1936 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Lodge was highly critical of Curley's tenure as Governor, but did not mention him by name. Curley resorted to personal attacks, referring to Lodge, who was only 34 years old, as "Little Boy Blue" and "a young man who parts both his hair and his name in the middle." He accused Lodge of being a reactionary in the supposed mold of his grandfather, Henry Cabot Lodge. Lodge criticized Curley for his failure to achieve federal funding for Massachusetts during the Great Depression, which may have been the result of Curley's personal feud with President Roosevelt. He defended his own record as supportive of labor and economic intervention and his grandfather's as protective of the laboring classes via restriction on immigration and opposition to international adventurism.


1936 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
O'Brien, who ran at the urging of Charles Coughlin, campaigned for the urban Irish Catholic vote. His campaign was spurred by Curley's efforts to align with President Roosevelt, from whom Coughlin had broken earlier in his term.


1936 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Roosevelt made a personal swing through the state as part of his re-election campaign, but when Curley tried to get a photograph with Roosevelt, he made a point of turning away.


1936 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, General election, Campaign
Later in the race, Curley tried to have Lodge's name removed from the ballot by arguing, through his political ally and Lodge's primary opponent Alonzo B. Cook, that "Jr." was reserved for the son of a man with the same name, and Lodge was instead the grandson. This controversy was quashed when Lodge produced a birth certificate reading "Jr." In fact, Curley's own legal name did not include "Michael", but he was listed on the ballot as "James Michael Curley" nonetheless. The Lodge campaign did not challenge this discrepancy.


1936 United States Senate election in Michigan
The 1936 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 3, 1936. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator James J. Couzens ran for re-election to a third term in office, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Governor Wilber Brucker. Brucker was defeated in the general election by Democratic U.S. Representative Prentiss M. Brown.


1936 United States Senate election in Michigan, Democratic primary, Results
Ward contested the results and ran in the general election as a Third Party candidate.


1936 United States Senate election in Michigan, Aftermath
Senator Couzens died on October 22. After his election, Brown was appointed to complete the remaining two months of Couzens's unexpired term.


1936 United States Senate election in Minnesota
The 1936 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 3, 1936. Incumbent Farmer–Laborite Elmer A. Benson, who had been temporarily appointed by Governor Floyd B. Olson in 1935 to fill the seat of the deceased Republican U.S. Senator Thomas D. Schall, opted to run for Governor rather than seek election to a full term or to fill the remainder of the unexpired term. Governor Olson won the Farmer–Labor primary for nomination to the full Senate term, but died of stomach cancer prior to the general election.


1936 United States Senate election in Minnesota
In Olson's place, the Farmer–Labor Party ran U.S. Representative Ernest Lundeen, who went on to defeat former Governor Theodore Christianson of the Republican Party of Minnesota in the general election. A special election held on the same date elected Republican nominee Guy V. Howard to serve the remainder of Schall's unexpired term.


1936 United States Senate election in Minnesota, Democratic primary, Results
Following the death of Floyd B. Olson, the Minnesota Democratic Party opted not to field its nominees in the 1936 senatorial and gubernatorial elections. Consequently, regardless of the fact that the Minnesota Democratic Party had held a primary election and Delaney had won the Democratic nomination in that primary election, Delaney did not appear on the general election ballot.


1936 United States Senate election in Minnesota, Farmer–Labor primary, Olson's death
Two months after winning the primary, Olson died of stomach cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The state central committee of the Farmer–Labor Party selected Ernest Lundeen, who had served in the United States House of Representatives as a Farmer–Laborite since 1933, had previously served as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1917 to 1919, and had been a member of the nonpartisan Minnesota House of Representatives from 1911 to 1914, to fill the vacancy in the party's nomination.


1936 United States Senate election in Mississippi
The 1936 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 3, 1936. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Pat Harrison was re-elected to a fourth term in office.


1936 United States Senate election in Mississippi
Because Harrison faced no opposition in the general election, his victory in the August 25 primary was tantamount to election.


1936 United States Senate election in Montana
The 1930 United States Senate election in Montana took place on November 3, 1936. Incumbent United States Senator James E. Murray, who was first elected to the Senate in a special election in 1934, ran for re-election. He narrowly emerged from a competitive and close Democratic primary, wherein he was challenged by United States Congressman Joseph P. Monaghan, who represented Montana's 1st congressional district. In the general election, Murray was opposed by Thomas O. Larson, a State Senator and the Republican nominee, and Monaghan, who, after losing the primary, ran as an independent candidate. Murray ended up winning a second term, and his first full term, in a landslide, defeating both of his opponents by a comfortable margin.


1936 United States Senate election in Nebraska
The 1936 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held on November 3, 1936.


1936 United States Senate election in Nebraska
Incumbent Independent U.S. Senator George W. Norris was re-elected to a fifth consecutive term. Norris had left the Republican Party earlier that year over dissatisfaction with serving in the minority.


1936 United States Senate election in New Jersey
The United States Senate elections of 1936 in New Jersey was held on November 3, 1936.


1936 United States Senate election in New Jersey
Incumbent Republican William W. Barbour, who was appointed and then elected to succeed Dwight Morrow, ran for a full term in office but was defeated by State Senator William H. Smathers.


1936 United States Senate election in Oklahoma
The 1936 United States Senate election in Oklahoma took place on November 3, 1936. Incumbent Democratic Senator Thomas Gore ran for re-election to his second consecutive term, and fourth term overall. He ended up easily losing renomination, however; he placed a distant fourth in the Democratic primary. A runoff election between Congressman Joshua B. Lee and Governor Ernest W. Marland resulted in a landslide win for Lee. In the general election, Lee faced Republican nominee Herbert K. Hyde, whom he overwhelmingly defeated.


1936 United States Senate election in Oklahoma, Republican primary, Results
Though a runoff election was scheduled between Hyde and McKeever, McKeever withdrew from the race on July 13, 1936, ceding the nomination to Hyde.


1936 United States Senate election in South Carolina
The 1936 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 2, 1936 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Incumbent Democratic Senator James F. Byrnes won the Democratic primary and defeated two Republican candidates in the general election to win another six-year term.


1936 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
Byrnes was criticized for his enthusiastic support of the President Roosevelt's New Deal and both Stoney and Harillee argued that the New Deal's agriculture programs were destroying states' rights in South Carolina and bringing the state into the fold of a federal bureaucracy, but Byrnes responded by stating the New Deal was needed to assist South Carolinians during the economic hardships of the Great Depression and pointed out that agricultural prices had improved because of it.


1936 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Results
The attacks on Byrnes would be very ineffective and he went on to win the primary with over 87% of the vote.


1936 United States Senate election in South Carolina, General election, Campaign
Since the end of Reconstruction in 1877, the Democratic Party dominated the politics of South Carolina and its statewide candidates were never seriously challenged. Byrnes did not campaign for the general election as there was no chance of defeat. The Republicans were split between two factions that wanted to control the spoils system should a Republican victory occur in the Presidential election. They did not compete against Byrnes, but were rather competing against each other to show the national Republican Party who held more influence in the state.


