1892 United States presidential election in Georgia

The 1892 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 8, 1892, as part of the wider United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Following Reconstruction, Georgia would be the first former Confederate state to substantially disenfranchise its newly enfranchised freedmen and many poor whites, doing so in the early 1870s.^[1] This largely limited the Republican Party to a few North Georgia counties with substantial Civil War Unionist sentiment – chiefly Fannin but also to a lesser extent Pickens, Gilmer and Towns^[2] – and in presidential elections to a small number of counties elsewhere where blacks were not fully disenfranchised. The Democratic Party served as the guardian of white supremacy against a Republican Party historically associated with memories of Reconstruction, and the main competition became Democratic primaries, which were restricted to whites on the grounds of the Democratic Party being legally a private club.^[3] This restriction was done by local county laws, but combined with the highly efficacious cumulative poll tax introduced in 1877 meant that turnout declined steadily throughout the 1880s,^[4] unlike any other former Confederate state except South Carolina.

However, politics after the first demobilization was always chaotic. Third-party movements, chiefly the Populist Party, gained support amongst the remaining poor white and black voters in opposition to the planter elite.^[5] Whereas the Republican Party had not contested a statewide election seriously since 1876,^[6] the Populists made a significant run for governor in 1892 as they launched the most significant third-party campaign since John Bell in the sectionally divided 1860 election.^[7] In Georgia, the Populists would be led by Thomas E. Watson, who had won a seat in Congress in 1890.

However, the strong emphasis by Cleveland and running mate Adlai Stevenson I on opposing the Lodge Force Bill and on reducing tariffs was able to reduce defections to the Populists or the GOP,^[8] despite strong opposition in the state to Cleveland’s rigid support for the gold standard against free silver. The Populist influence caused voter turnout to rise substantially – some believing that many new voters had their poll taxes paid for – but despite opposition forces gaining more than twice as many votes as in 1888 Cleveland’s margin fell by less than five percent as his opposition was divided. Rather than in the poor white upcountry counties, Weaver actually did best in the northeastern part of the Black Belt where Watson was based and where Populist strength would remain greatest in 1904 and 1908.^[9]

The Republicans won eight counties, six were majority white and two were majority black.^[10]

Results

1892 United States presidential election in Georgia^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Grover Cleveland	129,446	58.01%	13
	Republican	Benjamin Harrison (incumbent)	48,408	21.70%	0
	People's	James B. Weaver	41,939	18.80%	0
	Write-ins	Scattered	2,345	1.05%	0
	Prohibition	John Bidwell	988	0.44%	0

