The 1896 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 3, 1896, as part of the 1896 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Montana overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska William Jennings Bryan over the Republican nominee, former governor of Ohio William McKinley. Bryan won the state by a landslide margin of 60.22 percentage points. To date this is the best performance ever by a presidential candidate in Montana.
Bryan's support for many Populist goals resulted in him being nominated by both the Democratic Party and the People's Party (Populists), though with different running mates. One electoral vote from Montana was cast for the Populist Bryan-Watson ticket with Thomas E. Watson as vice-president and two votes were cast for the Bryan-Sewall ticket.
Bryan would later beat McKinley in the state again four years later but would lose the state to William Howard Taft in 1908. This is one of two elections where the Republican candidate won without the state, the other being in 1900. McKinley is the only Republican to win the White House without carrying Yellowstone County.
Results + General Election ResultsParty Pledged to Elector Votes Fusion William Jennings Bryan Martin Maginnis42,537 Fusion William Jennings Bryan Henry L. Frank42,369 Fusion William Jennings Bryan Daniel Brown42,328 Republican Party William McKinley Henry Knippenberg10,494 Republican Party William McKinley Joseph H. Vivian10,402 Republican Party William McKinley Frank H. Nash10,374 Prohibition Party Joshua Levering Wilder Nutting186 Prohibition Party Joshua Levering William A. Allen178 Prohibition Party Joshua Levering William W. Wylie173Votes cast 53,217
Results by county County William Jennings BryanDemocratic William McKinleyRepublican Joshua LeveringProhibitionist Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % Beaverhead 1,246 88.56% 154 10.95% 7 0.50% 1,092 77.61% 1,407 Carbon 739 66.94% 365 33.06% 0 0.00% 374 33.88% 1,104 Cascade 2,920 75.10% 953 24.51% 15 0.39% 1,967 50.59% 3,888 Chouteau 701 52.67% 624 46.88% 6 0.45% 77 5.79% 1,331 Custer 676 48.15% 723 51.50% 5 0.36% -47 -3.35% 1,404 Dawson 177 31.33% 385 68.14% 3 0.53% -208 -36.81% 565 Deer Lodge 4,916 91.55% 446 8.31% 8 0.15% 4,470 83.24% 5,370 Fergus 834 53.39% 725 46.41% 3 0.19% 109 6.98% 1,562 Flathead 1,360 76.45% 413 23.22% 6 0.34% 947 53.23% 1,779 Gallatin 1,649 78.23% 423 20.07% 36 1.71% 1,226 58.16% 2,108 Granite 1,746 96.25% 61 3.36% 7 0.39% 1,685 92.89% 1,814 Jefferson 2,185 93.42% 153 6.54% 1 0.04% 2,032 86.87% 2,339 Lewis and Clark 4,007 78.82% 1,057 20.79% 20 0.39% 2,950 58.03% 5,084 Madison 1,633 83.40% 315 16.09% 10 0.51% 1,318 67.31% 1,958 Meagher 1,305 79.62% 333 20.32% 1 0.06% 972 59.30% 1,639 Missoula 2,259 85.89% 365 13.88% 6 0.23% 1,894 72.02% 2,630 Park 1,252 78.69% 328 20.62% 11 0.69% 924 58.08% 1,591 Ravalli 1,542 87.91% 207 11.80% 5 0.29% 1,335 76.11% 1,754 Silver Bow 9,992 88.46% 1,275 11.29% 29 0.26% 8,717 77.17% 11,296 Sweet Grass 298 50.42% 292 49.41% 1 0.17% 6 1.02% 591 Teton 321 52.20% 293 47.64% 1 0.16% 28 4.55% 615 Valley 204 53.83% 175 46.17% 0 0.00% 29 7.65% 379 Yellowstone 575 56.99% 429 42.52% 5 0.50% 146 14.47% 1,009Totals42,53779.93%10,49419.72%1860.35%32,04360.21%53,217
See also United States presidential elections in Montana
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