1924 United States presidential election in North Carolina

The 1924 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary forty-eight states. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

As a former Confederate state, North Carolina had a history of Jim Crow laws, disfranchisement of its African-American population and dominance of the Democratic Party in state politics. However, unlike the Deep South, the Republican Party had sufficient historic Unionist white support from the mountains and northwestern Piedmont to gain a stable one-third of the statewide vote total in most general electionsPhillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 210, 242 A rapid move following disenfranchisement to a completely “lily-white” state GOP also helped maintain Republican support amongst the state's voters. Like Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma, the relative strength of Republican opposition meant that North Carolina did not have statewide white primaries, although certain counties did use the white primary.

In 1920, with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, North Carolina became the first former Confederate state to abolish its poll tax, which when in force was less severe than other former Confederate states with the result that more whites participated. In that election North Carolina would, alongside Kentucky, see the largest mobilisation of female voters in the entire country. Despite some thought that Republican nominee Harding might threaten to carry the state, in fact North Carolina showed the smallest swing against the Democrats of any state in the Union.

During the prolonged Democratic Party primaries, North Carolina shifted its delegates between William Gibbs McAdoo, Virginian Carter Glass, and Alabamian Oscar W. Underwood, except for a few votes for favorite son George Gordon Battle. Ultimately neither McAdoo nor New York Governor Al Smith – who represented the immigrant, anti-Prohibition wing of the party – could prove acceptable to all Democratic delegates and the nomination went to a compromise candidate in Wall Street lawyer John W. Davis of West Virginia. Although West Virginia was a border state whose limited African-American population had not been disenfranchised,Ranney, Joseph A.; In the Wake of Slavery: Civil War, Civil Rights, and the Reconstruction of Southern Law; p. 141 Davis did share the extreme social conservatism of Southern Democrats of his era; he supported poll taxes and opposed women's suffrage.Newman, Roger K.; The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law, p. 153 In addition, Davis, like Coolidge, favored strictly limited government. At the same time a progressive third-party run was predicted as early as winter 1923–24, and ultimately Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette would be nominated by the “Committee for Progressive Political Action”.Richardson, Danny G.; Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s, pp. 180-183

None of the three candidates did any campaigning in a state which had voted Democratic at every election since 1876. All media polls from September onwards suggested that North Carolina would always go to Davis. A Digest poll at the end of October, which included votes for some candidates not on the ballot, had Davis winning by 21.5 percentage points, and that proved a good guide to the final margin, which saw Davis carry North Carolina by 19.16 points, an increase of 5.68 points upon James M. Cox’s margin in 1920 and in fact 2.77 points greater than Woodrow Wilson’s margin in the state in 1916. Although Progressive Party candidate La Follette would relegate Davis to third in twelve states and carry his home state of Wisconsin, he had almost no appeal in pro-League of Nations North Carolina. With only 1.38 percent of the vote, North Carolina would be La Follette’s second-weakest state after neighbouring South Carolina.

