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1928 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

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1928 United States presidential election in Washington (state)

← 1924 November 6, 1928 1932 →
 
Nominee Herbert Hoover Al Smith
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California New York
Running mate Charles Curtis Joseph T. Robinson
Electoral vote 7 0
Popular vote 335,844 156,772
Percentage 67.06% 31.30%

County Results

President before election

Calvin Coolidge
Republican

Elected President

Herbert Hoover
Republican

The 1928 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 6, 1928 as part of the 1928 United States presidential election. Washington's voters selected seven voters to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

With the economy growing very rapidly, and the scandals of the earlier decade such as the Teapot Dome scandal essentially removed from the public's mind at the time, the Republican Party was at the peak of its power. Incumbent President Calvin Coolidge could not be persuaded to run for a second full term, but to compensate for this the Democratic Party – with many prominent members like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and William Gibbs McAdoo refusing to run because they believed the party had no hope of winning[1] – nominated Al Smith, a devout Catholic, anti-Prohibition, and associated with the corrupt Tammany Hall political machine of his native New York.

The powerful anti-Catholicism of the Pacific Northwest,[2] which was largely settled by Scandinavians and Anglo-American Yankees, meant that the large progressive third-party vote for Parley Christensen and Robert La Follette from the previous two elections was mainly turned over to Hoover,[3] although La Follette when he died in 1925 had endorsed Smith.[3] Minus significant third-party candidates Smith did triple the Democratic vote from the exceptionally low level of 1924, but Hoover increased the Republican proportion by fifteen percent – half the La Follette vote – as Smith could not carry the strongly unionized and socially progressive counties west of the Cascades.[2]

Consequently, Hoover was able to carry Washington by 36 percentage points in the first two-party contest in three elections. With 67.06% of the popular vote, Washington would prove to be Hoover's fourth strongest state after Kansas, Michigan and Maine.[4] Only in 1904 has Washington State been so Republican relative to the nation as a whole,[5] and then there was a sizable Socialist vote (though less powerful than the third-party votes of 1920 and 1924) for Eugene Debs.[6] Smith did nonetheless carry Ferry County, the first time since 1916 the Democratic Party had won any county in Washington – and indeed along with five counties in California[a] the first Democratic wins since that election in any county within the three Pacific States of Washington, Oregon and California.

Until Donald Trump in 2016, Hoover was the last Republican to capture heavily unionized Grays Harbor County,[7] which he did by a large 34 percent margin. He was also the last Republican to win a majority in this county until Trump in 2020. Hoover also won adjacent Pacific County by 36 percent, whereas only Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 managed to subsequently win Pacific County for the GOP until Trump in 2016.[7] Kitsap, Snohomish and Wahkiakum Counties would not vote Republican again until 1972.[8] As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion when Washington voted more Republican than Colorado, Idaho, Indiana or Wyoming.