1936 United States Senate election in South Dakota
The 1936 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 3, 1936. Incumbent Democratic Senator William J. Bulow ran for re-election to a second term. He was challenged by businessman Chan Gurney, who defeated former Congressman Charles A. Christopherson in the Republican primary. Bulow, likely aided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victory in South Dakota, narrowly defeated Gurney to win his second term, though he significantly underperformed Roosevelt.


1936 United States Senate election in South Dakota, Democratic Primary
Senator Bulow was the only Democratic candidate to file for the Senate; accordingly, no election occurred and the race did not appear on the primary election ballot.


1936 United States Senate election in Texas
The 1936 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 3, 1936. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Morris Sheppard was re-elected to a fifth term in office, easily dispatching his challengers.


1936 United States Senate election in Virginia
The 1936 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 3, 1936. Incumbent Democratic Senator Carter Glass defeated Republican George Rohken and was elected to his fourth term in office.


1936 United States Senate election in Wyoming
The 1936 United States Senate election in Wyoming was held on November 3, 1936. First-term Republican Senator Robert D. Carey ran for re-election. In a rematch of the 1930 race, he once again faced Harry Schwartz, who had since been elected to the State Senate. Carey's fortunes turned considerably from six years prior; he lost re-election to Schwartz by a decisive margin as President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican presidential nominee Alf Landon in Wyoming in a landslide.


1936 United States Senate elections
The United States Senate elections of 1936 coincided with the reelection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Great Depression continued and voters backed progressive candidates favoring Roosevelt's New Deal in races across the country. The Democrats gained 5 net seats during the election, and in combination with Democratic and Farmer–Labor interim appointments and the defection of George W. Norris from the Republican Party to become independent, the Republicans were reduced to 16 seats, the most lopsided Senate since Reconstruction.


1936 United States Senate elections, Gains and Losses
The Republicans took one open seat in Massachusetts, while the Democrats took open seats in Michigan and New Hampshire and defeated incumbents Daniel O. Hastings (R-DE), Lester J. Dickinson (R-IA), W. Warren Barbour (R-NJ), Jesse H. Metcalf (R-RI), and Robert D. Carey (R-WY).


1936 United States Senate elections, Milestones
This was the last of four consecutive elections where Republicans suffered losses due to the ongoing effects of the Great Depression. This was also the last Senate election in the 20th century in which a Democratic candidate who won two terms also made net gains in the Senate on both occasions (although Franklin Roosevelt won a third and fourth term, he lost Senate seats on both occasions).


1936 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Elections during the 74th Congress
In these special elections the winners were seated once they qualified; ordered by election date.


1936 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Elections leading to the 75th Congress
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1937; ordered by state.


1936 United States Senate elections, Florida (Special)
There were two special elections in Florida, due to the May 8, 1936 death of four-term Democrat Park Trammell and the June 17, 1936 death of five-term Democrat Duncan U. Fletcher.


1936 United States Senate elections, Florida (Special), Florida (Special, Class 1)
Democrat Scott M. Loftin was appointed May 26, 1936 to continue the term, pending a special election. Primaries were held August 11, 1936.


1936 United States Senate elections, Florida (Special), Florida (Special, Class 1)
Andrews would be re-elected once and serve until his death September 18, 1946.


1936 United States Senate elections, Florida (Special), Florida (Special, Class 3)
Democrat William Luther Hill was appointed July 1, 1936 to continue the term, pending a special election. Democrat Claude Pepper, who had lost to Trammell in 1934 won this election.


1936 United States Senate elections, Florida (Special), Florida (Special, Class 3)
Pepper would be re-elected twice and serve until he lost renomination in 1950. He would later be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and serve there for 26 years.


1936 United States Senate elections, Louisiana, Louisiana (Special)
Democrat Rose McConnell Long was elected April 21, 1936 to finish the term to which she was appointed on January 31, 1936. She was not a candidate, however, to the next term on November 3, 1936, see above.


1936 United States Senate elections, Minnesota
There were 2 elections to the same seat on the same day due to the December 22, 1935 death of two-term Republican Thomas D. Schall.


1936 United States Senate elections, Minnesota, Minnesota (Special)
The election was held to fill the vacancy in the seat formerly held by Thomas D. Schall for the final two months of Schall's unexpired term. Governor Floyd B. Olson had appointed Elmer Benson to fill the seat in 1935, but this appointment was temporary and subject to a special election held in the next general election year thereafter—1936. Benson opted to run for governor instead of running for election to continue for the remainder of the term.


1936 United States Senate elections, Minnesota, Minnesota (Special)
No special primaries were held for the special election, and, among Minnesota's three major parties, only the Republican Party of Minnesota officially fielded a candidate—Guy V. Howard. Regardless of the absence of Farmer-Labor and Democratic nominees, Howard nevertheless faced a great degree of competition from independent candidates Nathaniel J. Holmberg, Andrew Olaf Devold, and John G. Alexander.


1936 United States Senate elections, Minnesota, Minnesota (Special)
Howard was not a candidate for the next term, and served only until January 1937.


1936 United States Senate elections, Minnesota, Minnesota (Regular)
The election to the next term was won by Farmer–Labor congressman Ernest Lundeen.


1936 United States Senate elections, New Mexico
There were 2 elections, due to the May 6, 1935 death of two-term Republican Bronson M. Cutting.


1936 United States Senate elections, New Mexico, New Mexico (Special)
Democratic former-Congressman Dennis Chavez had been Cutting's opponent in 1934. On May 11, 1935, after Cutting's death, Chavez was then appointed to continue Cutting's term, pending a special election which he then won.


1936 United States Senate elections, New Mexico, New Mexico (Special)
Chavez would be re-elected four more times and serve until his death in 1962.


1936 United States Senate elections, New Mexico, New Mexico (Regular)
Hatch would be re-elected once and serve until his 1948 retirement.


1936 United States Senate special election in Florida (Class 1)
The 1936 United States Senate special election in Florida was held on November 3, 1936. Charles O. Andrews was easily elected to fill the seat.


1936 United States Senate special election in Florida (Class 1), Background
After incumbent Senator Park Trammell died, Scott Marion Loftin was appointed to serve until the November 1936 election.


1936 United States Senate special election in Minnesota
The 1936 United States Senate special election in Minnesota took place on November 3, 1936. The election was held to fill the vacancy in the seat formerly held by Thomas D. Schall for the final two months of Schall's unexpired term. Governor Floyd B. Olson had appointed Elmer Benson to fill the seat in 1935, but this appointment was temporary and subject to a special election held in the next general election year thereafter—1936. Benson opted to run for governor instead of running for election to continue for the remainder of the term.


1936 United States Senate special election in Minnesota
No special primaries were held for the special election, and No special primaries were held for the special election, among Minnesota's three major parties, only the Republican Party of Minnesota officially fielded a candidate—Guy V. Howard. Regardless of the absence of Farmer-Labor and Democratic nominees, Howard nevertheless faced a great degree of competition from independent candidates Nathaniel J. Holmberg, Andrew Olaf Devold, and John G. Alexander.


1936 United States elections
The 1936 United States elections was held on November 3. The Democratic Party built on their majorities in both chambers of Congress and maintained control of the presidency.


