1920 United States presidential election in Alabama

The 1920 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 general election, in which all 48 states participated. Alabama voters chose twelve electors to represent them in the Electoral College via popular vote pitting Democratic nominee James M. Cox and his running mate, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt, against Republican challenger U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding and his running mate, Governor Calvin Coolidge.

Since the 1890s, Alabama had been effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and a large proportion of poor whites via poll taxes, literacy tests and extralegal violence had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and a few nearby northern hill counties that had been Populist strongholds. The only competitive statewide elections became Democratic Party primaries that were limited by law to white voters.

Unlike the other Deep South states, however, soon after black disenfranchisement Alabama's white Republicans made rapid efforts to expel blacks from the state Republican Party. For the 1904 Convention, President Theodore Roosevelt rejected this proposal, unlike in North Carolina where he acquiesced without opposition to the demands of Jeter Connelly Pritchard. Nevertheless, under Oscar D. Street, who ironically was appointed state party boss as part of the pro-Taft “black and tan” faction in 1912, the state GOP would turn completely “lily-white”, with 1920 seeing the final black delegates at any Republican National Convention.

After having doubled their representation in the state legislature from three to six in 1918 the now lily-white Alabama Republican Party would make substantial efforts to break the stranglehold of the Democrats in state politics. Isolationism in Appalachian North Alabama would substantially affect this election, as the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, opposition to outgoing President Woodrow Wilson’s interventionism in Europe, and major labor disputes in coal mining that were unresolved at the time of the election and would affect the results of Democratic nominee James M. Cox and other Democrats in the less partisan north.

The result of this was that the Republican candidates Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge were able to make substantial gains, although Cox and running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt still won the election in Alabama with over 61 percent of the vote. Nonetheless, Harding managed to carry nine counties as against only Union holdout Winston County, Populist stronghold Chilton County and urbanized Shelby County carried by Hughes in 1916, with his most pronounced triumph being in DeKalb County, where he was the first Republican to win since the 1872 Presidential Election. Despite wants to make seat inroads not coming into fruition, the Republicans used Appalachian isolationism and the call for “return to normalcy” to come within ten percent of winning the 4th, 7th and 10th congressional districts.

Results 1920 United States presidential election in AlabamaPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democratic James M. Cox Franklin D. Roosevelt 160,560 61.68% 12 Republican Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge 96,589 37.11% 0 Socialist Eugene V. Debs Seymour Stedman 2,369 1.00% 0 Prohibition Aaron S. Watkins D. Leigh Colvin 748 0.32% 0 Totals 260,266 100.00% 12 Voter turnout (Voting age) 20.3%

