1904 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1904 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 1904. All contemporary 45 states were part of the 1904 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
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 Parish Results
Parker 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100%
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| Elections in Louisiana |
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 Government |
Following the overthrow of Reconstruction Republican government, Louisiana, like most of the former Confederacy, established a Democratic-dominated but highly fraudulent political system[1] that would from 1890 be challenged by the rise of the Populist Party due to declining conditions for farmers. Both the Populists and the earlier Greenback Party — who shared key leaders like James B. Weaver — would be supported by the state Republican Party,[2] and in the 1896 gubernatorial election a fusion candidate was undoubtedly denied by the continued fraud.[3] Consequently, the state’s plantation elite radically rewrote the state’s constitution in the next gubernatorial term with a poll tax, literacy test, grandfather clause, and a secret ballot. The consequence was a reduction in the number of registered black voters by 96 percent,[4] and virtual elimination of black voting in Acadiana until the 1950s.[lower-alpha 1]
Louisiana consequently became a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party, as the now-moribund Republican party lacked any white base because the Pelican State completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.[7] After 1900, not until 1964 would another Republican serve in the state legislature.[8]
Despite this absolute single-party dominance, non-partisan tendencies remained strong among wealthy sugar planters in Acadiana, within the business elite of New Orleans,[9] and even amongst the “lily-white” “National Republican” GOP faction who supported black disenfranchisement in an effort to become respectable amongst the white elite.[10] State politics became controlled 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.[11] Although white Republicans continued to work towards taking over Federal patronage from the “black and tans”, throughout most of the 1900s Louisiana politics was under firm Choctaw control as the Populist movement weakened with the disenfranchisement of many poor whites via the poll tax.[10]
Louisiana was won by the Democratic nominees, Chief Judge Alton B. Parker of New York and his running mate Henry G. Davis of West Virginia.
Results
| 1904 United States presidential election in Louisiana[12] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Alton B. Parker | 47,708 | 88.50% | 9 | |
| Republican | Theodore Roosevelt (incumbent) | 5,205 | 9.66% | 0 | |
| Social Democratic | Eugene Debs | 995 | 1.85% | 0 | |
| Totals | 53,908 | 100.00% | 9 | ||
| Voter turnout | — | ||||
Results by parish
| Parish | Alton Parker Democratic |
Theodore Roosevelt Republican |
Eugene Debs Social Democratic |
Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Acadia | 626 | 77.09% | 133 | 16.38% | 53 | 6.53% | 493 | 60.71% | 812 |
| Ascension | 504 | 74.12% | 175 | 25.74% | 1 | 0.15% | 329 | 48.38% | 680 |