Results by county

County	Stephen Grover Cleveland^[12] Democratic		Benjamin Harrison^[12] Republican		James Baird Weaver^[13] People’s		John Bidwell^[14] Prohibition		Various candidates^[14] Write-ins		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Appling	554	47.59%	219	18.81%	98	8.42%	1	0.09%	292	25.09%	335	28.78%	1,164
Baker	598	75.98%	54	6.86%	133	16.90%	2	0.25%			465^[a]	59.09%	787
Baldwin	541	71.66%	120	15.89%	91	12.05%	3	0.40%			421	55.76%	755
Banks	622	46.59%	209	15.66%	489	36.63%	15	1.12%			133^[a]	9.96%	1,335
Bartow	1,327	62.01%	445	20.79%	345	16.12%	23	1.07%			882	41.21%	2,140
Berrien	1,188	79.31%	149	9.95%	160	10.68%	1	0.07%			1,028^[a]	68.62%	1,498
Bibb	3,627	83.00%	641	14.67%	77	1.76%	25	0.57%			2,986	68.33%	4,370
Brooks	944	60.98%	516	33.33%	84	5.43%	4	0.26%			428	27.65%	1,548
Bryan	292	65.91%	147	33.18%	4	0.90%	0	0.00%			145	32.73%	443
Bulloch	1,239	60.20%	214	10.40%	600	29.15%	5	0.24%			639^[a]	31.05%	2,058
Burke	1,322	62.39%	83	3.92%	431	20.34%	0	0.00%	283	13.36%	891^[a]	42.05%	2,119
Butts	818	56.85%	393	27.31%	218	15.15%	10	0.69%			425	29.53%	1,439
Calhoun	527	51.97%	427	42.11%	57	5.62%	3	0.30%			100	9.86%	1,014
Camden	179	36.16%	305	61.62%	8	1.62%	3	0.61%			-126	-25.45%	495
Campbell	466	36.18%	451	35.02%	370	28.73%	1	0.08%			15	1.16%	1,288
Carroll	2,137	64.19%	543	16.31%	638	19.16%	11	0.33%			1,499^[a]	45.03%	3,329
Catoosa	576	81.59%	69	9.77%	57	8.07%	4	0.57%			507	71.81%	706
Charlton	192	77.42%	22	8.87%	11	4.44%	2	0.81%	21	8.47%	170	68.55%	248
Chatham	5,264	78.83%	1,359	20.35%	53	0.79%	2	0.03%			3,905	58.48%	6,678
Chattahoochee	243	39.45%	247	40.10%	126	20.45%	0	0.00%			-4	-0.65%	616
Chattooga	1,060	71.86%	245	16.61%	162	10.98%	8	0.54%			815	55.25%	1,475
Cherokee	927	44.06%	382	18.16%	789	37.50%	6	0.29%			138^[a]	6.56%	2,104
Clarke	835	55.12%	545	35.97%	130	8.58%	5	0.33%			290	19.14%	1,515
Clay	506	69.70%	104	14.33%	87	11.98%	2	0.28%	27	3.72%	402	55.37%	726
Clayton	518	42.67%	335	27.59%	360	29.65%	1	0.08%			158^[a]	13.01%	1,214
Clinch	481	74.23%	102	15.74%	62	9.57%	3	0.46%			379	58.49%	648
Cobb	1,794	62.44%	564	19.63%	508	17.68%	7	0.24%			1,230	42.81%	2,873
Coffee	599	51.73%	70	6.04%	156	13.47%	2	0.17%	331	28.58%	443^[a]	38.26%	1,158
Colquitt	459	64.74%	5	0.71%	161	22.71%	2	0.28%	82	11.57%	298^[a]	42.03%	709
Columbia	451	21.22%	101	4.75%	1,569	73.84%	4	0.19%			-1,118^[a]	-52.61%	2,125
Coweta	2,005	63.75%	1,085	34.50%	53	1.69%	2	0.06%			920	29.25%	3,145
Crawford	685	62.33%	288	26.21%	126	11.46%	0	0.00%			397	36.12%	1,099
Dade	511	77.19%	53	8.01%	98	14.80%	0	0.00%			413^[a]	62.39%	662
Dawson	356	49.04%	157	21.63%	208	28.65%	5	0.69%			148^[a]	20.39%	726
DeKalb	1,370	57.13%	496	20.68%	520	21.68%	12	0.50%			850^[a]	35.45%	2,398
Decatur	1,349	56.82%	561	23.63%	464	19.55%	0	0.00%			788	33.19%	2,374
Dodge	795	78.56%	209	20.65%	6	0.59%	2	0.20%			586	57.91%	1,012
Dooly	1,350	61.96%	506	23.22%	319	14.64%	4	0.18%			844	38.73%	2,179
Dougherty	1,254	73.51%	446	26.14%	0	0.00%	6	0.35%			808	47.36%	1,706
Douglas	467	39.11%	234	19.60%	457	38.27%	2	0.17%	34	2.85%	10^[a]	0.84%	1,194
Early	882	57.35%	367	23.86%	285	18.53%	4	0.26%			515	33.49%	1,538
Echols	270	80.36%	54	16.07%	9	2.68%	3	0.89%			216	64.29%	336
Effingham	464	69.67%	123	18.47%	78	11.71%	1	0.15%			341	51.20%	666
Elbert	1,486	74.94%	6	0.30%	482	24.31%	9	0.45%			1,480^[a]	74.63%	1,983
