The 1900 United States presidential election in Utah took place on November 6, 1900, as part of the 1900 United States presidential election held in each of the forty-five contemporary states. State voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
During its years as a territory the Republican Party's ancestral hostility to the polygamy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church),Talbot, Christine; A Foreign Kingdom: Mormons and Polygamy in American Political Culture, 1852-1890, p. 113 whose members settled Utah and have dominated the region ever since, meant that Utah territorial politics until 1891 was dominated by the Mormon-hierarchy-controlled "People's Party" and the anti-Mormon "Liberal Party".May, Dean L.; Utah: A People's History, pp. 120-121 Those Mormons who did affiliate with national parties generally were Democrats, who lacked moral qualms associated with polygamy and slavery – although the Liberal Party did have allies within the GOP.Handy, Robert T.; Undermined Establishment: Church-State Relations in America, 1880-1920, p. 55
In order to achieve statehood, however, the LDS Church disbanded the "People's Party" in 1891 and most LDS members moved towards the Democratic Party. In Utah's statehood year – 1896 – Democrat/Populist William Jennings Bryan, whose "free silver" platform was immensely attractive to a state with large silver reserves, won the Mormon State by a five-to-one margin. However, by Bryan's 1900 rematch with incumbent Republican President McKinley, the Republican Party's ancestral hostility to Mormonism was beginning to dissipate,Perry, Luke and Cronin, Christopher; Mormons in American Politics: From Persecution to Power, p. 52 and Republican National Committee Chairman Mark Hanna was able to persuade the Mormon hierarchy that Bryan's policies – financial and otherwise – were unsound.Rutland, Robert Allan (editor); The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush, p. 128
Consequently, although the LDS Church had not established the links to the GOP that they were after the Utah legislature elected Reed Smoot, those Utah voters who had supported Bryan overwhelmingly in 1896 deserted him to a degree that narrowly proved sufficient to give the state's three electoral votes to McKinley. Apart from Washington County in the Dixie region, McKinley was competitive everywhere and in Kane County – later a famous Republican bastion – he received over seventy percent. McKinley would win Utah by a narrow margin of 2.29% and this remains easily the closest presidential election in Utah history, and with the state voting essentially as the nation did, it was decisive in placing the Mormon State in the mainstream of US politics,Balmer, Randall and Riess, Janet (editors); Mormonism and American Politics (Religion, Culture, and Public Life), pp. 135-137 where Utah remained until becoming a Republican bastion in the 1950s and 1960s.
Bryan would later lose Utah again, this time to William Howard Taft in 1908.
Results + General Election ResultsUtah State Archives, Statement of the Vote Cast at the General Election held on the 6th day of November 1900 for Presidential and Vice Presidential Electors, Representative in Congress, State Officers, and on the proposed amendments to the ConstitutionParty Pledged to Elector Votes Republican Party William McKinley John R. Murdock47,139 Republican Party William McKinley Wesley K. Walton47,089 Republican Party William McKinley C. Edward Loose47,071 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Orlando W. Powers45,006 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Alexander H. Tarbet44,949 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan I. C. Thoresen44,878 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs G. H. Hobbs720 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Joseph Ward716 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs W. D. Clays715 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Lulu L. Shepard209 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley George Denton204 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Richard Wake204 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Maloney James P. Erskine106 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Maloney E. J. Smith101 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Maloney S. R. Wheadon100 Write-in Scattering9Votes cast 93,189
Results by county CountyRobinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote, 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 223-224 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press William McKinleyRepublican William Jennings BryanDemocratic Eugene V. DebsSocialist John G. WoolleyProhibition Joseph F. MalloneySocialist LaborMarginTotal votescast # % # % # % # % # % # %Beaver68251.90%62947.87%30.23%00.00%00.00%534.03%1,314Box Elder1,63552.72%1,46047.08%50.16%10.03%00.00%1755.64%3,101Cache2,82047.59%3,08252.02%190.32%40.07%00.00%-262-4.42%5,925Carbon74854.01%62144.84%100.72%20.14%20.14%1279.17%1,385Davis1,23847.02%1,38052.41%80.30%50.19%20.08%-142-5.39%2,633Emery66645.34%79854.32%30.20%00.00%00.00%-132-8.99%1,469Garfield64962.16%39537.84%00.00%00.00%00.00%25424.33%1,044Grand17846.11%20452.85%30.78%10.26%00.00%-26-6.74%386Iron62846.94%70852.91%10.07%10.07%00.00%-80-5.98%1,338Juab1,53242.46%1,98655.04%832.30%20.06%50.14%-454-12.58%3,608Kane39270.89%16129.11%00.00%00.00%00.00%23141.77%553Millard93852.55%84447.28%30.17%00.00%00.00%945.27%1,785Morgan39151.72%36348.02%20.26%00.00%00.00%283.70%756Piute33053.75%28045.60%10.16%10.16%20.33%508.14%614Rich38757.76%28242.09%10.15%00.00%00.00%10515.67%670Salt Lake13,49650.15%12,84047.72%3831.42%1100.41%800.30%6562.44%26,909San Juan8151.92%7246.15%00.00%31.92%00.00%95.77%156Sanpete3,57559.12%2,44140.37%210.35%70.12%30.05%1,13418.75%6,047Sevier1,58154.82%1,26143.72%371.28%20.07%30.10%32011.10%2,884Summit1,55546.64%1,76352.88%120.36%20.06%20.06%-208-6.24%3,334Tooele1,25952.70%1,11446.63%150.63%10.04%00.00%1456.07%2,389Uintah63945.13%77354.59%30.21%10.07%00.00%-134-9.46%1,416Utah5,69850.97%5,39148.22%640.57%230.21%30.03%3072.75%11,179Wasatch72347.91%78151.76%20.13%20.13%10.07%-58-3.84%1,509Washington40928.93%1,00370.93%20.14%00.00%00.00%-594-42.01%1,414Wayne32452.94%28246.08%10.16%00.00%00.00%426.86%612Weber4,58552.35%4,09246.72%380.43%410.47%30.03%4935.63%8,759Totals47,13950.58%45,00648.30%7200.77%2090.22%1060.11%2,1332.29%93,189
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Beaver Box Elder Carbon Garfield Millard Morgan Piute Rich Salt Lake San Juan Sanpete Sevier Tooele Utah Wayne Weber
See also United States presidential elections in Utah
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