1912 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

The 1912 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Washington was won by the 26th president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt (P–New York), running with governor of California Hiram Johnson, with 35.22% of the popular vote against the Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson (D–New Jersey), running with governor of Indiana Thomas R. Marshall, with 26.90% of the popular vote, the 27th president of the United States William Howard Taft (R–Ohio), running with Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler, with 21.82% of the popular vote and the five-time candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States Eugene V. Debs (S–Indiana), running with the first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States Emil Seidel, with 12.43% of the popular vote.^[1]

As a result of his win as a Progressive, Roosevelt became the first and only third party candidate to win the State of Washington. It is the only time ever that neighboring Oregon voted Democratic and Washington did not.

This was the first election in Washington in which women had the right to vote. In 1910, the voters of Washington passed a constitutional amendment which granted full suffrage to women.

Results

General Election Results^[2]
Party		Pledged to	Elector	Votes
	Progressive Party	Theodore Roosevelt	Helen J. Scott	113,698
	Progressive Party	Theodore Roosevelt	George H. Walker	113,533
	Progressive Party	Theodore Roosevelt	Austin Mires	113,474
	Progressive Party	Theodore Roosevelt	G. Alfred Haynes	113,440
	Progressive Party	Theodore Roosevelt	William J. Biggar	113,423
	Progressive Party	Theodore Roosevelt	Fred J. Meinike	113,401
	Progressive Party	Theodore Roosevelt	Donald Urquhart	113,336
	Democratic Party	Woodrow Wilson	Edward P. English	86,840
	Democratic Party	Woodrow Wilson	Edward F. Hogan	86,644
	Democratic Party	Woodrow Wilson	J. D. Matthews	86,640
	Democratic Party	Woodrow Wilson	Ande P. Anderson	86,592
	Democratic Party	Woodrow Wilson	William E. Cass	86,577
	Democratic Party	Woodrow Wilson	Robert E. Tumstall	86,536
	Democratic Party	Woodrow Wilson	Robert A. Mullenger	86,442
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	George H. Rummens	70,445
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	William Joseph Smith	70,278
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Nathan O. Richards	70,228
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	William George Potts	70,193
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	William Bishop	70,190
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	Alexander Polson	70,118
	Republican Party	William Howard Taft	John A. Byerly	70,066
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Ernest Luhr	40,134
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Agnes J. Tompson	40,101
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Minnie Davis	40,073
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	I. P. Buck	40,034
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	J. C. Robbins	40,030
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	H. W. Sauser	40,010
	Socialist Party	Eugene V. Debs	Hortense Wagenknecht	39,989
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	John Anderson	9,810
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	JN. U. Blackmore	9,760
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	Walter F. McDowell	9,753
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	H. J. Probstfeld	9,750
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	J. V. Mohr	9,749
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	W. A. Moore	9,743
	Prohibition Party	Eugene W. Chafin	J. N. Emerson	9,736
	Socialist Labor Party	Arthur E. Reimer	James M. Carnahan	1,872
	Socialist Labor Party	Arthur E. Reimer	Andrew P. Anderson	1,851
	Socialist Labor Party	Arthur E. Reimer	Jerry E. Sullivan	1,842
	Socialist Labor Party	Arthur E. Reimer	James C. Anderson	1,834
	Socialist Labor Party	Arthur E. Reimer	W. Edward Clemont	1,833
	Socialist Labor Party	Arthur E. Reimer	Frederick Kurtzman	1,832
	Socialist Labor Party	Arthur E. Reimer	Gustav Rush	1,823
Votes cast^[a]				322,799

