1920 United States presidential election in Colorado

1920 United States presidential election in Colorado
County Results Harding 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
President before election; Woodrow Wilson; Democratic	Elected President ; Warren G. Harding; Republican

The 1920 United States presidential election in Colorado was held on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election. State voters chose six electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

In 1916, Colorado was the most Democratic state outside of the “Solid South” as a result of historic Bryanite Populist support in silver-mining regions,^[1] and a powerful "peace vote" for incumbent President Woodrow Wilson;^[2] however, by the beginning of 1920 skyrocketing inflation and Wilson's focus upon his proposed League of Nations at the expense of domestic policy had helped make the incumbent president very unpopular^[3] – besides which Wilson also had major health problems that had left First Lady Edith effectively running the nation. Political unrest seen in the Palmer Raids and the "Red Scare" further added to the unpopularity of the Democratic Party, since this global political turmoil produced considerable fear of alien revolutionaries invading the country.^[4] Demand in the West for exclusion of Asian immigrants became even stronger than it had been before.^[5]

All these factors combined to produce a national landslide, with a swing of almost twenty-nine percentage points to the Republicans vis-à-vis of four years earlier. Colorado mirrored this trend, with a total swing of 49.38 points from Wilson's 26-point 1916 victory where he carried every county except Sedgwick.^[6] This time, Harding would not merely become only the second Republican victor in the state since James B. Weaver’s Populist victory transitioned the state into a Democratic-leaning one, but become the only presidential candidate in history to carry all Colorado’s counties. The state was still 2.84 points more Democratic than the nation at-large despite Harding’s historic county sweep.

Results

Presidential Candidate	Running Mate	Party	Electoral Vote (EV)	Popular Vote (PV)
Warren G. Harding of Ohio	Calvin Coolidge	Republican	6^[7]	173,248	59.32%
James M. Cox	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Democratic	0	104,936	35.93%
Eugene Debs	Seymour Stedman	Socialist	0	8,046	2.75%
Parley P. Christensen	Maximilian S. Hayes	Farmer-Labor	0	3,016	1.03%
Aaron S. Watkins	David Colvin	Prohibition	0	2,807	0.96%