Results

Results by county 1924 United States presidential election in North Carolina by countyCountyJohn William DavisDemocraticJohn Calvin CoolidgeRepublicanRobert M. La Follette Sr.ProgressiveMargin % # % # % # % # Robeson 92.53% 4,064 7.15% 314 0.32% 14 85.38% 3,750 Currituck 91.16% 670 7.07% 52 1.77% 13 84.08% 618 Bertie 91.59% 1,785 8.16% 159 0.26% 5 83.43% 1,626 Northampton 91.17% 1,662 7.90% 144 0.93% 17 83.27% 1,518 Halifax 90.20% 3,232 7.48% 268 2.32% 83 82.72% 2,964 Edgecombe 89.04% 2,274 6.70% 171 4.27% 109 82.34% 2,103 Anson 90.47% 2,372 8.58% 225 0.95% 25 81.88% 2,147 Martin 89.88% 1,999 9.71% 216 0.40% 9 80.17% 1,783 Warren 88.43% 1,742 8.43% 166 3.15% 62 80.00% 1,576 Craven 88.86% 2,942 9.82% 325 1.33% 44 79.04% 2,617 Hoke 88.77% 1,146 10.92% 141 0.31% 4 77.85% 1,005 Chowan 87.39% 714 12.00% 98 0.61% 5 75.40% 616 Scotland 87.18% 1,469 12.17% 205 0.65% 11 75.01% 1,264 Franklin 86.34% 1,991 13.10% 302 0.56% 13 73.24% 1,689 Greene 85.55% 1,119 13.91% 182 0.54% 7 71.64% 937 Pitt 84.91% 3,197 13.60% 512 1.49% 56 71.31% 2,685 Hertford 84.80% 932 14.92% 164 0.27% 3 69.88% 768 Granville 82.37% 2,220 17.11% 461 0.52% 14 65.27% 1,759 Pender 81.31% 1,175 17.51% 253 1.18% 17 63.81% 922 Wilson 79.99% 2,619 17.53% 574 2.47% 81 62.46% 2,045 Vance 80.39% 2,013 18.77% 470 0.84% 21 61.62% 1,543 Lenoir 80.26% 2,191 18.83% 514 0.92% 25 61.43% 1,677 Pasquotank 79.59% 1,236 19.64% 305 0.77% 12 59.95% 931 Union 79.45% 2,721 19.62% 672 0.93% 32 59.82% 2,049 Jones 79.27% 692 20.50% 179 0.23% 2 58.76% 513 Richmond 76.46% 2,475 18.50% 599 5.04% 163 57.95% 1,876 Nash 76.63% 3,129 20.16% 823 3.21% 131 56.48% 2,306 New Hanover 74.80% 4,735 18.80% 1,190 6.40% 405 56.00% 3,545 Camden 75.56% 436 22.88% 132 1.56% 9 52.69% 304 Gates 75.87% 679 24.02% 215 0.11% 1 51.84% 464 Mecklenburg 73.73% 8,443 22.46% 2,572 3.82% 437 51.27% 5,871 Wake 70.77% 8,376 25.14% 2,975 4.10% 485 45.63% 5,401 Onslow 71.19% 1,122 26.84% 423 1.97% 31 44.35% 699 Lee 71.81% 1,834 27.80% 710 0.39% 10 44.01% 1,124 Wayne 70.32% 3,366 28.81% 1,379 0.88% 42 41.51% 1,987 Caswell 69.53% 1,075 30.21% 467 0.26% 4 39.33% 608 Cleveland 67.81% 3,749 31.52% 1,743 0.67% 37 36.28% 2,006 Cumberland 67.47% 2,923 31.67% 1,372 0.85% 37 35.80% 1,551 Hyde 67.04% 653 31.31% 305 1.64% 16 35.73% 348 Beaufort 65.65% 3,048 32.35% 1,502 2.00% 93 33.30% 1,546 Bladen 65.72% 1,551 33.31% 786 0.97% 23 32.42% 765 Duplin 64.93% 2,924 34.24% 1,542 0.82% 37 30.69% 1,382 Haywood 65.18% 4,582 34.71% 2,440 0.11% 8 30.47% 2,142 Perquimans 64.48% 550 34.58% 295 0.94% 8 29.89% 255 Gaston 64.24% 6,554 34.95% 3,566 0.80% 82 29.29% 2,988 Iredell 63.54% 6,449 35.12% 3,565 1.34% 136 28.41% 2,884 Orange 62.43% 1,879 35.38% 1,065 2.19% 66 27.04% 814 Pamlico 63.48% 798 36.52% 459 0.00% 0 26.97% 339 Rockingham 62.72% 4,467 36.03% 2,566 1.25% 89 26.69% 1,901 Columbus 62.49% 2,757 