1916
The 1916 U.S. presidential election was won by Woodrow Wilson (Democratic) with 277 of 531 electoral votes, defeating Charles Evans Hughes (Republican). Electoral-vote margin: 23 (277 to 254). Popular-vote margin: 3.1 percentage points. Turnout was 61.8%. The cycle falls in the Progressive Era of American electoral history.
Open the what-if calculator → — flip states and re-count. A toy, not history.
Woodrow Wilson and the 1916 map
Wilson narrowly won re-election over Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes on the slogan 'He kept us out of war,' as Europe was embroiled in World War I. Hughes was ahead on election night — the New York Times even declared him the winner — but Wilson took California by fewer than 4,000 votes to win the presidency. Wilson would ask Congress to declare war on Germany just five weeks after his second inauguration, making the campaign slogan bitterly ironic.
World War I neutrality; progressive domestic reforms (Federal Reserve, labor laws)
'He kept us out of war' — Wilson declared war 5 weeks after his inauguration; Hughes led on election night
This summary was drafted with AI tools and has not yet been checked sentence by sentence. The vote table and the National Archives note on this page come from named sources; where they differ from the summary, rely on them. Tell us about an error.
States · 48 reporting
State results · 1916
- New Hampshire Wilson by 56 · 0.06 pts
- Minnesota Hughes by 396 · 0.1 pts
- California Wilson by 3,773 · 0.4 pts
- West Virginia Hughes by 2,721 · 0.9 pts
- Indiana Hughes by 6,942 · 1.0 pts
CaliforniaWilson won it by 0.4 points; its electoral votes took the total to 272, past the 266 needed.
Line up the states the winner carried from widest margin to narrowest and add up their electoral votes: the tipping point is the state that takes the total past a majority.
Scroll the table sideways for every column.
| State | Electoral votes | Woodrow Wilson Dem | Charles Evans Hughes Rep | Allan L. Benson Soc | Also named | Margin | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 12 EV | 98,811 76.4% | 27,491 21.3% | 1,916 1.5% | None | 71,320 55.2 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Arizona | 3 EV | 33,170 57.2% | 20,524 35.4% | 3,174 5.5% | J. Frank Hanly 1,153 · 2.0% | 12,646 21.8 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Arkansas | 9 EV | 112,282 66.7% | 47,135 28.0% | 6,998 4.2% | J. Frank Hanly 2,015 · 1.2% | 65,147 38.7 pts | Wilson Dem |
| California1 | 13 EV | 466,2891 46.6% | 462,5161 46.3% | 42,8981 4.3% | J. Frank Hanly 27,713 · 2.8%1 | 3,773 0.4 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Colorado2 | 6 EV | 178,8162 60.7% | 102,3082 34.8% | 10,0492 3.4% | None | 76,508 26.0 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Connecticut | 7 EV | 99,786 46.7% | 106,514 49.8% | 5,179 2.4% | None | 6,728 3.1 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Delaware | 3 EV | 24,753 47.8% | 26,011 50.2% | Not named | J. Frank Hanly 566 · 1.1% | 1,258 2.4 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Florida | 6 EV | 55,984 69.3% | 14,611 18.1% | 5,353 6.6% | J. Frank Hanly 4,855 · 6.0% | 41,373 51.2 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Georgia3 | 14 EV | 121,9693 79.6% | 10,5533 6.9% | Not named | None | 111,416 72.8 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Idaho | 4 EV | 70,054 52.0% | 55,368 41.1% | 8,066 6.0% | None | 14,686 10.9 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Illinois | 29 EV | 950,229 43.4% | 1,152,549 52.6% | 61,389 2.8% | J. Frank Hanly 23,739 · 1.1% | 202,320 9.2 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Indiana4 | 15 EV | 334,0634 46.5% | 341,0054 47.4% | 21,8554 3.0% | J. Frank Hanly 16,368 · 2.3%4 | 6,942 1.0 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Iowa5 | 13 EV | 222,5055 43.0% | 279,0655 53.9% | 10,9765 2.1% | None | 56,560 10.9 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Kansas | 10 EV | 314,588 49.9% | 277,658 44.1% | 24,685 3.9% | J. Frank Hanly 12,882 · 2.0% | 36,930 5.9 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Kentucky6 | 13 EV | 269,9906 51.9% | 241,8546 46.5% | Not named | None | 28,136 5.4 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Louisiana7 | 10 EV | 79,8757 85.9% | 6,4667 7.0% | Not named | None | 73,409 78.9 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Maine | 6 EV | 64,118 47.0% | 69,506 51.0% | 2,186 1.6% | None | 5,388 4.0 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Maryland | 8 EV | 138,359 52.8% | 117,347 44.8% | 2,674 1.0% | J. Frank Hanly 2,903 · 1.1% | 21,012 8.0 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Massachusetts | 18 EV | 247,885 46.6% | 268,784 50.5% | 11,058 2.1% | None | 20,899 3.9 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Michigan8 | 15 EV | 283,9938 43.9% | 337,9528 52.2% | 16,1208 2.5% | J. Frank Hanly 8,139 · 1.3%8 | 53,959 8.3 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Minnesota9 | 12 EV | 179,1579 46.2% | 179,5539 46.4% | 20,1179 5.2% | J. Frank Hanly 7,793 · 2.0%9 | 396 0.1 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Mississippi10 | 10 EV | 80,42210 92.8% | 4,25310 4.9% | 1,48410 1.7% | None | 76,169 87.9 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Missouri | 18 EV | 397,016 50.5% | 369,167 47.0% | 14,608 1.9% | None | 27,849 3.5 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Montana11 | 4 EV | 101,06311 56.9% | 66,75011 37.6% | 9,56411 5.4% | None | 34,313 19.3 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Nebraska | 8 EV | 159,027 55.4% | 117,771 41.1% | 7,141 2.5% | J. Frank Hanly 2,897 · 1.0% | 41,256 14.4 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Nevada | 3 EV | 17,778 53.9% | 12,131 36.8% | 3,069 9.3% | None | 5,647 17.1 pts | Wilson Dem |