Results by county

County	Warren Gamaliel Harding^[8] Republican		James Middleton Cox^[8] Democratic		Eugene Victor Debs^[8] Socialist		Parley Parker Christensen^[8] Farmer-Labor		Aaron Sherman Watkins^[8] Prohibition		Margin
County	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Jackson	76.28%	402	21.44%	113	0.19%	1	0.57%	3	1.52%	8	54.84%	289
Morgan	70.45%	3,114	25.00%	1,105	2.19%	97	0.86%	38	1.49%	66	45.45%	2,009
Phillips	66.80%	1,191	26.92%	480	4.94%	88	0.84%	15	0.50%	9	39.88%	711
Elbert	66.35%	1,654	27.00%	673	3.33%	83	1.81%	45	1.52%	38	39.35%	981
Kit Carson	65.48%	1,872	27.84%	796	4.16%	119	1.29%	37	1.22%	35	37.64%	1,076
Cheyenne	64.57%	840	27.52%	358	5.07%	66	1.15%	15	1.69%	22	37.05%	482
Gilpin	66.99%	416	30.43%	189	1.45%	9	1.13%	7	0.00%	0	36.55%	227
Baca	63.21%	1,615	27.20%	695	7.16%	183	0.86%	22	1.57%	40	36.01%	920
Sedgwick	65.31%	819	29.67%	372	2.55%	32	0.56%	7	1.91%	24	35.65%	447
Moffat	65.42%	1,294	29.78%	589	2.63%	52	1.31%	26	0.86%	17	35.64%	705
Prowers	65.00%	2,650	30.59%	1,247	2.16%	88	0.91%	37	1.35%	55	34.41%	1,403
Yuma	63.42%	2,673	29.75%	1,254	4.46%	188	0.78%	33	1.59%	67	33.67%	1,419
Larimer	64.34%	5,487	31.75%	2,708	1.91%	163	0.66%	56	1.34%	114	32.59%	2,779
Hinsdale	59.13%	149	26.59%	67	9.92%	25	1.19%	3	3.17%	8	32.54%	82
Washington	63.44%	2,117	31.77%	1,060	2.79%	93	1.11%	37	0.90%	30	31.68%	1,057
Weld	63.78%	10,268	32.31%	5,202	1.50%	242	0.78%	125	1.63%	263	31.47%	5,066
Custer	63.28%	560	32.66%	289	2.15%	19	1.24%	11	0.68%	6	30.62%	271
Denver	62.03%	43,581	32.51%	22,839	3.21%	2,258	1.57%	1,102	0.68%	478	29.52%	20,742
El Paso	62.78%	9,535	33.40%	5,073	1.87%	284	0.76%	115	1.20%	182	29.38%	4,462
Archuleta	63.12%	700	34.17%	379	1.08%	12	0.45%	5	1.17%	13	28.94%	321
Jefferson	61.52%	3,593	33.24%	1,941	3.27%	191	1.30%	76	0.67%	39	28.29%	1,652
Conejos	63.50%	1,595	35.27%	886	0.32%	8	0.44%	11	0.48%	12	28.22%	709
Ouray	61.51%	735	33.64%	402	2.26%	27	2.01%	24	0.59%	7	27.87%	333
Lincoln	61.26%	1,815	34.19%	1,013	2.70%	80	1.05%	31	0.81%	24	27.07%	802
Rio Blanco	62.24%	793	35.71%	455	0.78%	10	0.31%	4	0.94%	12	26.53%	338
Douglas	61.40%	948	36.33%	561	1.04%	16	0.52%	8	0.71%	11	25.06%	387
Crowley	60.64%	1,348	35.63%	792	1.57%	35	0.45%	10	1.71%	38	25.01%	556
Rio Grande	61.01%	1,660	36.20%	985	1.07%	29	0.48%	13	1.25%	34	24.81%	675
Bent	60.67%	1,584	35.89%	937	1.15%	30	0.92%	24	1.38%	36	24.78%	647
Saguache	60.32%	1,195	36.19%	717	2.52%	50	0.25%	5	0.71%	14	24.13%	478
Arapahoe	59.80%	2,930	35.76%	1,752	2.16%	106	1.59%	78	0.69%	34	24.04%	1,178
Kiowa	59.63%	864	35.96%	521	2.69%	39	0.21%	3	1.52%	22	23.67%	343
Logan	59.71%	3,123	36.20%	1,893	1.59%	83	1.26%	66	1.24%	65	23.52%	1,230
Park	58.20%	511	36.45%	320	4.44%	39	0.46%	4	0.46%	4	21.75%	191
Boulder	57.91%	6,456	37.67%	4,200	2.64%	294	0.65%	73	1.12%	125	20.24%	2,256
Teller	57.89%	1,552	37.67%	1,010	3.32%	89	0.67%	18	0.45%	12	20.22%	542
Adams	57.57%	2,510	37.45%	1,633	3.19%	139	0.99%	43	0.80%	35	20.11%	877
Routt	57.51%	1,854	37.97%	1,224	2.98%	96	1.02%	33	0.53%	17	19.54%	630
Clear Creek	58.31%	765	39.48%	518	1.14%	15	0.61%	8	0.46%	6	18.83%	247
Delta	56.40%	2,596	38.02%	1,750	3.76%	173	0.78%	36	1.04%	48	18.38%	846
Montrose	54.83%	2,225	37.51%	1,522	5.20%	211	0.91%	37	1.55%	63	17.32%	703
Otero	55.93%	3,846	39.66%	2,727	1.69%	116	0.58%	40	2.14%	147	16.27%	1,119
San Miguel	54.30%	928	40.26%	688	3.45%	59	0.82%	14	1.17%	20	14.04%	240
Eagle	55.13%	854	41.90%	649	1.81%	28	0.84%	13	0.32%	5	13.23%	205
Lake	53.16%	1,287	40.97%	992	3.72%	90	1.73%	42	0.41%	10	12.19%	295
Fremont	53.33%	3,027	41.21%	2,339	3.22%	183	0.76%	43	1.48%	84	12.12%	688
Garfield	54.32%	1,912	42.30%	1,489	2.16%	76	0.88%	31	0.34%	12	12.02%	423
Montezuma	52.20%	936	40.55%	727	4.57%	82	1.28%	23	1.39%	25	11.66%	209
Dolores	48.28%	197	37.50%	153	11.27%	46	1.96%	8	0.98%	4	10.78%	44
Mineral	49.33%	183	39.35%	146	9.43%	35	1.62%	6	0.27%	1	9.97%	37
Pueblo	53.13%	9,621	43.42%	7,863	2.41%	436	0.59%	107	0.45%	82	9.71%	1,758
Chaffee	52.91%	1,501	43.46%	1,233	2.50%	71	0.53%	15	0.60%	17	9.45%	268
La Plata	50.85%	1,711	42.94%	1,445	4.25%	143	1.04%	35	0.92%	31	7.90%	266
Grand	52.51%	649	44.74%	553	1.13%	14	1.38%	17	0.24%	3	7.77%	96
Mesa	49.80%	3,621	43.16%	3,138	4.10%	298	1.42%	103	1.53%	111	6.64%	483
Alamosa	51.87%	1,081	45.54%	949	1.49%	31	0.67%	14	0.43%	9	6.33%	132
Pitkin	49.38%	478	43.08%	417	4.13%	40	2.79%	27	0.62%	6	6.30%	61
San Juan	50.46%	330	44.34%	290	3.52%	23	1.22%	8	0.46%	3	6.12%	40
Las Animas	51.19%	4,707	45.31%	4,167	2.31%	212	0.67%	62	0.52%	48	5.87%	540
Huerfano	51.42%	2,539	46.40%	2,291	0.81%	40	0.73%	36	0.65%	32	5.02%	248
Summit	50.36%	418	46.75%	388	2.05%	17	0.48%	4	0.36%	3	3.61%	30
Costilla	49.52%	778	47.74%	750	1.15%	18	0.76%	12	0.83%	13	1.78%	28
Gunnison	47.46%	1,055	45.97%	1,022	5.67%	126	0.54%	12	0.36%	8	1.48%	33

References

^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 418 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 47 ISBN 0786422173
^ Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 44 ISBN 0801860059
^ Leuchtenburg, William E.; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, p. 75 ISBN 0226473724
^ Vought, Hans P. ; The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents And The Immigrant, 1897-1933, p. 167 ISBN 0865548870
^ David Leip. "1920 Presidential General Election Data – National". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
^ "1920 Presidential General Election Results – Colorado". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Colorado Secretary of State; Abstract of Votes Cast at a General Election Held on Tuesday, November 2, A.D. 1920, For Presidential Electors