Results

[edit]
General Election Results[9]
Party Pledged to Elector Votes
Republican Party Herbert Hoover J. C. Scott 335,844
Republican Party Herbert Hoover Victor Zednick 335,503
Republican Party Herbert Hoover H. T. Wanamaker 335,183
Republican Party Herbert Hoover Dayton B. Garrison 335,116
Republican Party Herbert Hoover O. H. Woody 334,884
Republican Party Herbert Hoover Richard M. Butte 334,738
Republican Party Herbert Hoover Edward C. Finch 334,380
Democratic Party Alfred E. Smith D. F. Stanley 156,772
Democratic Party Alfred E. Smith J. A. Scotland 156,428
Democratic Party Alfred E. Smith Ione K. Humes 156,421
Democratic Party Alfred E. Smith Edith Dolan Riley 156,367
Democratic Party Alfred E. Smith Judson Shorett 156,360
Democratic Party Alfred E. Smith Charles M. O'Brien 156,180
Democratic Party Alfred E. Smith E. M. Starrett 155,514
Socialist Labor Party Verne L. Reynolds Abraham L. Brearcliff 4,068
Socialist Labor Party Verne L. Reynolds Daniel L. Barnett 3,965
Socialist Labor Party Verne L. Reynolds Frederkke Bolette Eiene 3,961
Socialist Labor Party Verne L. Reynolds Henry Genies 3,944
Socialist Labor Party Verne L. Reynolds Kolo Kristoff 3,912
Socialist Labor Party Verne L. Reynolds John C. Schafer 3,904
Socialist Labor Party Verne L. Reynolds Samuel A. Witherspoon 3,844
Socialist Party Norman M. Thomas George Hanson 2,615
Socialist Party Norman M. Thomas James Lund 2,543
Socialist Party Norman M. Thomas T. J. McKinley 2,524
Socialist Party Norman M. Thomas F. X. Hall 2,522
Socialist Party Norman M. Thomas C. E. Forslund 2,520
Socialist Party Norman M. Thomas William Koch 2,498
Socialist Party Norman M. Thomas James P. Grim 2,494
Workers Party William Z. Foster Charles Smith 1,541
Workers Party William Z. Foster John Davis 1,091
Workers Party William Z. Foster W. E. Elbe 1,083
Workers Party William Z. Foster D. G. O'Hanrahan 1,072
Workers Party William Z. Foster W. Spohr 1,051
Workers Party William Z. Foster August Salo 1,046
Workers Party William Z. Foster Bessie Margolis 1,041
Votes cast[b] 500,840

