Misplaced Pages

1924 United States presidential election in Illinois

← 1920 November 4, 1924 1928 →
All 29 Illinois votes to the Electoral College
Nominee Calvin Coolidge John W. Davis Robert M. La Follette Party Republican Democratic Progressive Home state Massachusetts West Virginia Wisconsin Running mate Charles G. Dawes Charles W. Bryan Burton K. Wheeler Electoral vote 29 0 0 Popular vote 1,453,321 576,975 432,027 Percentage 58.84% 23.36% 17.49%
County Results Coolidge   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Davis   40–50%   50–60% La Follette   40–50%
President before election Calvin Coolidge Republican Elected President Calvin Coolidge Republican

Elections in Illinois
Federal government U.S. Presidential elections 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 Dem Rep 1988 1992 1996 Dem Rep 2000 Dem Rep 2004 Dem Rep 2008 Dem Rep 2012 Dem Rep 2016 Dem Rep 2020 Dem Rep 2024 Dem Rep U.S. Senate elections 1818 1819 1823 1824 1824 sp 1825 1830 sp 1831 1835 1837 1843 1846 1849 1849 sp 1853 1859 1861 1863 sp 1867 1879 1882 1885 1885 sp 1887 sp 1888 1890 1894 1896 1897 1901 1903 1907 1909 1913 1913 sp 1914 1918 1920 1924 1926 1928 sp 1930 1932 1936 1938 1940 sp 1942 1944 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1970 sp 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2010 sp 2014 2016 2020 2022 2026 U.S. House elections 1818 1819 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1831 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1859 6th sp 1860 1861 6th sp 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1871 AL sp 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1895 10th sp 18th sp 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 4th sp 1920 1922 AL sp 1923 2nd sp 4th sp 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 19th sp 1946 1948 1950 1952 1953 7th sp 1954 1956 1957 7th sp 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1969 13th sp 1970 6th sp 1972 15th sp 1973 7th sp 1974 1975 5th sp 1976 1978 1980 10th sp 1982 1983 1st sp 1984 1985 14th sp 1986 1988 21st sp 1990 1991 15th sp 1992 1994 1995 2nd sp 1996 1998 2000 1st 2002 2004 2006 2008 14th sp 2009 5th sp 2010 17th 2012 2013 2nd sp 2014 2015 18th sp 2016 2018 2020 2022 1st 2024
State government General elections 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1969 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Gubernatorial elections 1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Lieutenant Gubernatorial elections 1818 1822 1826 1830 1834 1838 1842 1846 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 Attorney General elections 2018 2022 Secretary of State elections 2022 Comptroller elections 2016 Senate elections 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 House of Representatives elections 1964 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Judicial elections 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Ballot measures and referendums State capitol referendum (1834) Cutback Amendment (1980) Crime Victim Rights Amendment (1992) Illinois Governor Recall Amendment (2010) Public Pension Amendment (2012) Marsy's Law (2014) Right to Vote Amendment (2014) Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment (2016) Fair Tax (2020) Right to Collective Bargaining Amendment (2022)
Chicago General elections 2019 2023 Mayoral elections 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1865 1867 1869 1871 1873 1876 1877 1879 1881 1883 1885 1887 1889 1891 1893 1893 sp 1895 1897 1899 1901 1903 1905 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1977 sp 1979 1983 1987 1989 sp 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 2027 Aldermanic elections 1923 1925 1927 1929 2011 2015 2019 2023 Chicago Board of Education elections 2024 2026
Cook County County elections 1946 1980 State's Attorney 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Rockford Mayoral elections 2021
v t e

The 1924 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election. State voters chose 29 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

A strongly Democratic state during the Second Party System, Illinois became Republican-leaning after the American Civil War due to a combination of strong Free Soil Party heritage amongst its Yankee northern counties with the wartime conversion of some Virginian-settled rock-ribbed Democratic Southern Illinois counties to Unionist Republicanism à la Appalachia. Between the Civil War and World War I, partisanship in Illinois – like in the Border States – largely re-fought the war, with the result that although the Democratic Party gained at least 43 percent of the statewide vote via Southern and German Catholic support in every election up to 1900, they never gained an absolute majority and carried the state's electoral votes only in 1892.