1936 United States elections
In the presidential election, incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt won re-election, defeating Republican Governor Alf Landon of Kansas. Roosevelt took every state but Vermont and Maine, winning with the fourth largest electoral vote margin in American history. Roosevelt took just under 61 percent of the popular vote, a number that only Lyndon Johnson would surpass (although the popular vote was not officially counted prior to the 1824 election). Landon decisively won his party's nomination over Idaho Senator William Borah.


1936 United States elections
The Democrats gained twelve seats in the House of Representatives, furthering their supermajority over the Republicans. The Democrats also maintained a supermajority in the Senate, gaining seven seats.


1936 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held in 1936, in 34 states, concurrent with the House, Senate elections and presidential election, on November 3, 1936 (September 14 in Maine).


1936 United States gubernatorial elections
This was the last time Georgia elected its governors to two year terms, switching to four years from the 1938 election.


1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team
The 1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed in the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin, representing the United States of America, and was coached by Jimmy Needles of the Amateur Athletic Union's Universal Pictures team. Gene Smith of Wichita University assisted Needles, while Joe Reilly served as the team's director. 1936 was the first year that basketball was an official medal sport (it had been a demonstration sport in 1904). The U.S. won the first gold medal, defeating Canada, 19–8, in a gold medal match played outdoors on a clay and sand court in the rain. James Naismith, the game's inventor, watched many of the 1936 Olympic basketball matches, and helped award medals at the end of the basketball competition.


1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team, Olympic trials
As was the custom at the time, the Olympic trials consisted of a tournament between top teams from the Amateur Athletic Union, the YMCA and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. One notably absent team from the tournament was the 1935–36 Long Island Blackbirds, who had just completed a 25–0 season behind stars Jules Bender, Ben Kramer and Art Hillhouse. The largely Jewish Blackbirds team boycotted the trials due to the games being held in Berlin.


1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team, Olympic trials
LIU president Tristram Walker Metcalfe stated: "Our conviction that the United States should not participate in the Olympic Games since they are being held in Germany has not been altered by the fact that our basketball team is now recognized generally as a possible Olympic representative. Such participation would be indirect, if not direct, contribution of the raising of funds to finance such participation."


1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team, Olympic tournament
As the U.S. team arrived, they were made aware of several FIBA rules that were quite different than what the team was accustomed to in the States. There was no  three second rule (which had then just been introduced to U.S. play), teams were limited to rosters of seven total players, and all games were to be played outdoors on a surface which was a mixture of sand and clay and which had been that of a tennis court. Needles successfully protested another stipulation – that players had to be 6'2" or shorter to compete. To get around the seven-player team limit, Needles split the squad into two teams – one featuring the McPherson Globe Refiners players and collegian Ralph Bishop, and one featuring the AAU Universal players – and alternated them for each match.


1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team, Olympic tournament
Their first match was won in a forfeit, as their scheduled opponent Spain, in the throes of the Spanish Civil War, never showed up. In the second match, the Universal team routed Estonia, by a score of 52–28. A McPherson-led win over the Philippines landed the Americans in the medal round, where they defeated Mexico, to reach the Gold Medal game.


1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team, Olympic tournament
The gold medal game was played after a day of rain, and the weather conditions put a damper on the Canadian national team's trademark fast break playing style. The two teams were only able to manage a combined total of eight points in the second half of play, due to the downpour, and the U.S. won the gold medal with a 19–8 victory.


1936 United States presidential election
The 1936 United States presidential election was the 38th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1936. In the midst of the Great Depression, incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Governor Alf Landon of Kansas. Roosevelt won the highest share of the popular and electoral vote since the largely uncontested 1820 election. The sweeping victory consolidated the New Deal Coalition in control of the Fifth Party System.


1936 United States presidential election
Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner were re-nominated without opposition. With the backing of party leaders, Landon defeated progressive Senator William Borah at the 1936 Republican National Convention to win his party's presidential nomination. The populist Union Party nominated Congressman William Lemke for president.


1936 United States presidential election
The election took place as the Great Depression entered its eighth year. Roosevelt was still working to push the provisions of his New Deal economic policy through Congress and the courts. However, the New Deal policies he had already enacted, such as Social Security and unemployment benefits, had proven to be highly popular with most Americans. Landon, a political moderate, accepted much of the New Deal but criticized it for waste and inefficiency.


1936 United States presidential election
Roosevelt went on to win the greatest electoral landslide since the rise of hegemonic control between the Democratic and Republican parties in the 1850s. Roosevelt took 60.8% of the popular vote, while Landon won 36.5% and Lemke won just under 2%. Roosevelt carried every state except Maine and Vermont, which together cast eight electoral votes. By winning 523 electoral votes, Roosevelt received 98.49% of the electoral vote total, which remains the highest percentage of the electoral vote won by any candidate since 1820.


1936 United States presidential election
Roosevelt also won the highest share of the popular vote since 1820, though Lyndon Johnson would later win a slightly higher share of the popular vote in 1964. While Roosevelt won the largest portion of electoral votes to date, Ronald Reagan won more electors while achieving a lesser victory in 1984, after more electors were added. Roosevelt's 523 electoral votes marked the first time in American history when a presidential candidate received over 500 electoral votes in a presidential election.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
Before his assassination, there was a challenge from Louisiana Senator Huey Long. But, due to his untimely death, President Roosevelt faced only one primary opponent other than various favorite sons. Henry Skillman Breckinridge, an anti-New Deal lawyer from New York, filed to run against Roosevelt in four primaries. Breckinridge's challenge of the popularity of the New Deal among Democrats failed miserably.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
In New Jersey, President Roosevelt did not file for the preference vote and lost that primary to Breckinridge, even though he did receive 19% of the vote on write-ins. Roosevelt's candidates for delegates swept the race in New Jersey and elsewhere. In other primaries, Breckinridge's best showing was 15% in Maryland. Overall, Roosevelt received 93% of the primary vote, compared to 2% for Breckinridge.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party nomination
The Democratic Party Convention was held in Philadelphia between July 23 and 27. The delegates unanimously re-nominated incumbents President Roosevelt and Vice-President John Nance Garner. At Roosevelt's request, the two-thirds rule, which had given the South a de facto veto power, was repealed.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination
Following the landslide defeat of former President Herbert Hoover at the previous presidential election in 1932, combined with devastating congressional losses that year, the Republican Party was largely seen as rudderless. In truth, Hoover maintained control of the party machinery and was hopeful of making a comeback, but any such hopes were effectively ended as soon as the 1934 mid-term elections, which saw further losses by the Republicans and made clear the popularity of the New Deal among the public.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination
Hoover refused to actively disclaim any potential draft efforts, but as the 1936 election primaries drew near, it became obvious that he was unlikely to be nominated, and even less likely to defeat Roosevelt in any rematch. Draft efforts did focus on former Vice-President Charles G. Dawes and Senate Minority Leader Charles L. McNary, two of the few prominent Republicans not to have been associated with Hoover's administration, but both men quickly disclaimed any interest in running.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination
The 1936 Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio, between June 9 and 12. Although many candidates sought the Republican nomination, only two, Governor Landon and Senator William Borah from Idaho, were considered to be serious candidates. While County Attorney Earl Warren from California, Governor Warren Green of South Dakota, and Stephen A. Day from Ohio won their respective primaries, the seventy-year-old Borah, a well-known progressive and "insurgent," won the Wisconsin, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Oregon primaries, while also performing quite strongly in Knox's Illinois and Green's South Dakota. The party machinery, however, almost uniformly backed Landon, a wealthy businessman and centrist, who won primaries in Massachusetts and New Jersey and dominated in the caucuses and at state party conventions.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination
With Knox withdrawing to become Landon's selection for vice-president (after the rejection of New Hampshire Governor Styles Bridges) and Day, Green, and Warren releasing their delegates, the tally at the convention was as follows:


