The 1900 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 6, 1900, as part of the 1900 United States presidential election. Voters chose 14 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Ever since the formation of the Republican Party, Michigan had been a Republican-leaning state due to the Lower Peninsula’s strong history of settlement by anti-slavery Yankees, who after the end of Reconstruction continued to see the need for solid Republican voting to oppose the solidly Democratic Confederate and Border States.English, Gustavus P.; Proceedings of the Ninth Republican National Convention (1888), p. 234 During the Third Party System, heavily Catholic and immigrant-settled Southeast Michigan would lean towards the Democratic Party, which was opposed to the moralistic pietism of Yankee Republicans.
In 1892, aided by favorable demographic changesKleppner, Paul; The Third Electoral System, 1853-1892: Parties, Votes and Political Cultures, pp. 198-207 and a legislative change allocating electors by congressional district, the Democratic Party managed to carry five of Michigan’s fourteen electoral votes, and also elect a Governor and a majority to the state legislature. However, the Panic of 1893 turned expectations or hopes of Michigan becoming a swing state rudely on its head, especially when incumbent President Cleveland stood firm, sending in troops to break the Pullman Strike. In the 1894 elections, only one Democrat maintained a seat in the state legislature, a loss of seventy seats compared to the 1890 elections.
During the 1896 presidential election, the Methodist cabinet counties would turn towards evangelical free silver Democrat William Jennings Bryan,Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 31 whilst the previously Democratic German Catholic counties opposed free silver and turned to Republican nominee William McKinley as the Church opposed free silver and Bryan’s prohibitionist leanings.
During the following two election cycles, the Democrats regained only a small portion of their 1894 losses in Michigan’s legislature. Both McKinley and Bryan would be re-nominated for the 1900 presidential election. Bryan campaigned in the state in early October, relying on a theme of “misrule” in the colonies of Puerto Rico and the Philippines which had been acquired in the Spanish–American War. In a speech at Muskegon, Bryan argued that Puerto Ricans and Filipinos were taxed without representation.
As McKinley's running mate, Theodore Roosevelt did not campaign in the state, as it was viewed as safe for the Republicans. All forecasts had the state being carried by McKinley, and in some the state was regarded as so safe as not to be discussed. These predictions were borne out by the election result when McKinley carried Michigan by 58.05 percent to Bryan's 38.96 percent and all but one county – St. Joseph in Michiana, which would prove the last time until Woodrow Wilson in 1916 when a Democrat won any Michigan county in a two-way race, for the state would become apart from Vermont the most solidly one-party Republican in the nation for the first third of the 20th century.
Bryan had previously lost Michigan to McKinley four years earlier and would later lose the state again in 1908 to William Howard Taft.
Results + General Election ResultsMichigan State Archives, Canvass of the votes given at the General Election, held in the State of Michigan on Tuesday the Sixth day of November A.D. 1900 for Electors of President and Vice President of the United StatesParty Pledged to Elector Votes Republican Party William McKinley Perry Hannah316,269 Republican Party William McKinley Charles P. Collins316,062 Republican Party William McKinley Edward Buckley316,042 Republican Party William McKinley Joseph R. Bennett316,033 Republican Party William McKinley Edward B. Nugent316,026 Republican Party William McKinley Charles J. Monroe316,023 Republican Party William McKinley Lyman G. Wilcox316,023 Republican Party William McKinley Thomas A. Harvey316,010 Republican Party William McKinley John S. Thomson316,008 Republican Party William McKinley Hiram M. Allen315,941 Republican Party William McKinley Michael Brown315,847 Republican Party William McKinley James MacNaughton315,833 Republican Party William McKinley John A. S. Verdier314,702 Republican Party William McKinley Daniel Cotcher312,402 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Philip B. Wachtel211,685 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Henry Huist211,485 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Thomas A. Walker211,483 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Abraham T. Metcalf211,474 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan H. Alexander Crawford211,451 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan George G. Robinson211,443 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan William Baker211,440 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan George S. Stanley211,427 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Orrin R. Pierce211,423 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan William P. Nisbett211,282 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Michael F. McDonald211,011 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Alois A. Thuner210,743 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Lorenzo Hublinger210,155 Democratic Party William Jennings Bryan Stanley E. Parkhill209,454 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley John Wallace Page11,859 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Frederick Elijah Woolsey11,829 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Ezra Allen Cross11,826 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley John W. Doane11,822 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley George Hicks Newell11,821 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley John Henry Todd11,820 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Patrick James Connell11,820 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Hiram Darius Allen11,818 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Edson B. Putnam11,818 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Vahan Kewin Beshgetoor11,815 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Charles Edgar Conley11,805 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Thomas Bennet Hughes11,792 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Charles Spicer Bellamy11,643 Prohibition Party John G. Woolley Frank Alroy Luttenbacker11,057 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Joseph Galbraith Sr.2,826 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Joseph J. Cooney2,824 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Richard Henke2,823 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Jacob A. Mountain2,823 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Henry E. Dorrance2,821 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Archibald McClellan2,821 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs George W. Seward2,821 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Fred Schander2,820 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Frank Marvin2,819 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Eddy M. Plumb2,819 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Jacob Fyre2,818 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs George Wilkinson2,818 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs Arthur Harvey2,816 Social Democratic Party Eugene V. Debs James Danford2,799 People's Party Wharton Barker Carl Lampe903 People's Party Wharton Barker Thomas Hackett898 People's Party Wharton Barker John Joseph Cornely895 People's Party Wharton Barker Charles Bannasch893 People's Party Wharton Barker William Markwardt892 People's Party Wharton Barker Charles Gustafson891 People's Party Wharton Barker Elias Haire890 People's Party Wharton Barker Charles Truschan890 People's Party Wharton Barker James Manley889 People's Party Wharton Barker Willit B. Johnson888 People's Party Wharton Barker Barney Fabinski883 People's Party Wharton Barker John Steiner883 People's Party Wharton Barker Henry Marwinske871 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Joseph Snow837 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Jonas M. Borough836 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney John O. Zabel833 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Edwin D. Cox832 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Nelson Davis832 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Charles R. Robinson832 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney August W. Mulhauser829 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Austin S. Randall829 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney James M. Houghton828 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Daniel Hutcheson827 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney George N. Lawrence827 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney John Curtiss826 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney Charles Malone823 Socialist Labor Party Joseph F. Malloney William C. Porter813 People's Party Wharton Barker Axel Gerdin769Votes cast 544,379
Results by county The results below are those for the highest elector on each ticket. The results listed in the 1900-1901 Michigan Manual are a "general average" for each ticket and thus not the "true" results.