Due to the Democratic Party's growing Populist and prohibitionist leanings, a decline in Democratic support after 1900 in its German Central Illinois strongholds transformed Illinois into a powerfully Republican state at all levels. Even Woodrow Wilson in 1912 when the GOP was mortally divided carried the state by only a very narrow margin, and in 1920 hostility to the League of Nations and the perceived anti-German bias of both outgoing President Wilson and new Democratic nominee and former Ohio Governor James M. Cox – the latter of whom had banned German-language instruction in Ohio schools – meant Harding carried Illinois by over 42 percentage points and the state was his sixth strongest in a national landslide. German Catholic Clinton County, and twelve southern-settled counties in the Illinois River valley and southward, went Republican for the first time.

During the Republican National Convention, Illinosian Charles G. Dawes easily won the Vice-Presidential nomination ahead of fellow state resident Frank Lowden. The first campaign in Illinois was not by Coolidge or Davis, but by radical third-party nominee, veteran Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette, who on July 4 confirmed his previous plan to run a third-party campaign when nominated by the "Conference for Progressive Political Action". La Follette on Labor Day, August 22, said he hoped to carry Illinois because he believed gubernatorial candidate Len Small would not aid the Coolidge ticket. Democratic nominee John W. Davis, a conservative Southern Democrat from West Virginia, spent four days in Chicago conferring with party leaders from half-a-dozen other states, but did not campaign downstate. Coolidge was urged to campaign in the state after suspicions La Follette would be a severe threat in Chicago and other German-American communities. Coolidge did not respond, and Dawes was viciously criticised by La Follette's running mate, Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler, for being associated with the Central Trust Company and Lorimer Street State Savings Bank.

At the beginning of the campaign it was considered possible that Davis could carry Illinois if there was a strong enough vote for La Follette. However, as early as mid-August it was thought that the Coolidge-Dawes ticket was certain of carrying Illinois, and in mid-September it seemed likely Coolidge was a clear first with La Follette running ahead of Davis, a result that would be repeated in a survey during the second week of October.

Primaries

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal offices (Senate and House), as well as those for state offices.

Turnout

The total vote in the state-run primary elections (Democratic and Republican) was 1,101,583.

The total vote in the general election was 2,470,067. Both major parties held non-binding state-run preferential primaries on April 8.

Democratic

1924 Illinois Democratic presidential primary

← 1920 April 8, 1924 (1924-04-08) 1928 →

Candidate William Gibbs McAdoo Home state California Popular vote 180,544 Percentage 98.93%

The 1924 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on April 8, 1924 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 1924 presidential election.

The preference vote was a non-binding "beauty contest". Delegates were instead elected by direct votes by congressional district on delegate candidates. Delegate candidates either were listed on the ballot with their preference on for a particular presidential candidate, or were listed as expressing no preference.

The preference vote was near-unanimously won by the only name on the ballot, former United States Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo.

Republican

1924 Illinois Republican presidential primary

← 1920 April 8, 1924 (1924-04-08) 1928 →

Candidate Calvin Coolidge Hiram Johnson Home state Massachusetts California Popular vote 533,193 385,590 Percentage 58.01% 41.95%

The 1924 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on April 8, 1924 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 1924 presidential election.

The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct vote in each congressional district on delegate candidates. Delegate candidates either were listed on the ballot with their preference on for a particular presidential candidate, or were listed as expressing no preference.

Results

Results by county

Analysis

After polls in mid-October suggested a trend toward him, Davis intended to campaign downstate, but never did so. As election day neared, it became clearer that Coolidge would carry Illinois, although at the beginning of the fourth week of October it was thought he would win by only half Harding's 1920 margin, even with La Follette abandoning his campaigns in the Corn Belt. Polls on October 29 further confirmed Illinois as in Coolidge's hands,

Ultimately Coolidge won by substantially more than the mid-October predictions, although by less than Harding had in 1920. Davis did regain seven of the thirteen counties that defected to the GOP for the first time in 1920, but still did worse than any other major party nominee in Illinois presidential election history except William Howard Taft in 1912. La Follette ran third below Davis, running far below his performance in his adjacent home state of Wisconsin and other states to the northwest, but nonetheless performed extremely well for a third party in German Catholic precincts and in industrial areas of the Upper Mississippi Valley adjacent to Iowa. The Wisconsin Senator did carry one county – German Catholic Clinton – which was the nation's southeasternmost county to vote for La Follette. Coolidge maintained the dominance that Warren Harding had enjoyed in 1920, despite losing substantial German Catholic and Mississippi Valley industrial support to La Folette. This is the most recent presidential election in which Illinois would vote to the right of neighboring Indiana.

