1884

Grover Cleveland and the 1884 map

Democrat Grover Cleveland ended 24 years of Republican presidential dominance by narrowly defeating James G. Blaine in a notoriously mud-slinging campaign. 'Mugwumps' — reform Republicans — defected to Cleveland over Blaine's corruption record. The election turned on New York, where a Protestant minister's anti-Catholic slur ('Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion') alienated Irish Catholic voters days before the election, likely costing Blaine the state and the presidency. Cleveland won New York by just 1,149 votes.