From March 9 to June 5, 1920, voters of the Democratic Party elected delegates to the 1920 Democratic National Convention, for the purposing of choosing a nominee for president in the 1920 United States presidential election.
The race for delegates was made under a cloud of uncertainty because the party's two leading names, President Woodrow Wilson and three-time nominee William Jennings Bryan, withheld their intentions; both men privately hoped for the nomination, but neither's name was formally submitted before the voters or the convention as a candidate.
The delegate elections were inconclusive, with Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo, and Ohio governor James A. Cox leading the candidate field. With no clear front-runner, many states withheld their delegates from any one candidate, instead sending an uncommitted slate of delegates or preferring to back a favorite son on the first ballot. At the convention, Cox was ultimately nominated on the forty-fourth ballot.
Candidates Governor James M. Cox of Ohio Former United States Ambassador to Germany James Watson Gerard of New York Governor Edward I. Edwards of New Jersey Attorney General of the U.S. A. Mitchell Palmer from Pennsylvania Former United States Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo from California Senator Robert Latham Owen of Oklahoma
Not placed in nomination Former United States Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska House Minority Leader Champ Clark of Missouri President of the United States Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey
Favorite sons
United States Secretary of Agriculture Edwin T. Meredith of Iowa Senator Carter Glass of Virginia Governor Al Smith of New York United States Senator Gilbert Hitchcock of Nebraska United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom John W. Davis of West Virginia United States Senator John Sharp Williams of Mississippi Party Chairman Homer Stille Cummings of Connecticut Senator Furnifold Simmons of North Carolina Vice President of the United States Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana
Primary and caucus results DatePledgeddelegatesContestDelegates won and popular vote William Jennings Bryan James M. Cox Edward I. Edwards Herbert HooverWilliam Gibbs McAdoo A. Mitchell Palmer Other Uncommitted February 5 20 Oklahoma20 February 27 6 Arizona6 February 28 26 Iowa26 March 9 6 Nevada6 8 New Hampshire 87,103 (100.0%) March 16 10 North Dakota 10 March 23 10 South Dakota March 30 12 Maine 12 April 5 0 (of 30) Michigan April 6(146) 24 Minnesota 24 90 New York 90 6 Philippines 6 26 Wisconsin 26 April 8 24 North Carolina 24 April 10 6 Puerto Rico 6 April 13 50 (of 58) Illinois 50 April 20 28 Georgia 28 16 Nebraska 16 April 22 36 Missouri36 April 23 20 Kansas20 8 Montana8 April 27(112) 32 Massachusetts36 28 New Jersey28 32 Ohio48 April 28 6 Alaska Territory6 May 3 16 Maryland 16 May 4 26 California26 26 Kentucky26 May 6 14 Connecticut14 10 Rhode Island10 May 10 8 (of 50) Illinois8 30 Michigan30 6 Wyoming6 May 11 24 Alabama24 May 17 12 Colorado12 14 Washington14 May 18 76 Pennsylvania76 0 (of 8) Vermont May 19 24 Virginia24 May 20 30 Indiana30May 21 10 Oregon10May 22 6 Territory of Hawaii 6 May 25 6 Delaware 6 40 Texas40 16 West Virginia16May 26 18 South Carolina18June 1 18 Arkansas18June 2 8 Vermont8June 3 20 Louisiana20 6 New Mexico6 June 8 24 Tennessee24 12 Florida12 June 10 11 Washington, D.C.11June 12 8 Utah8June 15 8 Idaho8June 16 20 Mississippi20
See also Republican Party presidential primaries, 1920 White primary
Notes
References