See also

• United States presidential elections in Illinois

Notes

1. ^ In this county where La Follette ran second ahead of Davis, margin given is Coolidge vote minus La Follette vote and percentage margin Coolidge percentage minus La Follette percentage.

References

1. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 341-344 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
2. Wells, Damon; Stephen Douglas: The Last Years, 1857–1861, p. 285 ISBN 0292776357
3. Copeland, James E.; ‘Where Were the Kentucky Unionists and Secessionists’; The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, volume 71, no. 4 (October, 1973), pp. 344-363
4. ^ "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Illinois". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
5. Schattschneider, Elmer Eric; The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America, pp. 76-84 ISBN 0030133661
6. Hough, Jerry F.; Changing Party Coalitions: The Mystery of the Red State-Blue State Alignment, pp. 86-87 ISBN 0875864090
7. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 52 ISBN 0786422173
8. ‘Dawes Wins on 3rd Ballot: Gets 682 1/2 to 234 1/2 for Hoover on Opening of Night Session’; New York Times, June 13, 1924, p. 1
9. Richardson, Danny G.; Others: “Fighting Bob” La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s, p. 180 ISBN 0595481264
10. ‘La Follette Opens Drive on Labor Day: Campaign Will Start With a Radio Speech From Washington. Hope to Carry Illinois: Leaders Say Small Won’t Support Coolidge – To Talk Finances Today’; New York Times, August 23, 1924, p. 1
11. ‘Davis Optimistic as He Departs on Tour in the West: Situation in Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa Better Than Figured’; The Washington Post, September 6, 1924, p. 2
12. Price, Harry N.; ‘Middle West Trips Urged on Coolidge by Close Adversers: Sentiment for La Follette Is Growing There’; The Washington Post, September 13, 1924, p. 4
13. Bohn, Frank; ‘Forecast of Election in All the States: Political Analyst Asserts That La Follette Vote Will Be Decisive Factor in Large Cities of North and West – Predicts Victory for Davis’; New York Times, September 14, 1924, p. XX4
14. ‘Wheeler Assails Dawes in Chicago: Goes Into Rival's Connection With Lorimer and Bank That Failed’; New York Times, September 21, 1924, p. 3
15. ‘Electoral Arthmetic’, New York Times, July 13, 1924, p. E2
16. ‘Republicans Admit Their “Sure” States Fail of Majority: Those Now Counted as Certain for Coolidge Have Only 206 Electoral Votes’; New York Times, August 11, 1924, p. 1
17. ‘Coolidge Is Leading in a Test Ballot: First 25,000 in Literary Digest Poll Puts Davis Third. La Follette Now Second; But It Is Explained the Returns Thus Far Are Too Scattered to Be Typical’; New York Times, September 19, 1924, p. 3
18. ‘Davis Percentage Increases in Poll: But Coolidge Still Leads With 808,340 Out of Total of 1,451,591 Votes. La Follette Is Second: Democratic Candidate Has 10 States Thus Far, Coolidge 31 and La Follette Only 1’; New York Times, October 10, 1924, p. 3
19. ^ "OFFICIAL VOTE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS CAST AT THE GENERAL ELECTION, November 4, 1924 JUDICIAL ELECTIONS, 1923-1924 SPECIAL ELECTIONS 1923-1924 PRIMARY ELECTION GENERAL PRIMARY, April 8, 1924 PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE, APRIL 8, 1924" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
20. Illinois State Board of Elections; Official Vote of the State of Illinois Cast at the General Election November 4, 1924 (highest elector for each slate)
21. ‘Illinois Is Likely to Go to Coolidge: Davis Seems to Have Greater Hold on Farmers Than La Follette’; New York Times, October 22, 1924, p. 2
22. Lawrence, David; ‘Decisive Victory for Coolidge Predicted: David Lawrence Tells What He Learned in Journey Through All Northern and Western States’; Boston Daily Globe; October 31, 1924, p. 1A
23. Menendez; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, p. 59

v t e State and district results of the 1924 United States presidential election
Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

• 1924 Illinois elections
• 1924 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Illinois