The 1912 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Following the passage of a new constitution in 1898, Louisiana became a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party became moribund due to the disenfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as Louisiana completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession. Despite this absolute single-party dominance, non-partisan tendencies remained strong among wealthy sugar planters in Acadiana, within the business elite of New Orleans, and even amongst the “lily-white” faction of the moribund state GOP that had supported black disenfranchisement in the effort to become respectable amongst the white elite.
Following disfranchisement, the state's politics became dominated by the Choctaw Club of Louisiana, generally called the “Old Regulars”. This political machine was based in New Orleans and united with Black Belt cotton planters. The first significant opposition would not emerge until 1908, when the Socialist Party elected several officials in Winn Parish, and this would be joined in the early 1910s by the growth of the Industrial Workers of the World in the lumbering parishes of Imperial Calcasieu.
Louisiana was won by Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson (D–Virginia), running with governor of Indiana Thomas R. Marshall, with 76.81% of the popular vote, against the 26th president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt (P–New York), running with governor of California Hiram Johnson, with 11.71% of the popular vote and the five-time candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States Eugene V. Debs (S–Indiana), running with the first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States Emil Seidel, with 13.33% of the popular vote.
Louisiana was one of the states where the sitting president William Howard Taft came in fourth place. Debs would take advantage of the growth of the Socialist Party in the hill country and Imperial Calcasieu to gain over twenty percent of the vote in five parishes, with Winn Parish — the home of Louisiana's future Long dynasty — being his third-best county-equivalent in the nation, although this radical opposition would become mortally weakened almost immediately afterwards by the unresolved conflict between electoral and antipolitical strategies for reform.Renshaw (1968). The Wobblies, pp. 122-123 Louisiana and neighboring Mississippi were the only two states that voted more Republican than they did in 1908.
Results
Results by parish Parish Woodrow WilsonDemocratic Theodore RooseveltProgressive Eugene V. DebsSocialist William Howard TaftRepublican Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % # % # % Acadia 1,147 75.07% 164 10.73% 166 10.86% 51 3.34% 981 64.20% 1,528 Ascension 413 66.19% 135 21.63% 12 1.92% 64 10.26% 278 44.55% 624 Assumption 423 56.85% 171 22.98% 1 0.13% 149 20.03% 252 33.87% 744 Avoyelles 949 83.32% 36 3.16% 116 10.18% 38 3.34% 833 73.13% 1,139 Bienville 822 81.79% 34 3.38% 141 14.03% 8 0.80% 681 67.76% 1,005 Bossier 427 87.68% 11 2.26% 43 8.83% 6 1.23% 384 78.85% 487 Caddo 1,946 88.45% 129 5.86% 91 4.14% 34 1.55% 1,817 82.59% 2,200 Calcasieu 2,144 66.05% 362 11.15% 569 17.53% 171 5.27% 1,575 48.52% 3,246 Caldwell 366 72.62% 20 3.97% 100 19.84% 18 3.57% 266 52.78% 504 Cameron 119 84.40% 9 6.38% 0 0.00% 13 9.22% 106 75.18% 141 Catahoula 275 73.92% 44 11.83% 42 11.29% 11 2.96% 231 62.10% 