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
Many people, most significantly Democratic National Committee Chairman James Farley, expected Huey Long, the colorful Democratic senator from Louisiana, to run as a third-party candidate with his "Share Our Wealth" program as his platform. Polls made during 1934 and 1935 suggested Long could have won between six and seven million votes, or approximately fifteen percent of the actual number cast in the 1936 election.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
Popular support for Long's Share Our Wealth program raised the possibility of a 1936 presidential bid against incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt. When questioned by the press, Long gave conflicting answers on his plans for 1936. While promising to support a progressive Republican like Sen. William Borah, Long claimed that he would only support a Share Our Wealth candidate. At times, he even expressed the wish to retire: "I have less ambition to hold office than I ever had." However, in a later Senate speech, he admitted that he "might have a good parade to offer before I get through". Long's son Russell B. Long believed that his father would have run on a third party ticket in 1936. This is evidenced by Long's writing of a speculative book, My First Days in the White House, which laid out his plans for the presidency after the 1936 election.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
Long biographers T. Harry Williams and William Ivy Hair speculated that Long planned to challenge Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination in 1936, knowing he would lose the nomination but gain valuable publicity in the process. Then he would break from the Democrats and form a third party using the Share Our Wealth plan as its basis. He hoped to have the public support of Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest and populist talk radio personality from Royal Oak, Michigan; Iowa agrarian radical Milo Reno; and other dissidents like Francis Townsend and the remnants of the End Poverty in California movement. Diplomat Edward M. House warned Roosevelt "many people believe that he can do to your administration what Theodore Roosevelt did to the Taft administration in '12."


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
In spring 1935, Long undertook a national speaking tour and regular radio appearances, attracting large crowds and increasing his stature. At a well attended Long rally in Philadelphia, a former mayor told the press "There are 250,000 Long votes" in this city. Regarding Roosevelt, Long boasted to the New York Times' Arthur Krock: "He's scared of me. I can out promise him, and he knows it." While addressing reporters in late summer of 1935, Long proclaimed:


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
"I'll tell you here and now that Franklin Roosevelt will not be the next President of the United States. If the Democrats nominate Roosevelt and the Republicans nominate Hoover, Huey Long will be your next President."


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
As the 1936 election approached, the Roosevelt administration grew increasingly concerned by Long's popularity. Democratic National Committee Chairman James Farley commissioned a secret poll in early 1935 "to find out if Huey's sales talks for his 'share the wealth' program were attracting many customers". Farley's poll revealed that if Long ran on a third-party ticket, he would win about 4 million votes (about 10% of the electorate). In a memo to Roosevelt, Farley wrote: "It was easy to conceive of a situation whereby Long by polling more than 3,000,000 votes, might have the balance of power in the 1936 election.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
For example, the poll indicated that he would command upwards of 100,000 votes in New York State, a pivotal state in any national election and a vote of that size could easily mean the difference between victory and defeat ... That number of votes would mostly come from our side and the result might spell disaster".


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
In response, Roosevelt in a letter to his friend William E. Dodd, the US ambassador to Germany, wrote: "Long plans to be a candidate of the Hitler type for the presidency in 1936. He thinks he will have a hundred votes at the Democratic convention. Then he will set up as an independent with Southern and mid-western Progressives ... Thus he hopes to defeat the Democratic Party and put in a reactionary Republican. That would bring the country to such a state by 1940 that Long thinks he would be made dictator. There are in fact some Southerners looking that way, and some Progressives drifting that way ... Thus it is an ominous situation".


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
However, Long was assassinated in September 1935. Some historians, including Long biographer T. Harry Williams, contend that Long had never, in fact, intended to run for the presidency in 1936. Instead, he had been plotting with Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest and populist talk radio personality, to run someone else on the soon-to-be-formed "Share Our Wealth" Party ticket. According to Williams, the idea was that this candidate would split the left-wing vote with President Roosevelt, thereby electing a Republican president and proving the electoral appeal of Share Our Wealth. Long would then wait four years and run for president as a Democrat in 1940.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
Prior to Long's death, leading contenders for the role of the sacrificial 1936 candidate included Idaho Senator William Borah, Montana Senator and running mate of Robert M. La Follette in 1924 Burton K. Wheeler, and Governor Floyd B. Olson of the Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party. After Long's assassination, however, the two senators lost interest in the idea, while Olson was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
Father Coughlin, who had allied himself with Dr. Francis Townsend, a left-wing political activist who was pushing for the creation of an old-age pension system, and Rev. Gerald L. K. Smith, was eventually forced to run Representative William Lemke (R-North Dakota) as the candidate of the newly created "Union Party", with Thomas C. O'Brien, a lawyer and former District Attorney for Boston, as Lemke's running-mate. Lemke, who lacked the charisma and national stature of the other potential candidates, fared poorly in the election, barely managing two percent of the vote, and the party was dissolved the following year.


1936 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations
William Dudley Pelley, Chief of the Silver Shirts Legion, ran on the ballot for the Christian Party in Washington State, but won fewer than two thousand votes.


1936 United States presidential election, Pre-election polling
This election is notable for The Literary Digest poll, which was based on ten million questionnaires mailed to readers and potential readers; 2.27 million were returned. The Literary Digest had correctly predicted the winner of the last five elections, and announced in its October 31 issue that Landon would be the winner with 57.1% of the vote (v Roosevelt) and 370 electoral votes.


1936 United States presidential election, Pre-election polling
The cause of this mistake has often been attributed to improper sampling: more Republicans subscribed to the Literary Digest than Democrats, and were thus more likely to vote for Landon than Roosevelt. Indeed, every other poll made at this time predicted Roosevelt would win, although most expected him to garner no more than 360 electoral votes. However, a 1976 article in The American Statistician demonstrates that the actual reason for the error was that the Literary Digest relied on voluntary responses.


1936 United States presidential election, Pre-election polling
As the article explains, the 2.27 million "respondents who returned their questionnaires represented only that subset of the population with a relatively intense interest in the subject at hand, and as such constitute in no sense a random sample ... it seems clear that the minority of anti-Roosevelt voters felt more strongly about the election than did the pro-Roosevelt majority." A more detailed study in 1988 showed that both the initial sample and non-response bias were contributing factors, and that the error due to the initial sample taken alone would not have been sufficient to predict the Landon victory.


1936 United States presidential election, Pre-election polling
The magnitude of the error by the Literary Digest (39.08% for the popular vote for Landon v Roosevelt) destroyed the magazine's credibility, and it folded within 18 months of the election, while George Gallup, an advertising executive who had begun a scientific poll, predicted that Roosevelt would win the election, based on a quota sample of 50,000 people.