Results by county County James M. CoxDemocratic Warren G. HardingRepublican Eugene V. DebsSocialist Aaron S. WatkinsProhibition Margin Total votescast # % # % # % # % # % Autauga 918 80.60% 210 18.44% 7 0.61% 4 0.35% 708 62.16% 1,139 Baldwin 1,230 63.50% 556 28.70% 134 6.92% 17 0.88% 674 34.80% 1,937 Barbour 1,568 87.79% 203 11.37% 13 0.73% 2 0.11% 1,365 76.43% 1,786 Bibb 1,643 76.49% 364 16.95% 136 6.33% 5 0.23% 1,279 59.54% 2,148 Blount 3,535 50.14% 3,465 49.15% 45 0.64% 5 0.07% 70 0.99% 7,050 Bullock 877 99.66% 2 0.23% 0 0.00% 1 0.11% 875 99.43% 880 Butler 1,299 88.31% 153 10.40% 12 0.82% 7 0.48% 1,146 77.91% 1,471 Calhoun 3,423 74.40% 1,139 24.76% 22 0.48% 17 0.37% 2,284 49.64% 4,601 Chambers 1,994 85.58% 322 13.82% 8 0.34% 6 0.26% 1,672 71.76% 2,330 Cherokee 1,969 54.65% 1,576 43.74% 58 1.61% 0 0.00% 393 10.91% 3,603 Chilton 962 29.25% 2,273 69.11% 48 1.46% 6 0.18% -1,311 -39.86% 3,289 Choctaw 1,071 92.65% 82 7.09% 3 0.26% 0 0.00% 989 85.55% 1,156 Clarke 1,253 96.24% 43 3.30% 1 0.08% 5 0.38% 1,210 92.93% 1,302 Clay 2,165 50.34% 2,133 49.59% 2 0.05% 1 0.02% 32 0.74% 4,301 Cleburne 684 41.28% 971 58.60% 2 0.12% 0 0.00% -287 -17.32% 1,657 Coffee 1,721 71.47% 673 27.95% 4 0.17% 10 0.42% 1,048 43.52% 2,408 Colbert 1,869 72.41% 650 25.18% 62 2.40% 0 0.00% 1,219 47.23% 2,581 Conecuh 1,315 87.43% 189 12.57% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,126 74.87% 1,504 Coosa 1,007 57.09% 741 42.01% 14 0.79% 2 0.11% 266 15.08% 1,764 Covington 2,039 76.83% 548 20.65% 64 2.41% 3 0.11% 1,491 56.18% 2,654 Crenshaw 1,411 81.61% 310 17.93% 4 0.23% 4 0.23% 1,101 63.68% 1,729 Cullman 2,566 42.06% 3,492 57.24% 37 0.61% 6 0.10% -926 -15.18% 6,101 Dale 1,386 63.72% 768 35.31% 5 0.23% 16 0.74% 618 28.41% 2,175 Dallas 2,702 97.19% 78 2.81% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 2,624 94.39% 2,780 DeKalb 3,894 44.28% 4,852 55.17% 46 0.52% 3 0.03% -958 -10.89% 8,795 Elmore 1,762 83.07% 353 16.64% 2 0.09% 4 0.19% 1,409 66.43% 2,121 Escambia 1,455 88.88% 178 10.87% 2 0.12% 2 0.12% 1,277 78.01% 1,637 Etowah 5,917 64.05% 3,218 34.83% 100 1.08% 3 0.03% 2,699 29.22% 9,238 Fayette 1,413 42.70% 1,865 56.36% 15 0.45% 16 0.48% -452 -13.66% 3,309 Franklin 2,094 41.15% 2,930 57.58% 64 1.26% 1 0.02% -836 -16.43% 5,089 Geneva 1,488 56.97% 1,088 41.65% 24 0.92% 12 0.46% 400 15.31% 2,612 Greene 520 97.93% 10 1.88% 0 0.00% 1 0.19% 510 96.05% 531 Hale 953 97.74% 18 1.85% 0 0.00% 4 0.41% 935 95.90% 975 Henry 715 59.34% 489 40.58% 1 0.08% 0 0.00% 226 18.76% 1,205 Houston 2,045 77.00% 571 21.50% 31 1.17% 9 0.34% 1,474 55.50% 2,656 Jackson 2,513 62.62% 1,483 36.95% 9 0.22% 8 0.20% 1,030 25.67% 4,013 Jefferson 24,982 75.84% 7,124 21.63% 555 1.68% 278 0.84% 17,858 54.22% 32,939 Lamar 1,628 73.33% 576 25.95% 6 0.27% 10 0.45% 1,052 47.39% 2,220 Lauderdale 2,644 68.32% 1,164 30.08% 56 1.45% 6 0.16% 1,480 38.24% 3,870 Lawrence 935 52.47% 831 46.63% 10 0.56% 6 0.34% 104 5.84% 1,782 Lee 1,620 85.58% 155 8.19% 111 5.86% 7 0.37% 1,465 77.39% 1,893 Limestone 1,812 85.71% 285 13.48% 14 0.66% 3 0.14% 1,527 72.23% 2,114 Lowndes 727 99.18% 6 0.82% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 721 98.36% 733 Macon 693 91.30% 64 8.43% 2 0.26% 0 0.00% 629 82.87% 759 Madison 2,822 84.49% 489 14.64% 24 0.72% 5 0.15% 2,333 69.85% 3,340 Marengo 1,370 97.03% 42 2.97% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,328 94.05% 1,412 Marion 2,461 56.85% 1,865 43.08% 3 0.07% 0 0.00% 596 13.77% 4,329 Marshall 4,041 50.78% 3,879 48.74% 36 0.45% 2 0.03% 162 2.04% 7,958 Mobile 6,171 68.39% 2,681 29.71% 133 1.47% 38 0.42% 3,490 38.68% 9,023 Monroe 1,295 97.52% 20 1.51% 6 0.45% 7 0.53% 1,275 96.01% 1,328 Montgomery 6,411 94.63% 314 4.63% 32 0.47% 18 0.27% 6,097 89.99% 6,775 Morgan 4,057 76.13% 1,201 22.54% 50 0.94% 21 0.39% 2,856 53.59% 5,329 Perry 1,195 96.14% 34 2.74% 13 1.05% 1 0.08% 1,161 93.40% 1,243 Pickens 1,419 83.37% 263 15.45% 17 1.00% 3 0.18% 1,156 67.92% 1,702 Pike 1,586 88.01% 204 11.32% 3 0.17% 9 0.50% 1,382 76.69% 1,802 Randolph 1,357 54.74% 1,113 44.90% 8 0.32% 1 0.04% 244 9.84% 2,479 Russell 671 89.71% 29 3.88% 45 6.02% 3 0.40% 626 83.69% 748 St. Clair 1,934 41.56% 2,561 55.04% 47 1.01% 111 2.39% -627 -13.48% 4,653 Shelby 2,523 43.64% 3,235 55.95% 13 0.22% 11 0.19% -712 -12.31% 5,782 Sumter 1,088 98.37% 15 1.36% 3 0.27% 0 0.00% 1,073 97.02% 1,106 Talladega 2,137 69.18% 931 30.14% 11 0.36% 10 0.32% 1,206 39.04% 3,089 Tallapoosa 2,257 88.44% 269 10.54% 24 0.94% 2 0.08% 1,988 77.90% 2,552 Tuscaloosa 3,438 86.91% 491 12.41% 16 0.40% 11 0.28% 2,947 74.49% 3,956 Walker 4,703 50.04% 4,488 47.75% 186 1.98% 22 0.23% 215 2.29% 9,399 Washington 575 86.73% 85 12.82% 3 0.45% 0 0.00% 490 73.91% 663 Wilcox 1,099 99.73% 2 0.18% 0 0.00% 1 0.09% 1,097 99.55% 1,102 Winston 1,037 31.01% 2,307 68.99% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% -1,270 -37.98% 3,344Totals160,56061.68%96,58937.11%2,4020.92%7560.29%63,97124.58%260,307

See also United States presidential elections in Alabama

Notes

References