The 1912 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Maine was won by the Democratic nominees, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall. Wilson and Marshall defeated incumbent President William Howard Taft, and his running mate Vice President James S. Sherman and Progressive Party candidates, former President Theodore Roosevelt and his running mate California Governor Hiram Johnson.
Wilson won Maine by a narrow margin of 2.02%, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin Pierce in 1852 to win the state. This would be the final time until Lyndon B. Johnson won the state in 1964 where a Democratic presidential candidate would carry Maine. This is one of only two such cases since 1852 where Maine has not voted for the same candidate as fellow New England state Vermont, the other being 1968.
This was the only state that Wilson won in either of his two victories that would never support fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in any of his landslide victories in the 1930s and 1940s. Lincoln County and Waldo County voted Democratic for the first time since 1880. Androscoggin, Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Sagadahoc, Washington, and York counties voted Democratic for the first time since 1852.
With 37.41% of the popular vote, Maine would prove to be Roosevelt's fifth strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1912 election after South Dakota, California, Michigan and Minnesota.
The Maine Republican Party supported Theodore Roosevelt during the 1912 Republican presidential primaries against President William Howard Taft. The Progressive Party was founded by Roosevelt supporters on July 31, 1912, at a convention in Portland, Maine. The Republicans was weakened after losing members including Charles H. Hitchborn, who was the treasurer of the party, although Warren C. Philbrook, the chair of the party, remained. Roosevelt's largest amount of support came from Aroostook County where he received over sixty percent of the vote. Three-fourths of Roosevelt's votes, worth 38,000 votes, came from Republicans while the remainder, worth 10,000 votes, came from Democrats.
Results
Results by county CountyThomas Woodrow WilsonDemocraticWilliam Howard TaftRepublicanTheodore RooseveltGéoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote (.xlsx file for €15)Progressive "Bull Moose"Eugene Victor DebsGéoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Eugene Debs (.xlsx file for €15)SocialistEugene Wilder ChafinProhibitionMarginTotal votescastRobinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 223-224 # % # % # % # % # % # % Androscoggin 4,516 44.38% 859 8.44% 4,424 43.47% 316 3.11% 61 0.60% 92 0.91% 10,176 Aroostook 1,924 24.63% 898 11.49% 4,799 61.42% 100 1.28% 92 1.18% -2,875 -36.79% 7,813 Cumberland 8,480 41.04% 5,154 24.95% 6,537 31.64% 355 1.72% 135 0.65% 1,943 9.40% 20,661 Franklin 1,421 37.36% 668 17.56% 1,633 42.93% 38 1.00% 43 1.13% -212 -5.57% 3,804 Hancock 2,655 43.09% 1,399 22.70% 1,932 31.35% 156 2.53% 20 0.32% 723 11.74% 6,162 Kennebec 4,397 37.82% 1,782 15.33% 5,196 44.69% 175 1.51% 76 0.65% -799 -6.87% 11,626 Knox 2,751 50.03% 1,097 19.95% 1,392 25.31% 233 4.24% 26 0.47% 1,359 24.72% 5,499 Lincoln 1,633 43.89% 457 12.28% 1,527 41.04% 83 2.23% 21 0.56% 106 2.85% 3,721 Oxford 2,941 39.79% 1,234 16.69% 3,068 41.50% 111 1.50% 38 0.51% -127 -1.71% 7,392 Penobscot 5,093 36.17% 3,367 23.91% 5,294 37.59% 145 1.03% 183 1.30% -201 -1.42% 14,082 Piscataquis 1,210 32.10% 807 21.41% 1,705 45.23% 20 0.53% 28 0.74% -495 -13.13% 3,770 Sagadahoc 1,331 38.06% 885 25.31% 1,129 32.28% 108 3.09%441.26%2025.78%3,497 Somerset 2,317 36.45% 1,235 19.43% 2,479 39.00% 286 4.50% 39 0.61% -162 -2.55% 6,356 Waldo 2,145 44.31% 881 18.20% 1,636 33.79% 146 3.02% 33 0.68% 509 10.52% 4,841 Washington 3,178 44.44% 1,862 26.03% 1,993 27.87% 86 1.20% 33 0.46% 1,185 16.57% 7,152 York 5,121 39.12% 3,960 30.25% 3,751 28.66% 183 1.40% 74 0.57% 1,161 8.87% 13,089Totals51,11339.43%26,54520.48%48,49537.41%2,5411.96% 946 0.73% 2,618 2.02%129,641
See also United States presidential elections in Maine
Notes
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