since has been able to outperform Coolidge's county-level performance or surpass his statewide margin of victory; the only stronger Republican win in New York's history was when Coolidge was running for Vice President four years earlier in Warren G. Harding’s massive landslide of 1920. Calvin Coolidge is one of only three presidential candidates of either party who has been able to sweep every county in New York State, the others being Republican Warren G. Harding in 1920 and Democrat Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b In this county where La Follette ran second ahead of Davis, the margin given is that between Coolidge and La Follette and percentage margin Coolidge percentage minus La Follette percentage.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.
  2. ^ a b Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  3. ^ Faykosh, Joseph D.; ‘A Party in Peril: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democratic Party, and the Circular Letter of 1924’ (thesis); pp. 148–149
  4. ^ "1924 Presidential Election Results - New York". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  5. ^ New York State Board of Elections; ‘Vote, New York State, By Counties, November 4, 1924 for President’; New York Legislative Manual 1925 pp. 847-848
  6. ^ Johnson, Charles C.; Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America's Most Underrated President, pp. 206–207 ISBN 1594036691