1936 United States presidential election, Pre-election polling
His correct predictions made public opinion polling a critical element of elections for journalists, and indeed for politicians. The Gallup Poll would become a staple of future presidential elections, and remains one of the most prominent election polling organizations.


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
Landon proved to be an ineffective campaigner who rarely travelled. Most of the attacks on FDR and Social Security were developed by Republican campaigners rather than Landon himself. In the two months after his nomination, he made no campaign appearances. Columnist Westbrook Pegler lampooned, "Considerable mystery surrounds the disappearance of Alfred M. Landon of Topeka, Kansas ... The Missing Persons Bureau has sent out an alarm bulletin bearing Mr. Landon's photograph and other particulars, and anyone having information of his whereabouts is asked to communicate direct with the Republican National Committee."


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
Landon respected and admired Roosevelt and accepted most of the New Deal but objected that it was hostile to business and involved too much waste and inefficiency. Late in the campaign, Landon accused Roosevelt of corruption – that is, of acquiring so much power that he was subverting the Constitution:


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
The President spoke truly when he boasted ... "We have built up new instruments of public power." He spoke truly when he said these instruments could provide "shackles for the liberties of the people ... and ... enslavement for the public". These powers were granted with the understanding that they were only temporary. But after the powers had been obtained, and after the emergency was clearly over, we were told that another emergency would be created if the power was given up.


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
In other words, the concentration of power in the hands of the President was not a question of temporary emergency. It was a question of permanent national policy. In my opinion the emergency of 1933 was a mere excuse ... National economic planning—the term used by this Administration to describe its policy—violates the basic ideals of the American system ... The price of economic planning is the loss of economic freedom. And economic freedom and personal liberty go hand in hand.


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
Franklin Roosevelt's most notable speech in the 1936 campaign was an address he gave in Madison Square Garden in New York City on 31 October. Roosevelt offered a vigorous defense of the New Deal. The most memorable section of the speech was, in the opinion of most observers, this passage:


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent.


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.


1936 United States presidential election, Campaign
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
Roosevelt won in a landslide, carrying 46 of the 48 states and bringing in many additional Democratic members of Congress. After Lyndon B. Johnson's 61.05% share of the popular vote in 1964, Roosevelt's 60.8% is the second-largest percentage in U.S. history (since 1824, when the vast majority of or all states have had a popular vote), and his 98.49% of the electoral vote is the highest in two-party competition.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
Roosevelt won the largest number of electoral votes ever recorded at that time, and has so far only been surpassed by Ronald Reagan in 1984, when seven more electoral votes were available to contest. Garner also won the highest percentage of the electoral vote of any vice president.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
Landon won only eight electoral votes, tying William Howard Taft's total in his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 1912. As of 2020, this is the equal lowest total electoral vote total for a major-party candidate; the lowest number since was Reagan's 1984 opponent, Walter Mondale, who won only thirteen electoral votes.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
Roosevelt also took 98.57% of the vote in South Carolina, the largest recorded vote percentage of any candidate in any one state in any U.S Presidential election (this excludes Andrew Jackson in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Missouri in 1832, who won 100% of the vote in these states as he was unopposed).


1936 United States presidential election, Results
This was the last Democratic landslide in the West, as Democrats won every state except Kansas (Landon's home state) by more than 10%. West of the Great Plains States, Roosevelt only lost eight counties. Since 1936, only Richard Nixon in 1972 (winning all but 19 counties) and Ronald Reagan in 1980 (winning all but twenty counties) have even approached such a disproportionate ratio. After 1936, the West rapidly became a Republican stronghold, the only region that has been consistent in the party it supports for such a long time.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
Of the 3,095 counties, parishes and independent cities making returns, Roosevelt won in 2,634 (85 percent) while Landon carried 461 (15 percent); this was one of the few measures by which Landon's campaign was more successful than Hoover's had been four years prior, with Landon winning 87 more counties than Hoover did, albeit mostly in less populous parts of the country. Democrats also expanded their majorities in Congress, winning control of over three-quarters of the seats in each house.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
The election saw the consolidation of the New Deal coalition; while the Democrats lost some of their traditional allies in big business, high income voters, businessmen and professionals, they were replaced by groups such as organized labor and African Americans, the latter of whom voted Democratic for the first time since the Civil War, and made major gains among the poor and other minorities. Roosevelt won 86 percent of the Jewish vote, 81 percent of the Catholics, 80 percent of union members, 76 percent of Southerners, 76 percent of Blacks in northern cities, and 75 percent of people on relief. Roosevelt also carried 102 of the nation's 106 cities with a population of 100,000 or more.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
Some political pundits predicted the Republicans, whom many voters blamed for the Great Depression, would soon become an extinct political party. However, the Republicans would make a strong comeback in the 1938 congressional elections, and while they would remain a potent force in Congress, they were not able to regain control of the House or the Senate until 1946, and would not regain the Presidency until 1952.


1936 United States presidential election, Results
The Electoral College results, in which Landon only won Maine and Vermont, inspired Democratic Party chairman James Farley - who had in fact declared during the campaign that Roosevelt would lose only these two states -  to amend the then-conventional political wisdom of "As Maine goes, so goes the nation" into "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont." In fact, since then the states of Vermont and Maine voted for the same candidate in every election except the 1968 presidential election. Additionally, a prankster posted a sign on Vermont's border with New Hampshire the day after the 1936 election, reading, "You are now leaving the United States."


1936 United States presidential election, Results
This was the last election in which Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota would vote Democratic until 1964. Of these states, only Indiana would vote Democratic again after 1964 (for Barack Obama in 2008), making this the penultimate time a Democrat won any of the great plains states.


1936 United States presidential election, Results, Geography of results
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1936 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
Margin of victory between 5% and 10% (29 electoral votes):


1936 United States presidential election, Results, Close states
Margin of victory Between 11% and 20% (214 electoral votes):


1936 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1936 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Voters chose eleven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama voted for the Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican candidate Alf Landon. Roosevelt won Alabama by a margin of 73.56%.


1936 United States presidential election in Arizona
The 1936 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Arizona
Arizona was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with incumbent Vice President John Nance Garner, with 69.85% of the popular vote, against Governor of Kansas Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with publisher Frank Knox, with 26.93% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the best showing for a presidential candidate in Arizona.


1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
Except for the Unionist Ozark counties of Newton and Searcy where Republicans controlled local government, Arkansas since the end of Reconstruction had been a classic one-party Democratic “Solid South” state. Disfranchisement of effectively all Negroes and most poor whites had meant that outside those two aberrant counties, the Republican Party was completely moribund and Democratic primaries the only competitive elections.


1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
The 1920s did see a minor change in this, as increased voting by poor Ozark whites as a protest against Woodrow Wilson's internationalist foreign policy meant that Warren G. Harding was able to win almost forty percent of the statewide vote in 1920; however despite his national landslide Calvin Coolidge in 1924 could not do any more than win the two traditional Unionist GOP counties. 1928 saw the rest of the Outer South and North Alabama bolt the anti-Prohibition Catholic Al Smith, but the presence of Arkansas Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson as running mate meant that within Arkansas only the most northwesterly counties with ordinarily substantial Republican votes would suffer the same fate.