Emanuel	903	49.75%	61	3.36%	851	46.89%	0	0.00%			52^[a]	2.87%	1,815
Fannin	431	39.29%	646	58.89%	10	0.91%	10	0.91%			-215	-19.60%	1,097
Fayette	547	44.76%	192	15.71%	479	39.20%	4	0.33%			68^[a]	5.56%	1,222
Floyd	1,742	60.95%	684	23.93%	390	13.65%	42	1.47%			1,058	37.02%	2,858
Forsyth	645	40.75%	163	10.30%	775	48.96%	0	0.00%			-130^[a]	-8.21%	1,583
Franklin	867	44.21%	156	7.96%	927	47.27%	11	0.56%			-60^[a]	-3.06%	1,961
Fulton	4,663	74.61%	1,364	21.82%	129	2.06%	94	1.50%			3,299	52.78%	6,250
Gilmer	602	52.35%	483	42.00%	48	4.17%	17	1.48%			119	10.35%	1,150
Glascock	216	28.38%	57	7.49%	485	63.73%	3	0.39%			-269^[a]	-35.35%	761
Glynn	1,028	60.86%	643	38.07%	6	0.36%	12	0.71%			385	22.79%	1,689
Gordon	1,028	63.77%	233	14.45%	346	21.46%	5	0.31%			682^[a]	42.31%	1,612
Greene	684	33.48%	777	38.03%	578	28.29%	4	0.20%			-93	-4.55%	2,043
Gwinnett	1,572	57.14%	253	9.20%	918	33.37%	8	0.29%			654^[a]	23.77%	2,751
Habersham	1,019	65.36%	180	11.55%	307	19.69%	53	3.40%			712^[a]	45.67%	1,559
Hall	1,526	61.26%	237	9.51%	704	28.26%	24	0.96%			822^[a]	33.00%	2,491
Hancock	1,436	65.07%	218	9.88%	553	25.06%	0	0.00%			883^[a]	40.01%	2,207
Haralson	807	57.73%	247	17.67%	317	22.68%	27	1.93%			490^[a]	35.05%	1,398
Harris	1,076	47.23%	602	26.43%	597	26.21%	3	0.13%			474	20.81%	2,278
Hart	839	58.22%	86	5.97%	513	35.60%	3	0.21%			326^[a]	22.62%	1,441
Heard	837	66.59%	322	25.62%	94	7.48%	4	0.32%			515	40.97%	1,257
Henry	718	38.50%	578	30.99%	387	20.75%	5	0.27%	177	9.49%	140	7.51%	1,865
Houston	1,953	78.88%	507	20.48%	16	0.65%	0	0.00%			1,446	58.40%	2,476
Irwin	551	76.32%	43	5.96%	24	3.32%	1	0.14%	103	14.27%	508	70.36%	722
Jackson	1,566	46.58%	491	14.60%	1,294	38.49%	11	0.33%			272^[a]	8.09%	3,362
Jasper	797	69.36%	284	24.72%	64	5.57%	4	0.35%			513	44.65%	1,149
Jefferson	768	26.81%	641	22.37%	1,440	50.26%	16	0.56%			-672^[a]	-23.46%	2,865
Johnson	393	28.44%	247	17.87%	737	53.33%	5	0.36%			-344^[a]	-24.89%	1,382
Jones	659	49.96%	568	43.06%	92	6.97%	0	0.00%			91	6.90%	1,319
Laurens	928	48.95%	468	24.68%	500	26.37%	0	0.00%			428^[a]	22.57%	1,896
Lee	300	41.38%	422	58.21%	3	0.41%	0	0.00%			-122	-16.83%	725
Liberty	419	30.83%	736	54.16%	199	14.64%	5	0.37%			-317	-23.33%	1,359
Lincoln	313	26.44%	4	0.34%	866	73.14%	1	0.08%			-553^[a]	-46.71%	1,184
Lowndes	988	56.39%	509	29.05%	251	14.33%	4	0.23%			479	27.34%	1,752
Lumpkin	361	44.57%	269	33.21%	169	20.86%	11	1.36%			92	11.36%	810
Macon	676	55.64%	240	19.75%	298	24.53%	1	0.08%			378^[a]	31.11%	1,215
Madison	737	71.28%	125	12.09%	76	7.35%	4	0.39%	92	8.90%	612	59.19%	1,034
Marion	436	37.75%	387	33.51%	324	28.05%	8	0.69%			49	4.24%	1,155
McDuffie	289	18.10%	453	28.37%	855	53.54%	0	0.00%			-402^[b]	-25.17%	1,597
McIntosh	302	30.41%	689	69.39%	2	0.20%	0	0.00%			-387	-38.97%	993
Meriwether	1,287	47.68%	1,046	38.76%	350	12.97%	16	0.59%			241	8.93%	2,699
Miller	371	70.53%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	122	23.19%	33	6.27%	249^[c]	47.34%	526
Milton	619	66.35%	73	7.82%	241	25.83%	0	0.00%			378^[a]	40.51%	933
Mitchell	599	66.48%	196	21.75%	106	11.76%	0	0.00%			403	44.73%	901
Monroe	1,323	51.46%	839	32.63%	402	15.64%	7	0.27%			484	18.83%	2,571
Montgomery	724	62.96%	277	24.09%	146	12.70%	3	0.26%			447	38.87%	1,150
Morgan	761	59.78%	357	28.04%	117	9.19%	9	0.71%	29	2.28%	404	31.74%	1,273
Murray	553	57.42%	163	16.93%	192	19.94%	6	0.62%	49	5.09%	361^[a]	37.49%	963