| Assumption | 592 | 78.72% | 160 | 21.28% | 0 | 0.00% | 432 | 57.45% | 752 |
| Avoyelles | 1,054 | 95.30% | 37 | 3.35% | 15 | 1.36% | 1,017 | 91.95% | 1,106 |
| Bienville | 833 | 93.81% | 44 | 4.95% | 11 | 1.24% | 789 | 88.85% | 888 |
| Bossier | 475 | 97.94% | 10 | 2.06% | 0 | 0.00% | 465 | 95.88% | 485 |
| Caddo | 1,592 | 96.95% | 47 | 2.86% | 3 | 0.18% | 1,545 | 94.09% | 1,642 |
| Calcasieu | 1,102 | 69.48% | 401 | 25.28% | 83 | 5.23% | 701 | 44.20% | 1,586 |
| Caldwell | 198 | 91.67% | 16 | 7.41% | 2 | 0.93% | 182 | 84.26% | 216 |
| Cameron | 178 | 90.82% | 15 | 7.65% | 3 | 1.53% | 163 | 83.16% | 196 |
| Catahoula | 514 | 79.32% | 124 | 19.14% | 10 | 1.54% | 390 | 60.19% | 648 |
| Claiborne | 708 | 97.52% | 16 | 2.20% | 2 | 0.28% | 692 | 95.32% | 726 |
| Concordia | 209 | 95.00% | 2 | 0.91% | 9 | 4.09% | 200[lower-alpha 2] | 90.91% | 220 |
| De Soto | 908 | 97.63% | 9 | 0.97% | 13 | 1.40% | 895[lower-alpha 2] | 96.24% | 930 |
| East Baton Rouge | 994 | 95.30% | 48 | 4.60% | 1 | 0.10% | 946 | 90.70% | 1,043 |
| East Carroll | 211 | 99.06% | 2 | 0.94% | 0 | 0.00% | 209 | 98.12% | 213 |
| East Feliciana | 388 | 97.73% | 7 | 1.76% | 2 | 0.50% | 381 | 95.97% | 397 |
| Franklin | 347 | 98.30% | 5 | 1.42% | 1 | 0.28% | 342 | 96.88% | 353 |
| Grant | 280 | 74.47% | 71 | 18.88% | 25 | 6.65% | 209 | 55.59% | 376 |
| Iberia | 734 | 76.30% | 205 | 21.31% | 23 | 2.39% | 529 | 54.99% | 962 |
| Iberville | 515 | 87.73% | 72 | 12.27% | 0 | 0.00% | 443 | 75.47% | 587 |
| Jackson | 576 | 91.00% | 53 | 8.37% | 4 | 0.63% | 523 | 82.62% | 633 |
| Jefferson | 1,110 | 97.11% | 25 | 2.19% | 8 | 0.70% | 1,085 | 94.93% | 1,143 |
| Lafayette | 496 | 88.89% | 41 | 7.35% | 21 | 3.76% | 455 | 81.54% | 558 |
| Lafourche | 931 | 84.56% | 168 | 15.26% | 2 | 0.18% | 763 | 69.30% | 1,101 |
| Lincoln | 532 | 94.66% | 26 | 4.63% | 4 | 0.71% | 506 | 90.04% | 562 |
| Livingston | 358 | 88.18% | 47 | 11.58% | 1 | 0.25% | 311 | 76.60% | 406 |
| Madison | 150 | 100.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 150 | 100.00% | 150 |
| Morehouse | 526 | 96.16% | 20 | 3.66% | 1 | 0.18% | 506 | 92.50% | 547 |
| Natchitoches | 630 | 83.44% | 125 | 16.56% | 0 | 0.00% | 505 | 66.89% | 755 |
| Orleans | 16,103 | 89.65% | 1,380 | 7.68% | 480 | 2.67% | 14,723 | 81.96% | 17,963 |
| Ouachita | 669 | 94.36% | 26 | 3.67% | 14 | 1.97% | 643 | 90.69% | 709 |
| Plaquemines | 620 | 93.09% | 38 | 5.71% | 8 | 1.20% | 582 | 87.39% | 666 |
| Pointe Coupee | 505 | 98.06% | 10 | 1.94% | 0 | 0.00% | 495 | 96.12% | 515 |
| Rapides | 827 | 87.61% | 107 | 11.33% | 10 | 1.06% | 720 | 76.27% | 944 |
| Red River | 371 | 94.64% | 12 | 3.06% | 9 | 2.30% | 359 | 91.58% | 392 |
| Richland | 291 | 97.65% | 7 | 2.35% | 0 | 0.00% | 284 | 95.30% | 298 |
| Sabine | 504 | 87.80% | 58 | 10.10% | 12 | 2.09% | 446 | 77.70% | 574 |
| Saint Bernard | 424 | 92.58% | 34 | 7.42% | 0 | 0.00% | 390 | 85.15% | 458 |
| Saint Charles | 313 | 96.31% | 12 | 3.69% | 0 | 0.00% | 301 | 92.62% | 325 |
| Saint Helena | 234 | 88.30% | 30 | 11.32% | 1 | 0.38% | 204 | 76.98% | 265 |
| Saint James | 327 | 72.67% | 99 | 22.00% | 24 | 5.33% | 228 | 50.67% | 450 |
| Saint John the Baptist | 283 | 91.88% | 24 | 7.79% | 1 | 0.32% | 259 | 84.09% | 308 |
| Saint Landry | 887 | 92.88% | 60 | 6.28% | 8 | 0.84% | 827 | 86.60% | 955 |
| Saint Martin | 613 | 96.38% | 23 | 3.62% | 0 | 0.00% | 590 | 92.77% | 636 |