1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
The following years saw Arkansas plunge into the Great Depression, followed almost immediately by a major drought from the summer of 1930s until the winter of 1931/1932. This came on top of a long depression in agriculture, which was still the dominant player in Arkansas’ economy and was backed up by the “Great Migration” of the state's agricultural labor force to northeastern and midwestern cities. Arkansas gave extremely heavy support to Democrat Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. Roosevelt won every county in the state, becoming the first Democrat to win Searcy County since before the Civil War and only the second to win adjacent Newton County.


1936 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
Throughout his first term as President, Roosevelt was extremely popular in the “Solid South” and despite embryonic concerns over loss of southern control of the national party due to abolition of the “two-thirds” rule and some hostility to FDR's repeal of Prohibition he was overwhelmingly and in many places almost unanimously supported by Arkansas’ limited electorate. Ozark Republican Landon did regain the two Unionist and Prohibitionist Ozark counties, but topped 40% in only two of the remaining seventy-three.


1936 United States presidential election in California
The 1936 United States presidential election in California was held on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose twenty-two electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in California
California voted for the Democratic candidate, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, in a landslide over the Republican challenger, Kansas Governor Alfred Mossman Landon, carrying every county and nearly sixty-seven percent of the vote to Landon’s 31.7%. Roosevelt’s percentage of the vote is the highest of any presidential candidate in California history, besting Warren G. Harding’s 66.2% in 1920. While his 35.25-percentage point margin of victory over Landon is the largest for any Democratic candidate, it is the second largest overall behind Harding’s 41.92% in 1920 and ahead of Theodore Roosevelt’s 34.9% in 1904.


1936 United States presidential election in California
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time that a presidential candidate from either political party completely swept all of California’s counties in an election. The only other candidate to manage this has been Harding in his landslide 1920 victory.


1936 United States presidential election in California
Roosevelt was the last Democrat until Hillary Clinton in 2016 to carry Orange County in a presidential election, and the last until John Kerry in 2004 to carry Alpine County. Also, this was the only one of FDR’s four presidential campaigns where he carried Riverside County, which had never previously voted Democratic since its first election in 1896 and would not do so again until Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.


1936 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 1936 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Colorado
Colorado voted for the Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican candidate Alf Landon. Roosevelt won Colorado by a margin of 23.28%, carrying every county except Elbert, Kit Carson and Rio Blanco.


1936 United States presidential election in Colorado
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion when Washington County and Hinsdale County voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate.


1936 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1936 United States presidential election in Connecticut was held on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. The state voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. As of 2020 this is the last election that Connecticut voted to the left of next-door Rhode Island.


1936 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for Democratic Party candidate and incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who won the state by a margin of 14.97%.


1936 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1936 United States presidential election in Delaware was held on November 3, 1936. The state voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware voted for Democratic Party candidate and incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who defeated Republican nominee, Kansas Governor Alf Landon. Roosevelt won the state by a margin of 9.77%.


1936 United States presidential election in Delaware
While Landon lost the state, the 44.85% of the popular vote made Delaware his fifth strongest state in the 1936 election in terms of popular vote percentage after Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and Kansas.


1936 United States presidential election in Delaware
This election marked Delaware's transition into a swing state: over the next 60 years, it would vote for a loser only once (in 1948).


1936 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1936 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 8, 1936. Florida voters chose seven electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Ever since the disfranchisement of blacks at the beginning of the 1890s, Florida had been a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. The disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by poll taxes in 1889 had left the Republican Party – between 1872 and 1888 dependent upon black votes – virtually extinct.


1936 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
With the single exception of William Howard Taft's win in Calhoun County in 1908 the Democratic Party won every county in Florida in every presidential election from 1892 until 1916. Only twice – and never for more than one term – did any Republican serve in either house of the state legislature between 1896 and 1928.


1936 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Despite this Democratic dominance and the restrictions on the franchise of the poorer classes due to the poll tax, significant socialist movements were to develop and persist in Tampa and to a lesser extent over other parts of the state, especially against the powerful Ku Klux Klan. There was also a powerful Prohibitionist movements in older North Florida, which saw the Prohibition Party even win the governorship for one term under the notorious anti-Catholic minister Sidney J. Catts.


1936 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
The 1920, aided by a growing "Presidential Republican" vote in southern Florida from migrants from northern states, saw the GOP increase its vote totals above those from traditional Unionists (which Florida entirely lacked) in Texas, Arkansas, Alabama or Georgia. In 1928, Florida, especially the western Panhandle pineywoods, turned dramatically away from the Democratic Party due to the nomination of Catholic Al Smith, with the result that Herbert Hoover became the first Republican to win a statewide election since the end of Reconstruction. However, the Depression and elimination of anti-Catholicism saw a return to normal overwhelming Democratic dominance in 1932.


1936 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
In 1932, Florida would elect David Sholtz as governor who was closely allied with President Roosevelt and strongly in favor of the New Deal. He would even fashion himself politically in a manner that was similar to Roosevelt. Roosevelt would face an assassination attempt in Miami's Bayfront Park in February 1933. Roosevelt would visit Florida on March 23, 1936 going to Rollins College in Winter Park to do a ceremony there. The event would attract sizable crowds and it is believed the presidential election occurring in November would be a sizable motivator for his trip. It was estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 people would watch the motorcade that ended up driving for 10 miles and David Sholtz would ride alongside him.


1936 United States presidential election in Florida, Vote
A number of conservative Southern newspapers – in Florida, the Jacksonville Times-Union – were opposed to Roosevelt and despite the extreme historical hostility towards the GOP, supported Republican nominee Alf Landon in all but name. Nonetheless, a combination of powerful political funding of the Democratic Party from textile and other businesses, and support for FDR's New Deal in the anti-Smith pineywoods, meant that Landon had no hope of making any gains on Herbert Hoover's performance in 1932. Incumbent President Roosevelt won by 170,869 votes or 52.18%, carrying as in 1932 every county in the state.


1936 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1936 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the wider United States Presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
With the exception of a handful of historically Unionist North Georgia counties – chiefly Fannin but also to a lesser extent Pickens, Gilmer and Towns – Georgia since the 1880s had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. Disfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and most poor whites had made the Republican Party virtually nonexistent outside of local governments in those few hill counties, and the national Democratic Party served as the guardian of white supremacy against a Republican Party historically associated with memories of Reconstruction. The only competitive elections were Democratic primaries, which state laws restricted to whites on the grounds of the Democratic Party being legally a private club.


1936 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
The Roosevelt/Garner ticket easily carried the state of Georgia on election day.


1936 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1936 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Idaho
Idaho was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 62.96 percent of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 33.19 percent of the popular vote. This was the last time when Ada County, Canyon County, Gooding County, Jerome County, Lincoln County, Payette County and Twin Falls County voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate until the 2020 presidential election.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1936 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose 29 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 57.70% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 39.69% of the popular vote. In this election, Cook County became the first county in American history to give over a million votes to a presidential candidate. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion when Iroquois County and Woodford County voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal offices (Senate and House), as well as those for state offices.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
The total vote in the state-run primary elections (Democratic and Republican) was 2,331,597.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries
Both major parties held non-binding state-run preferential primaries on April 14.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The 1936 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on April 14, 1936 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 1936 presidential election.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The popular vote was a non-binding "beauty contest". Delegates were instead elected by direct votes by congressional district on delegate candidates.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The 1936 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on April 14, 1936 in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 1936 presidential election.