Results by county

[edit]
County[9] Herbert Hoover
Republican
Al Smith
Democratic
Verne L. Reynolds
Socialist Labor
Norman M. Thomas
Socialist
William Z. Foster
Workers
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # % # %
Adams 1,473 64.07% 807 35.10% 5 0.22% 9 0.39% 5 0.22% 666 28.97% 2,299
Asotin 1,812 69.37% 776 29.71% 10 0.38% 11 0.42% 3 0.11% 1,036 39.66% 2,612
Benton 2,650 69.94% 1,080 28.50% 20 0.53% 34 0.90% 5 0.13% 1,570 41.44% 3,789
Chelan 7,672 77.07% 2,239 22.49% 14 0.14% 24 0.24% 5 0.05% 5,433 54.58% 9,954
Clallam 3,319 65.53% 1,705 33.66% 13 0.26% 18 0.36% 10 0.20% 1,614 31.87% 5,065
Clark 7,786 62.58% 4,467 35.90% 59 0.47% 85 0.68% 45 0.36% 3,319 26.68% 12,442
Columbia 1,328 65.07% 689 33.76% 6 0.29% 14 0.69% 4 0.20% 639 31.31% 2,041
Cowlitz 5,882 68.76% 2,581 30.17% 18 0.21% 42 0.49% 31 0.36% 3,301 38.59% 8,554
Douglas 1,760 66.34% 862 32.49% 14 0.53% 15 0.57% 2 0.08% 898 33.85% 2,653
Ferry 640 45.75% 732 52.32% 9 0.64% 16 1.14% 2 0.14% -92 -6.57% 1,399
Franklin 1,339 61.96% 799 36.97% 9 0.42% 12 0.56% 2 0.09% 540 24.99% 2,161
Garfield 1,004 70.60% 412 28.97% 5 0.35% 0 0.00% 1 0.07% 592 41.63% 1,422
Grant 1,407 68.07% 641 31.01% 2 0.10% 13 0.63% 4 0.19% 766 37.06% 2,067
Grays Harbor 10,798 66.30% 5,258 32.29% 51 0.31% 79 0.49% 100 0.61% 5,540 34.01% 16,286
Island 1,487 71.25% 556 26.64% 10 0.48% 27 1.29% 7 0.34% 931 44.61% 2,087
Jefferson 1,472 63.83% 810 35.13% 4 0.17% 14 0.61% 6 0.26% 662 28.70% 2,306
King 96,263 65.63% 46,604 31.77% 2,336 1.59% 811 0.55% 664 0.45% 49,659 33.86% 146,678
Kitsap 6,544 62.97% 3,668 35.30% 60 0.58% 77 0.74% 43 0.41% 2,876 27.67% 10,392
Kittitas 3,207 59.48% 2,136 39.61% 7 0.13% 25 0.46% 17 0.32% 1,071 19.87% 5,392
Klickitat 1,936 65.43% 975 32.95% 15 0.51% 25 0.84% 8 0.27% 961 32.48% 2,959
Lewis 9,253 71.12% 3,591 27.60% 50 0.38% 79 0.61% 37 0.28% 5,662 43.52% 13,010
Lincoln 2,718 59.62% 1,807 39.64% 14 0.31% 15 0.33% 5 0.11% 911 19.98% 4,559
Mason 1,745 62.95% 992 35.79% 10 0.36% 21 0.76% 4 0.14% 753 27.16% 2,772
Okanogan 3,245 64.86% 1,722 34.42% 12 0.24% 17 0.34% 7 0.14% 1,523 30.44% 5,003
Pacific 3,247 67.41% 1,523 31.62% 7 0.15% 12 0.25% 28 0.58% 1,724 35.79% 4,817
Pend Oreille 1,206 59.58% 793 39.18% 11 0.54% 14 0.69% 0 0.00% 413 20.40% 2,024
Pierce 35,748 66.02% 17,402 32.14% 479 0.88% 313 0.58% 204 0.38% 18,346 33.88% 54,146
San Juan 814 66.72% 400 32.79% 2 0.16% 3 0.25% 1 0.08% 414 33.93% 1,220
Skagit 8,336 73.58% 2,848 25.14% 36 0.32% 59 0.52% 50 0.44% 5,488 48.44% 11,329
Skamania 631 55.99% 473 41.97% 5 0.44% 15 1.33% 3 0.27% 158 14.02% 1,127
Snohomish 16,516 67.39% 7,419 30.27% 325 1.33% 169 0.69% 78 0.32% 9,097 37.12% 24,507
Spokane 35,858 65.48% 18,527 33.83% 157 0.29% 169 0.31% 47 0.09% 17,331 31.65% 54,758
Stevens 3,813 63.05% 2,147 35.50% 23 0.38% 43 0.71% 22 0.36% 1,666 27.55% 6,048
Thurston 7,203 69.59% 3,013 29.11% 29 0.28% 79 0.76% 27 0.26% 4,190 40.48% 10,351
Wahkiakum 578 59.28% 382 39.18% 6 0.62% 8 0.82% 1 0.10% 196 20.10% 975
Walla Walla 6,774 70.08% 2,859 29.58% 14 0.14% 17 0.18% 2 0.02% 3,915 40.50% 9,666
Whatcom 14,621 76.87% 4,100 21.56% 149 0.78% 120 0.63% 31 0.16% 10,521 55.31% 19,021
Whitman 7,065 69.94% 2,969 29.39% 27 0.27% 35 0.35% 5 0.05% 4,096 40.55% 10,101
Yakima 16,694 73.07% 6,008 26.30% 45 0.20% 76 0.33% 25 0.11% 10,686 46.77% 22,848
Totals 335,844 67.06% 156,772 31.30% 4,068 0.81% 2,615 0.52% 1,541 0.31% 179,072 35.76% 500,840

Counties that flipped from Progressive to Republican

[edit]

Counties that flipped from Progressive to Democratic

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Plumas and San Francisco Counties
  2. ^ Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Paulson, Arthur C.; Electoral Realignment and the Outlook for American Democracy; p. 61 ISBN 1555536670
  2. ^ a b Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 502 ISBN 1400852293
  3. ^ a b Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 58-60 ISBN 0786422173
  4. ^ "1928 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  5. ^ Counting the Votes; Washington State
  6. ^ "Percent of Vote for Eugene V. Debs (1904)". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Menendez; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, pp. 332-333
  9. ^ a b Washington Secretary of State. "Presidential Electors". Abstract of Votes Polled in the State of Washington at the General Election held November 6, 1928. Olympia, Washington.