372 Claiborne 785 92.24% 20 2.35% 36 4.23% 10 1.18% 749 88.01% 851 Concordia 205 91.11% 6 2.67% 8 3.56% 6 2.67% 197 87.56% 225 DeSoto 815 88.68% 19 2.07% 74 8.05% 11 1.20% 741 80.63% 919 East Baton Rouge 1,067 85.43% 96 7.69% 41 3.28% 45 3.60% 971 77.74% 1,249 East Carroll 161 86.10% 19 10.16% 3 1.60% 4 2.14% 142 75.94% 187 East Feliciana 422 95.91% 12 2.73% 5 1.14% 1 0.23% 410 93.18% 440 Evangeline 457 83.70% 15 2.75% 43 7.88% 31 5.68% 414 75.82% 546 Franklin 449 76.88% 39 6.68% 88 15.07% 8 1.37% 361 61.82% 584 Grant 446 62.20% 48 6.69% 208 29.01% 15 2.09% 238 33.19% 717 Iberia 666 51.39% 350 27.01% 58 4.48% 222 17.13% 316 24.38% 1,296 Iberville 487 66.08% 147 19.95% 3 0.41% 100 13.57% 340 46.13% 737 Jackson 561 73.14% 80 10.43% 107 13.95% 19 2.48% 454 59.19% 767 Jefferson 607 82.25% 97 13.14% 27 3.66% 7 0.95% 510 69.11% 738 Lafayette 646 63.40% 53 5.20% 76 7.46% 244 23.95% 402 39.45% 1,019 Lafourche 667 56.96% 175 14.94% 14 1.20% 315 26.90% 352 30.06% 1,171 LaSalle 366 65.95% 31 5.59% 151 27.21% 7 1.26% 215 38.74% 555 Lincoln 644 84.51% 42 5.51% 73 9.58% 3 0.39% 571 74.93% 762 Livingston 379 80.13% 67 14.16% 24 5.07% 3 0.63% 312 65.96% 473 Madison 146 95.42% 7 4.58% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 139 90.85% 153 Morehouse 411 89.15% 9 1.95% 33 7.16% 8 1.74% 378 82.00% 461 Natchitoches 759 75.07% 43 4.25% 188 18.60% 21 2.08% 571 56.48% 1,011 Orleans 26,433 80.03% 4,965 15.03% 727 2.20% 904 2.74% 21,468 65.00% 33,029 Ouachita 902 83.91% 48 4.47% 108 10.05% 17 1.58% 794 73.86% 1,075 Plaquemines 361 82.80% 29 6.65% 5 1.15% 41 9.40% 320 73.39% 436 Pointe Coupee 304 66.81% 90 19.78% 6 1.32% 55 12.09% 214 47.03% 455 Rapides 1,334 79.78% 110 6.58% 182 10.89% 46 2.75% 1,152 68.90% 1,672 Red River 357 76.61% 18 3.86% 85 18.24% 6 1.29% 272 58.37% 466 Richland 393 89.93% 20 4.58% 22 5.03% 2 0.46% 371 84.90% 437 Sabine 715 79.89% 37 4.13% 115 12.85% 28 3.13% 600 67.04% 895 St. Bernard 221 88.40% 11 4.40% 1 0.40% 17 6.80% 204 81.60% 250 St. Charles 157 74.76% 9 4.29% 16 7.62% 28 13.33% 129 61.43% 210 St. Helena 214 88.80% 10 4.15% 4 1.66% 13 5.39% 201 83.40% 241 St. James 367 54.05% 77 11.34% 7 1.03% 228 33.58% 139 20.47% 679 St. John the Baptist 190 61.29% 8 2.58% 38 12.26% 74 23.87% 116 37.42% 310 St. Landry 938 77.20% 150 12.35% 26 2.14% 101 8.31% 788 64.86% 1,215 St. Martin 375 64.43% 116 19.93% 23 3.95% 68 11.68% 259 44.50% 582 St. Mary 652 61.63% 242 22.87% 17 1.61% 147 13.89% 410 38.75% 1,058 St. Tammany 668 82.27% 70 8.62% 44 5.42% 30 3.69% 598 73.65% 812 Tangipahoa 1,061 80.02% 155 11.69% 70 5.28% 40 3.02% 906 68.33% 1,326 Tensas 220 91.67% 19 7.92% 0 0.00% 1 0.42% 201 83.75% 240 Terrebonne 455 55.35% 247 30.05% 31 3.77% 89 10.83% 208 25.30% 822 Union 696 87.66% 26 3.27% 61 7.68% 11 1.39% 635 79.97% 794 Vermilion 531 59.66% 119 13.37% 116 13.03% 124 13.93% 407 45.73% 890 Vernon 754 59.09% 50 3.92% 428 33.54% 44 3.45% 326 25.55% 1,276 Washington 491 83.08% 46 7.78% 36 6.09% 18 3.05% 445 75.30% 591 Webster 696 83.96% 13 1.57% 111 13.39% 9 1.09% 585 70.57% 829 West Baton Rouge 170 83.33% 15 7.35% 0 0.00% 19 9.31% 151 74.02% 204 West Carroll 159 63.35% 14 5.58% 77 30.68% 1 0.40% 82 32.67% 251 West Feliciana 281 89.49% 30 9.55% 0 0.00% 3 0.96% 251 79.94% 314 Winn 600 57.75% 49 4.72% 364 35.03% 26 2.50% 236 22.71% 1,039Totals60,87176.81%9,28311.71%5,2616.64%3,8334.84% 51,58865.10%79,248
See also United States presidential elections in Louisiana
Notes
References