1936 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates.


1936 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1936 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose 14 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner of Texas, with 56.63% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with businessman Frank Knox of Illinois, with 41.89% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Boone County, Rush County, Union County and Wayne County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Indiana has only voted for the Democratic candidate twice since this election, in 1964 and in 2008.


1936 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1936 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Iowa voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 54.41% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 42.70% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion when Sioux County, Lyon County and O'Brien County have voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate.


1936 United States presidential election in Kansas
The 1936 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 3, 1936 as part of the concurrent United States presidential election held in all forty-eight contemporary states. Kansas voters chose nine electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1936 United States presidential election in Kansas, Background
Kansas had been a powerfully Republican state during the 1920s (as it had been during its first quarter-century of statehood), although it did not possess the isolationist sentiment found in Appalachia or the Upper Midwest. In 1928 large-scale anti-Catholic voting swept a state substantially part of the Ozark “Bible Belt”, so that whereas Kansas had been less anti-Democratic than more northerly Plains states in 1920 and 1924, it became Herbert Hoover’s best state in the entire nation in 1928.


1936 United States presidential election in Kansas, Background
A major drought affected the Great Plains in the 1930s, producing dramatic swings against incumbent President Hoover in 1932, which were more overwhelming in Kansas than in states further north, though less so than in the traditionally Democratic Southern Plains that had been vehemently against Al Smith’s Catholic faith in 1928. During Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first term as President, Kansas twice elected Republican Governor Alfred Mossman Landon, who proved himself a skilled administrator, who was critical of the excesses of the Agricultural Adjustment Act and was the only GOP governor re-elected in 1934. Landon was to have relatively little trouble gaining the Republican nomination against the popular Roosevelt in 1936.


1936 United States presidential election in Kansas, Vote
Although some observers thought that Landon could bring back the West and Plains which had completely deserted Herbert Hoover in 1932, Landon could not achieve this to any significant degree. Although he carried more than thirty counties that had supported Roosevelt in 1932, Landon did not make the hoped-for gains there, and any gains he did make were offset by substantial losses in Kansas’ larger cities, where Landon’s later anti-New Deal rhetoric was unpopular.


1936 United States presidential election in Kansas, Vote
Landon consequently improved on Hoover’s 1932 showing by only 1.71 percentage points even in a state that had known him as governor, although Kansas was Landon’s fourth-best state by vote percentage behind Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire (the first two being the only states in the Union which Landon carried in the Electoral College). This would be the penultimate time Kansas would support a Democratic presidential candidate—the only subsequent Democrat to win the state being Lyndon B. Johnson in another landslide win in 1964.


1936 United States presidential election in Kansas, Vote
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion the following counties have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Chase, Cheyenne, Decatur, Graham, Greenwood, Harper, Kiowa, Lincoln, Marion, Meade, Mitchell, Morris, Rawlins, Rooks, Scott and Seward.


1936 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1936 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 58.51 percent of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 39.92 percent of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1936 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Louisiana voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 88.82 percent of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 11.16 percent of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in Louisiana
By percentage of the popular vote won, Louisiana was Roosevelt's third-best state, behind only South Carolina (98.57 percent) and Mississippi (97.06 percent).


1936 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1936 United States presidential election in Maine was held on November 3, 1936 as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. The state voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine voted for Republican Party candidate Alf Landon of Kansas, over Democratic Party candidate and incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt.


1936 United States presidential election in Maine
Landon won Maine by a margin of 13.97%, making it his best state in the Union, and with 55.49% of the popular vote, made it his second strongest state after nearby Vermont. This Landon achieved despite losing two counties (Washington and York) that had voted for Herbert Hoover in 1932, as he made gains of up to ten percent in the rock-ribbed Yankee counties of Hancock, Lincoln and Waldo.


1936 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine had been one of only 6 states to vote to re-elect Hoover, the embattled incumbent Republican president,  over FDR in the latter's 1932 landslide, and in 1936, it was one of only two states in the entire nation (along with nearby Vermont) to vote for Alf Landon over the wildly popular Roosevelt. Maine and Vermont ultimately would be the only states to reject FDR in all four of his presidential campaigns.


1936 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1936 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 62.35% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 37.04% of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 17 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voted for the Democratic nominee, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, over the Republican nominee, Governor Alf Landon of Kansas. Roosevelt ran with incumbent Vice President John Nance Garner of Texas, while Landon’s running mate was newspaper publisher Frank Knox of Illinois. Also running that year was William Lemke of the short-lived Union Party, and his running mate Thomas C. O'Brien.


1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Roosevelt carried the state with 51.22% of the vote to Landon’s 41.76%, a Democratic victory margin of 9.46%. Lemke came in third, with 6.45%, while in a distant fourth was Socialist Norman Thomas with only 0.28%. Massachusetts weighed in as about 14.8% more Republican than the nation.


1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
In the Jacksonian era, Massachusetts had been a typically Whig state, and after the founding of the Republican Party, it transitioned to being a bastion of Yankee Republicanism. In 1928, with Al Smith heading the Democratic ticket, a coalition of Irish Catholic and other ethnic immigrant voters primarily based in urban areas flipped Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island Democratic for the first time since before the Civil War (or, in Massachusetts' case, ever), leaving aside Wilson's low plurality wins in these states in the three-way race of 1912.


1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
However, Massachusetts trended hard towards Hoover in 1932, giving Roosevelt only a four point win despite having voted for Smith four years earlier, displaying something of a 'snapback' to its traditional New England Republican roots. As Roosevelt was re-elected nationally in a massive landslide, Massachusetts remained well to the right of the nation overall. Whereas pre-New Deal Republicans from south and west of the Hudson showed very little loyalty to their old party following the Depression, in New England, Republicans became galvanized to slow FDR’s expansion of the public sector.


1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
A contributing factor to Roosevelt’s relative weakness in Massachusetts was the strong showing of William Lemke in the state. Lemke and his Union Party ran on a populist platform that appealed to many working class voters who might otherwise have been natural members of Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition. While Lemke finished with only 1.95 percent nationally, in Massachusetts, Lemke received 6.45 percent of the vote, making Massachusetts his third strongest state in the nation. Lemke fared particularly well in poor Catholic precincts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where he even outpolled Landon in all Irish neighbourhoods save Brighton. In the poorest Irish neighbourhoods, Lemke reached over 16 percent of the vote; in contrast he received less than his national average in Boston’s richest precincts.


1936 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Roosevelt and Landon would split the state’s 14 counties, winning 7 counties each. Roosevelt and Landon both did well in some of the Bay State's population centers, with Roosevelt carrying Suffolk, Worcester, and Hampden Counties (home to Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, respectively), and Landon carrying the suburban counties of Middlesex and Norfolk.


1936 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1936 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose 19 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan was won by Democratic incumbents president Franklin D. Roosevelt and vice president John Nance Garner, defeating Republican candidate Alf Landon and his running mate Frank Knox by 317,061 votes, or a margin of 17.57%.