Muscogee	2,062	77.69%	540	20.35%	51	1.92%	1	0.04%			1,522	57.35%	2,654
Newton	1,005	59.89%	611	36.41%	51	3.04%	11	0.66%			394	23.48%	1,678
Oconee	282	30.65%	178	19.35%	386	41.96%	0	0.00%	74	8.04%	-104^[a]	-11.30%	920
Oglethorpe	896	78.32%	63	5.51%	130	11.36%	0	0.00%	55	4.81%	766^[a]	66.96%	1,144
Paulding	641	42.59%	158	10.50%	703	46.71%	3	0.20%			-62^[a]	-4.12%	1,505
Pickens	580	45.21%	627	48.87%	73	5.69%	3	0.23%			-47	-3.66%	1,283
Pierce	397	64.14%	107	17.29%	60	9.69%	4	0.65%	51	8.24%	290	46.85%	619
Pike	1,195	57.81%	649	31.40%	216	10.45%	7	0.34%			546	26.42%	2,067
Polk	748	48.13%	391	25.16%	400	25.74%	15	0.97%			348^[a]	22.39%	1,554
Pulaski	1,134	80.54%	184	13.07%	85	6.04%	5	0.36%			950	67.47%	1,408
Putnam	801	98.77%	0	0.00%	6	0.74%	4	0.49%			795^[a]	98.03%	811
Quitman	230	40.85%	294	52.22%	35	6.22%	0	0.00%	4	0.71%	-64	-11.37%	563
Rabun	448	83.74%	81	15.14%	3	0.56%	3	0.56%			367	68.60%	535
Randolph	721	64.43%	351	31.37%	47	4.20%	0	0.00%			370	33.07%	1,119
Richmond	8,301	65.89%	3,224	25.59%	1,050	8.33%	23	0.18%			5,077	40.30%	12,598
Rockdale	532	47.37%	390	34.73%	199	17.72%	2	0.18%			142	12.64%	1,123
Schley	310	43.36%	278	38.88%	127	17.76%	0	0.00%			32	4.48%	715
Screven	852	35.65%	396	16.57%	1,141	47.74%	1	0.04%			-289^[a]	-12.09%	2,390
Spalding	1,004	73.99%	314	23.14%	28	2.06%	11	0.81%			690	50.85%	1,357
Stewart	1,109	72.39%	359	23.43%	58	3.79%	6	0.39%			750	48.96%	1,532
Sumter	1,259	68.46%	390	21.21%	189	10.28%	1	0.05%			869	47.25%	1,839
Talbot	619	64.15%	242	25.08%	102	10.57%	2	0.21%			377	39.07%	965
Taliaferro	298	28.09%	76	7.16%	687	64.75%	0	0.00%			-389^[a]	-36.66%	1,061
Tattnall	918	51.11%	247	13.75%	493	27.45%	4	0.22%	134	7.46%	425^[a]	23.66%	1,796
Taylor	471	36.18%	439	33.72%	389	29.88%	3	0.23%			32	2.46%	1,302
Telfair	703	77.77%	190	21.02%	0	0.00%	11	1.22%			513	56.75%	904
Terrell	908	69.79%	356	27.36%	37	2.84%	0	0.00%			552	42.43%	1,301
Thomas	1,294	58.61%	566	25.63%	340	15.40%	8	0.36%			728	32.97%	2,208
Towns	369	50.14%	352	47.83%	13	1.77%	2	0.27%			17	2.31%	736
Troup	1,765	78.65%	346	15.42%	132	5.88%	1	0.04%			1,419	63.24%	2,244
Twiggs	435	42.73%	235	23.08%	25	2.46%	0	0.00%	323	31.73%	200	19.65%	1,018
Union	600	57.69%	373	35.87%	65	6.25%	2	0.19%			227	21.83%	1,040
Upson	862	49.12%	339	19.32%	553	31.51%	1	0.06%			309^[a]	17.61%	1,755
Walker	1,138	68.64%	300	18.09%	209	12.61%	11	0.66%			838	50.54%	1,658
Walton	1,286	66.29%	368	18.97%	282	14.54%	4	0.21%			918	47.32%	1,940
Ware	775	68.22%	262	23.06%	89	7.83%	10	0.88%			513	45.16%	1,136
Warren	467	27.36%	67	3.93%	1,168	68.42%	5	0.29%			-701^[a]	-41.07%	1,707
Washington	788	27.04%	765	26.25%	1,354	46.47%	7	0.24%			-566^[a]	-19.42%	2,914
Wayne	488	62.01%	58	7.37%	91	11.56%	1	0.13%	149	18.93%	397^[a]	50.44%	787
Webster	299	53.30%	192	34.22%	70	12.48%	0	0.00%			107	19.07%	561
White	390	48.75%	92	11.50%	309	38.63%	9	1.13%			81^[a]	10.13%	800
Whitfield	1,021	61.14%	264	15.81%	360	21.56%	25	1.50%			661^[a]	39.58%	1,670
Wilcox	712	76.72%	199	21.44%	17	1.83%	0	0.00%			513	55.28%	928
Wilkes	1,622	90.61%	5	0.28%	157	8.77%	6	0.34%			1,465^[a]	81.84%	1,790
Wilkinson	576	51.29%	205	18.25%	342	30.45%	0	0.00%			234^[a]	20.84%	1,123
Worth	759	49.58%	468	30.57%	296	19.33%	8	0.52%			291	19.01%	1,531
Totals	129,459	58.01%	48,458	21.71%	41,935	18.79%	988	0.44%	2,343	1.05%	81,001	36.29%	223,183