| Saint Mary | 749 | 79.18% | 193 | 20.40% | 4 | 0.42% | 556 | 58.77% | 946 |
| Saint Tammany | 453 | 83.27% | 59 | 10.85% | 32 | 5.88% | 394 | 72.43% | 544 |
| Tangipahoa | 623 | 77.39% | 170 | 21.12% | 12 | 1.49% | 453 | 56.27% | 805 |
| Tensas | 203 | 97.13% | 6 | 2.87% | 0 | 0.00% | 197 | 94.26% | 209 |
| Terrebonne | 702 | 82.49% | 144 | 16.92% | 5 | 0.59% | 558 | 65.57% | 851 |
| Union | 496 | 96.88% | 15 | 2.93% | 1 | 0.20% | 481 | 93.95% | 512 |
| Vermilion | 792 | 86.65% | 111 | 12.14% | 11 | 1.20% | 681 | 74.51% | 914 |
| Vernon | 469 | 61.31% | 275 | 35.95% | 21 | 2.75% | 194 | 25.36% | 765 |
| Washington | 367 | 90.84% | 36 | 8.91% | 1 | 0.25% | 331 | 81.93% | 404 |
| Webster | 698 | 97.08% | 21 | 2.92% | 0 | 0.00% | 677 | 94.16% | 719 |
| West Baton Rouge | 233 | 97.90% | 5 | 2.10% | 0 | 0.00% | 228 | 95.80% | 238 |
| West Carroll | 124 | 89.86% | 5 | 3.62% | 9 | 6.52% | 115[lower-alpha 2] | 83.33% | 138 |
| West Feliciana | 319 | 96.08% | 13 | 3.92% | 0 | 0.00% | 306 | 92.17% | 332 |
| Winn | 277 | 63.10% | 128 | 29.16% | 34 | 7.74% | 149 | 33.94% | 439 |
| Totals | 47,747 | 88.51% | 5,205 | 9.65% | 995 | 1.84% | 42,542 | 78.86% | 53,947 |
Notes
- In the remainder of the state most blacks were already disenfranchised by intimidation[5] before the 1898 Constitution and few voted again until after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[6]
- In this parish where Debs ran second ahead of Roosevelt, margin given is Parker vote minus Debs vote and percentage margin Parker percentage minus Debs percentage.
References
- Hair, William Ivy (1969). Bourbonism and agrarian protest; Louisiana politics, 1877-1900. pp. 114–115. ISBN 0807109088.
- Kousser, J. Morgan (1975). The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910 (Second Printing ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 25. ISBN 0-300-01973-4.
- Kousser. The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 41
- Lewinson, Paul (1965). Race, class and party; a history of Negro suffrage and white politics in the South. New York City: Grosset & Dunlap. p. 81.
- See Howard, Perry H. (1954). "A New Look at Reconstruction". Political Tendencies in Louisiana, 1812-1952; An Ecological Analysis of Voting Behavior (Thesis). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. pp. 112–113. OCLC 8115.
- Subcommittee No. 5 (1965). 1965 Voting Rights Act (Report). Committee on the Judiciary, United States House of Representatives. pp. 4, 139–201.
- Phillips, Kevin P. The Emerging Republican Majority. pp. 208, 210. ISBN 9780691163246.
- Kang, Michael S. (May 29, 2019). "Hyperpartisan Gerrymandering". Boston College Law Review. 69: 1395.
- Schott, Matthew J. (Summer 1979). "Progressives against Democracy: Electoral Reform in Louisiana, 1894-1921". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 20 (3): 247–260.
- Heersink, Boris; Jenkins, Jeffrey A. Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. pp. 265–266. ISBN 1107158435.
- Wall, Bennett H.; Rodriguez, John C. Louisiana: A History. pp. 274–275. ISBN 1118619293.
- Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results – Louisiana
- "Popular Vote for President, 1904". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
- "Popular Vote for Eugene V. Debs (1904)". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