| New Hampshire | 4 EV | 43,781 49.1% | 43,725 49.1% | 1,318 1.5% | None | 56 0.06 pts | Wilson Dem |
| New Jersey | 14 EV | 211,018 42.7% | 268,982 54.4% | 10,405 2.1% | None | 57,964 11.7 pts | Hughes Rep |
| New Mexico | 3 EV | 33,693 50.3% | 31,163 46.5% | 1,999 3.0% | None | 2,530 3.8 pts | Wilson Dem |
| New York | 45 EV | 759,426 44.5% | 879,238 51.5% | 45,944 2.7% | J. Frank Hanly 19,031 · 1.1% | 119,812 7.0 pts | Hughes Rep |
| North Carolina | 12 EV | 168,383 58.1% | 120,890 41.7% | Not named | None | 47,493 16.4 pts | Wilson Dem |
| North Dakota | 5 EV | 55,206 47.8% | 53,471 46.3% | 5,716 5.0% | None | 1,735 1.5 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Ohio | 24 EV | 604,361 51.9% | 514,858 44.2% | 38,092 3.3% | None | 89,503 7.7 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Oklahoma | 10 EV | 148,626 50.8% | 98,299 33.6% | 45,431 15.5% | None | 50,327 17.2 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Oregon12 | 5 EV | 120,08712 45.9% | 126,81312 48.5% | 9,71112 3.7% | J. Frank Hanly 4,729 · 1.8%12 | 6,726 2.6 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Pennsylvania | 38 EV | 521,784 40.2% | 703,734 54.3% | 42,637 3.3% | J. Frank Hanly 28,525 · 2.2% | 181,950 14.0 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Rhode Island | 5 EV | 40,394 46.0% | 44,858 51.1% | 1,914 2.2% | None | 4,464 5.1 pts | Hughes Rep |
| South Carolina13 | 9 EV | 61,83713 96.7% | 1,55813 2.4% | Not named | None | 60,279 94.3 pts | Wilson Dem |
| South Dakota | 5 EV | 59,335 46.0% | 64,207 49.8% | 3,658 2.8% | J. Frank Hanly 1,764 · 1.4% | 4,872 3.8 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Tennessee | 12 EV | 152,955 56.3% | 116,257 42.8% | Not named | None | 36,698 13.5 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Texas | 20 EV | 285,980 76.9% | 64,673 17.4% | 19,011 5.1% | None | 221,307 59.5 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Utah | 4 EV | 84,025 58.9% | 54,133 37.9% | 4,460 3.1% | None | 29,892 20.9 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Vermont14 | 4 EV | 22,70814 35.2% | 40,25014 62.4% | 79814 1.2% | J. Frank Hanly 709 · 1.1%14 | 17,542 27.2 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Virginia | 12 EV | 102,824 66.8% | 49,358 32.1% | Not named | None | 53,466 34.7 pts | Wilson Dem |
| Washington | 7 EV | 182,993 48.2% | 166,399 43.9% | 22,544 5.9% | J. Frank Hanly 6,823 · 1.8% | 16,594 4.4 pts | Wilson Dem |
| West Virginia | 8 EV Hughes 7, Wilson 1 | 140,403 48.5% | 143,124 49.4% | 6,150 2.1% | None | 2,721 0.9 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Wisconsin | 13 EV | 193,042 43.0% | 221,323 49.3% | 27,846 6.2% | J. Frank Hanly 7,166 · 1.6% | 28,281 6.3 pts | Hughes Rep |
| Wyoming | 3 EV | 28,316 54.6% | 21,700 41.9% | 1,453 2.8% | None | 6,616 12.8 pts | Wilson Dem |
Shares are of each state’s total vote for president. “Not named”: the figures do not give that candidate a line of their own in that state — for example under 1% of the vote, not on the ballot there, or counted on an unnamed line (see the state’s note). Margin is the leader’s lead over the second-placed candidate.
Notes on the figures
- California The official table's state total (999,603) is 187 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Colorado The official table's state total (294,375) is 409 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Georgia The official table's state total (153,133) is 19,792 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Indiana The official table's state total (718,848) is 3,898 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Iowa The official table's state total (517,716) is 1,793 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Kentucky The official table's state total (520,069) is 122 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Louisiana The official table's state total (92,982) is 6,349 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Michigan The official table's state total (647,071) is 25 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Minnesota The official table's state total (387,378) is 290 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Mississippi The official table's state total (86,679) is 520 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Montana The official table's state total (177,679) is 302 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Oregon The official table's state total (261,650) is 310 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- South Carolina The official table's state total (63,952) is 422 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
- Vermont The official table's state total (64,475) is 10 more than the tickets it lists; the difference is counted under other candidates.
SourceThe World Almanac and Encyclopedia 1917 . How these figures were compiled
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