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak ^al ^am ^an ^ao ^ap ^aq ^ar ^as ^at ^au ^av ^aw ^ax ^ay ^az In this county where Harrison ran behind both Cleveland and Weaver, margin given is Cleveland vote minus Weaver vote and percentage margin Cleveland percentage minus Weaver percentage.
^ In this county where Cleveland ran third behind both Harrison and Weaver, margin given is Harrison vote minus Weaver vote and percentage margin Harrison percentage minus Weaver percentage.
^ In this county where Bidwell ran second behind Cleveland, margin given is Cleveland vote minus Bidwell vote and percentage margin Cleveland percentage minus Bidwell percentage.

References

^ Mickey, Robert W.; Paths Out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America's Deep South, 1944-1972, p. 76 ISBN 1400838789
^ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 208, 210 ISBN 9780691163246
^ Springer, Melanie Jean; How the States Shaped the Nation: American Electoral Institutions and Voter Turnout, 1920-2000, p. 155 ISBN 022611435X
^ Kousser, J. Morgan; The Shaping of Southern Politics Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910, p. 213 ISBN 0-300-01973-4
^ Mickey, Robert W.; ‘The Beginning of the End for Authoritarian Rule in America: Smith v. Allwright and the Abolition of the White Primary in the Deep South, 1944-1948’; Studies in American Political Development, Vol. 22 (Fall 2008), pp. 143-182.
^ Kousser; The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 211
^ Kousser; The Shaping of Southern Politics, p. 214
^ Schlup, Leonard; ‘Adlai E. Stevenson and Southern Politics in 1892’; The Mississippi Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Winter 1993—94), pp. 58-77
^ Holmes, William F.; ‘Populism in Black Belt Georgia: Racial Dynamics in Taliaferro County Politics, 1890-1900’; The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 2 (Summer 1999), pp. 242-266
^ Knoles 1971, p. 241.
^ "1892 Presidential General Election Results – Georgia". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
^ ^a ^b Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1892 (.xlsx file for €15)
^ Géoelections; Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1892 for James B. Weaver (.xlsx file for €15)
^ ^a ^b Géoelections; Popular Vote for John Bidwell (.xlsx file for €15)