1888
Rhode Island in 1888
The 1888 contest saw Rhode Island line up behind Harrison, delivering 4 electoral votes to the Republican ticket. Rhode Island ended up on the winning side — Benjamin Harrison captured the White House that year.
It marked the 9th consecutive election in which Rhode Island backed the Republican party, a streak reaching back to 1856. Rhode Island did not move alone — neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts broke the same way in 1888. Across the 59 presidential elections Rhode Island has taken part in, it has most often sided with the Democratic party (25 times). The vote fell within the Gilded Age — Industrialization, narrow margins, and patronage politics.
In the national count, Benjamin Harrison took 233 of the 401 electoral votes, against Grover Cleveland's 168. Though Benjamin Harrison won the Electoral College, Grover Cleveland drew more of the national popular vote — 48.63% to 47.8%.
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