Results by county

County	Theodore Roosevelt Progressive "Bull Moose"		Woodrow Wilson Democratic		William Howard Taft Republican		Eugene V. Debs Socialist		Eugene W. Chafin Prohibition		Arthur E. Reimer Socialist Labor		Margin		Total votes cast^[b]
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^[b]
Adams	788	33.70%	949	40.59%	398	17.02%	155	6.63%	42	1.80%	6	0.26%	-161	-6.89%	2,338
Asotin	513	27.80%	551	29.86%	579	31.38%	133	7.21%	66	3.58%	3	0.16%	-28^[c]	-1.52%	1,845
Benton	1,373	36.05%	1,238	32.50%	728	19.11%	356	9.35%	78	2.05%	36	0.95%	135	3.54%	3,809
Chehalis	1,847	20.96%	1,953	22.16%	3,055	34.66%	1,683	19.09%	228	2.59%	48	0.54%	-1,102^[c]	-12.50%	8,814
Chelan	1,994	38.72%	1,331	25.84%	970	18.83%	623	12.10%	204	3.96%	28	0.54%	663	12.87%	5,150
Clallam	686	27.05%	464	18.30%	727	28.67%	610	24.05%	36	1.42%	13	0.51%	-41^[d]	-1.62%	2,536
Clark	2,082	25.99%	2,549	31.82%	1,872	23.37%	966	12.06%	513	6.40%	28	0.35%	-467	-5.83%	8,010
Columbia	803	31.32%	855	33.35%	673	26.25%	172	6.71%	59	2.30%	2	0.08%	-52	-2.03%	2,564
Cowlitz	1,006	25.87%	919	23.63%	1,348	34.66%	527	13.55%	79	2.03%	10	0.26%	-342^[d]	-8.79%	3,889
Douglas	794	24.93%	1,357	42.61%	642	20.16%	316	9.92%	65	2.04%	11	0.35%	-563	-17.68%	3,185
Ferry	502	29.74%	609	36.08%	286	16.94%	269	15.94%	13	0.77%	9	0.53%	-107	-6.34%	1,688
Franklin	525	29.41%	612	34.29%	293	16.41%	302	16.92%	38	2.13%	15	0.84%	-87	-4.87%	1,785
Garfield	667	42.84%	426	27.36%	345	22.16%	86	5.52%	32	2.06%	1	0.06%	241	15.48%	1,557
Grant	914	34.75%	771	29.32%	458	17.41%	414	15.74%	62	2.36%	11	0.42%	143	5.44%	2,630
Island	503	31.98%	310	19.71%	332	21.11%	347	22.06%	80	5.09%	1	0.06%	156^[e]	9.92%	1,573
Jefferson	741	31.86%	642	27.60%	636	27.34%	285	12.25%	11	0.47%	11	0.47%	99	4.26%	2,326
King	26,887	37.70%	20,088	28.17%	15,579	21.85%	6,839	9.59%	1,251	1.75%	665	0.93%	6,799	9.53%	71,309
Kitsap	2,321	38.16%	969	15.93%	1,224	20.12%	1,429	23.50%	101	1.66%	38	0.62%	892^[e]	14.67%	6,082
Kittitas	1,902	36.89%	1,407	27.29%	1,157	22.44%	515	9.99%	142	2.75%	33	0.64%	495	9.60%	5,156
Klickitat	795	22.98%	1,028	29.72%	1,163	33.62%	351	10.15%	107	3.09%	15	0.43%	-135^[c]	-3.90%	3,459
Lewis	2,032	20.76%	2,471	25.25%	3,200	32.70%	1,637	16.73%	410	4.19%	36	0.37%	-729^[c]	-7.45%	9,786
Lincoln	1,864	39.00%	1,829	38.26%	691	14.46%	293	6.13%	88	1.84%	15	0.31%	35	0.73%	4,780
Mason	464	25.81%	522	29.03%	439	24.42%	339	18.85%	22	1.22%	12	0.67%	-58	-3.23%	1,798
Okanogan	1,088	25.67%	1,461	34.47%	804	18.97%	827	19.51%	38	0.90%	21	0.50%	-373	-8.80%	4,239
Pacific	1,251	30.72%	971	23.85%	1,375	33.77%	382	9.38%	82	2.01%	11	0.27%	-124^[d]	-3.05%	4,072
Pend Oreille	716	34.19%	747	35.67%	305	14.57%	288	13.75%	32	1.53%	6	0.29%	-31	-1.48%	2,094
Pierce	13,074	41.30%	6,855	21.65%	6,517	20.59%	4,075	12.87%	964	3.05%	172	0.54%	6,219	19.64%	31,657
San Juan	346	27.93%	311	25.10%	341	27.52%	217	17.51%	18	1.45%	6	0.48%	5^[f]	0.40%	1,239
Skagit	2,529	27.38%	1,962	21.24%	2,399	25.97%	1,781	19.28%	508	5.50%	58	0.63%	130^[f]	1.41%	9,237
Skamania	218	26.27%	262	31.57%	251	30.24%	86	10.36%	10	1.20%	3	0.36%	-11^[g]	-1.33%	830
Snohomish	7,347	38.30%	3,846	20.05%	3,007	15.68%	3,969	20.69%	896	4.67%	117	0.61%	3,378^[e]	17.61%	19,182
Spokane	16,687	47.31%	10,845	30.75%	4,205	11.92%	2,553	7.24%	779	2.21%	199	0.56%	5,842	16.56%	35,268
Stevens	1,971	32.84%	1,979	32.98%	810	13.50%	988	16.46%	227	3.78%	26	0.43%	-8	-0.13%	6,001
Thurston	1,471	23.31%	1,456	23.07%	1,937	30.69%	1,160	18.38%	270	4.28%	17	0.27%	-466^[d]	-7.38%	6,311
Wahkiakum	287	32.47%	185	20.93%	282	31.90%	111	12.56%	14	1.58%	5	0.57%	5^[f]	0.57%	884
Walla Walla	2,727	35.59%	2,507	32.72%	1,937	25.28%	346	4.52%	125	1.63%	21	0.27%	220	2.87%	7,663
Whatcom	4,562	30.40%	2,773	18.48%	4,187	27.90%	2,809	18.72%	573	3.82%	101	0.67%	375^[f]	2.50%	15,005
Whitman	3,061	30.79%	3,621	36.42%	1,989	20.00%	631	6.35%	617	6.21%	24	0.24%	-560	-5.63%	9,943
Yakima	4,360	33.27%	3,209	24.49%	3,304	25.21%	1,264	9.65%	930	7.10%	38	0.29%	1,056^[f]	8.06%	13,105
Totals	113,698	35.22%	86,840	26.90%	70,445	21.82%	40,134	12.43%	9,810	3.04%	1,872	0.58%	26,858	8.32%	322,799

Counties that flipped from Republican to Progressive

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Notes

^ Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket
^ Based on highest elector on each ticket
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Taft's margin over Wilson
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Taft's margin over Roosevelt
^ ^a ^b ^c Roosevelt's margin over Debs
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Roosevelt's margin over Taft
^ Wilson's margin over Taft

References

^ "1912 Presidential Election Results Washington".
^ Washington Secretary of State. "For Presidential Electors". Abstract of Votes Polled in the State of Washington at the General Election held November 5, 1912. Olympia, Washington. pp. 4–7.

[3] Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket

[4] Based on highest elector on each ticket

[taftwilson-5] Taft's margin over Wilson

[taft-6] Taft's margin over Roosevelt

[debs-7] Roosevelt's margin over Debs

[repub-8] Roosevelt's margin over Taft

[wilsontaft-9] Wilson's margin over Taft

[Leip-1] "1912 Presidential Election Results Washington".

[2] Washington Secretary of State. "For Presidential Electors". Abstract of Votes Polled in the State of Washington at the General Election held November 5, 1912. Olympia, Washington. pp. 4–7.

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