36.92% 1,629 0.59% 26 25.57% 1,128 Buncombe 59.93% 10,098 37.30% 6,285 2.77% 467 22.63% 3,813 Durham 59.34% 4,837 37.95% 3,093 2.71% 221 21.40% 1,744 Person 60.52% 1,576 39.36% 1,025 0.12% 3 21.16% 551 Alamance 59.48% 4,859 39.38% 3,217 1.14% 93 20.10% 1,642 Tyrrell 59.02% 638 40.89% 442 0.09% 1 18.13% 196 Moore 57.93% 2,771 41.27% 1,974 0.79% 38 16.66% 797 Forsyth 56.18% 7,404 40.33% 5,315 3.48% 459 15.85% 2,089 Caldwell 56.97% 3,348 42.59% 2,503 0.44% 26 14.38% 845 Alleghany 56.99% 1,643 42.80% 1,234 0.21% 6 14.19% 409 Rowan 52.84% 4,816 39.06% 3,560 8.10% 738 13.78% 1,256 Dare 56.69% 826 43.17% 629 0.14% 2 13.52% 197 Rutherford 56.51% 5,101 43.17% 3,897 0.32% 29 13.34% 1,204 Burke 56.46% 4,137 43.54% 3,190 0.00% 0 12.92% 947 Guilford 55.22% 8,804 42.79% 6,822 1.99% 317 12.43% 1,982 Cabarrus 54.60% 4,449 43.08% 3,510 2.32% 189 11.52% 939 Chatham 55.44% 3,446 44.32% 2,755 0.24% 15 11.12% 691 Carteret 54.75% 2,261 44.89% 1,854 0.36% 15 9.85% 407 Yancey 54.35% 2,592 45.21% 2,156 0.44% 21 9.14% 436 Montgomery 54.39% 2,483 45.50% 2,077 0.11% 5 8.89% 406 McDowell 53.62% 3,023 45.94% 2,590 0.44% 25 7.68% 433 Harnett 53.14% 3,296 46.68% 2,895 0.18% 11 6.47% 401 Polk 52.52% 1,613 47.05% 1,445 0.42% 13 5.47% 168 Jackson 52.50% 3,100 47.21% 2,788 0.29% 17 5.28% 312 Ashe 52.28% 4,333 47.68% 3,952 0.04% 3 4.60% 381 Lincoln 51.86% 2,909 47.39% 2,658 0.75% 42 4.47% 251 Macon 51.72% 2,178 47.85% 2,015 0.43% 18 3.87% 163 Stanly 51.26% 3,832 48.07% 3,594 0.67% 50 3.18% 238 Washington 51.25% 883 48.40% 834 0.35% 6 2.84% 49 Davidson 50.88% 6,507 48.69% 6,227 0.44% 56 2.19% 280 Transylvania 49.17% 1,776 50.22% 1,814 0.61% 22 -1.05% -38 Catawba 48.28% 5,754 50.32% 5,998 1.40% 167 -2.05% -244 Johnston 48.56% 4,656 51.20% 4,910 0.24% 23 -2.65% -254 Alexander 48.25% 2,291 51.33% 2,437 0.42% 20 -3.07% -146 Stokes 47.76% 2,309 51.33% 2,482 0.91% 44 -3.58% -173 Graham 47.81% 841 51.56% 907 0.63% 11 -3.75% -66 Watauga 46.94% 2,365 52.90% 2,665 0.16% 8 -5.95% -300 Surry 46.63% 4,418 52.67% 4,990 0.70% 66 -6.04% -572 Clay 46.24% 953 52.89% 1,090 0.87% 18 -6.65% -137 Brunswick 45.54% 1,118 52.79% 1,296 1.67% 41 -7.25% -178 Randolph 45.90% 5,397 53.89% 6,336 0.20% 24 -7.99% -939 Henderson 45.54% 3,007 53.73% 3,548 0.73% 48 -8.19% -541 Swain 44.55% 1,769 54.85% 2,178 0.60% 24 -10.30% -409 Cherokee 42.71% 1,742 56.73% 2,314 0.56% 23 -14.02% -572 Davie 40.07% 1,795 59.64% 2,672 0.29% 13 -19.58% -877 Sampson 38.54% 2,021 60.79% 3,188 0.67% 35 -22.25% -1,167 Wilkes 36.86% 3,586 63.02% 6,131 0.11% 11 -26.16% -2,545 Yadkin 32.26% 1,381 67.48% 2,889 0.26% 11 -35.23% -1,508 Madison 30.66% 1,471 67.79% 3,252 1.54% 74 -37.13% -1,781 Mitchell 30.80% 689 68.84% 1,540 0.36% 8 -38.04% -851 Avery 13.95% 357 85.51% 2,189 0.55% 14 -71.56% -1,832

See also United States presidential elections in North Carolina

Notes

References