1936 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1936 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 3, 1936 as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Minnesota was won by the Democratic candidate, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt won the state over Kansas governor Alf Landon by a margin of 348,350 votes, or 30.83%—nearly doubling Landon's overall share of the state's vote. Nationally, Roosevelt was soundly re-elected, with 523 electoral votes and a landslide 24.26% lead over Landon in the popular vote. Landon carried only two states: Maine and Vermont, whilst in Minnesota Landon won just three counties: Otter Tail in the rural west, Carver in the exurban Twin Cities, and southeastern Fillmore County. Of these, only Fillmore has ever voted Democratic in a presidential election since, doing so initially in Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide, and in every election from 1992 to 2012.


1936 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Only five presidential nominees have ever won a greater percentage of the vote in Minnesota than Roosevelt did in 1936: Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 (74%), Warren G. Harding in 1920 (70.6%), Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 (63.8%), Abraham Lincoln in 1860 (63.5%), and James A. Garfield in 1880 (62.3%)—every one of them going on to win the election nationally. As of the 2020 election, this is the last election in which either major party candidate exceeded 80% of the vote in any Minnesota county, with Roosevelt doing so in Lake County.


1936 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1936 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Mississippi voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 97.03% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 2.75% of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in Mississippi
By percentage of the popular vote won, Mississippi was Roosevelt's second-best state. The only state in which he won more of the popular vote than in Mississippi was in South Carolina, where he won 98.57%.


1936 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1936 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 60.76% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 38.16% of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in Montana
The 1936 United States presidential election in Montana took place on November 3, 1936 as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Montana
Montana voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic nominee, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, over the Republican nominee, Kansas Governor Alf Landon. Roosevelt won Montana by a landslide margin of 41.69% and remains the only presidential candidate ever to sweep every county in the state. As of the 2020 presidential election, this was the last election in which Beaverhead County, Sweet Grass County, Stillwater County, Powder River County, and Fallon County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1936 United States presidential election in Nebraska
The 1936 United States presidential election in Nebraska took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Nebraska
Nebraska was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 57.14% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 40.74% of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in Nebraska
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion when the following counties have voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate: Banner, Blaine, Box Butte, Boyd, Burt, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne, Cuming, Custer, Dawes, Dawson, Deuel, Dodge, Dundy, Frontier, Gosper, Grant, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Holt, Keith, Kimball, Knox, Madison, Merrick, Morrill, Otoe, Pawnee, Perkins, Phelps, Pierce, Red Willow, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, Sioux, Stanton, Thomas and Wayne.


1936 United States presidential election in Nevada
The 1936 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in Nevada
Nevada was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 72.81% of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 27.19% of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in Nevada
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion Douglas County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, and the last time a Democratic nominee won every single county in the state.


1936 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1936 United States presidential election in New Hampshire was held on November 3, 1936 as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. The state voters chose four electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire voted for Democratic Party candidate and incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who won the state by a narrow margin of 1.75%, after early reports showed Landon carrying the state. With Roosevelt's victory in New Hampshire, he became the first Democratic candidate since President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to carry the state. The state was also the closest in the election.


1936 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
While Landon lost the state, the 47.98% of the popular vote made New Hampshire his third strongest state after neighboring Vermont and Maine, which were the only two states Landon won in the election.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 3, 1936. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose 16 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey was won by the Democratic nominees, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York and his running mate incumbent  Vice President John Nance Garner of Texas. Roosevelt and Garner defeated the Republican nominees, Governor Alf Landon of Kansas and his running mate newspaper publisher Frank Knox of Illinois.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Roosevelt decisively carried New Jersey with 59.54 percent of the vote to Landon's 39.57 percent, a victory margin of 19.97 percent.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Reflecting the decisiveness of his statewide victory, Roosevelt swept 17 of the New Jersey's 21 counties with majorities of the vote, breaking sixty percent of the vote in five. This result represented dramatic gains from 1932, when Roosevelt had narrowly carried the state by less than 2 points while winning only four counties in the state. In 1932, Roosevelt had won majorities in populous Middlesex County and rural Warren County, along with a plurality win in Passaic County, but much of Roosevelt's margin of victory was provided by a landslide win in heavily populated Hudson County. Roosevelt had received more than seventy percent of the vote in Hudson County, part of the New York City metro area, in 1932.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
In 1936, Roosevelt again broke seventy percent of the vote in Hudson County, but this time thirteen other counties flipped from voting for Herbert Hoover in 1932 to Roosevelt in 1936, enabling him to win the state with a much more comfortable 20 point margin. Roosevelt was the first Democratic victor in Cumberland County since James Buchanan in 1856, and the first in Essex County since Grover Cleveland in 1892. In North Jersey, Roosevelt won all but two out of the ten northernmost counties. Besides his landslide win in Hudson County, Roosevelt also received more than sixty percent of the vote in Middlesex and Mercer Counties and won majorities in seven other counties. Landon won only rural Sussex County along with Morris County.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Roosevelt decisively swept South Jersey, winning majorities in all seven of the southernmost counties in the state. Landon fared better in Central Jersey, where he won Monmouth County and Ocean County.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey in the early decades of the 20th century had been a reliably Republican state; prior to FDR's 1936 victory, the state had not given a majority of the vote to a Democratic presidential candidate since 1892, with FDR only winning the state with a bare plurality in 1932.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
(In 1912, Woodrow Wilson, then the sitting Governor of New Jersey, won the state's electoral votes, but with a plurality of only 41 percent in a three-way race against a split Republican field, with former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt running as a third party candidate against incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft. Wilson lost the state to the GOP by a decisive 12-point margin in a head-to-head match-up in 1916.)


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The state's strong Republican lean was still evident in FDR's initial 1932 election campaign: although that year he narrowly won the state with a 49.5–47.6 plurality over Herbert Hoover, in the midst of his nationwide landslide, that still made the state almost 16 points more Republican than the nation.


1936 United States presidential election in New Jersey
In 1936, with the emergence of the New Deal Coalition, FDR made dramatic gains for the Democratic Party in New Jersey that would endure and transform it into a closely divided swing state with only a slight Republican lean, a pattern that would endure for much of the 20th century until New Jersey ultimately became a solid Democratic state in the 1990s. The 1936 election would be the first of many elections to conform to that pattern, with the results making the state about 4 points more Republican than the nation.


1936 United States presidential election in New Mexico
The 1936 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 3, 1936. All contemporary forty-eight states were part of the 1936 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President.


1936 United States presidential election in New Mexico
New Mexico was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a 26-point landslide against Kansas Governor Alf Landon. Roosevelt won every county in the state save Socorro County: this is the last time a Democrat has ever carried Lincoln County, which is easily the longest run of voting Republican of any New Mexico county.


1936 United States presidential election in New Mexico
Union Party candidate William Lemke made a small splash in New Mexico and elsewhere in the United States, winning 924 votes, 0.5 percent of the state’s total, substantially less than he won in many other states like Rhode Island, Oregon and his home state of North Dakota.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
The 1936 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 3, 1936. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose 47 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
New York was won by incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York, who was running against Republican Governor of Kansas Alf Landon. Roosevelt ran with incumbent  Vice President John Nance Garner of Texas, and Landon ran with newspaper publisher Frank Knox of Illinois.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
A former Governor of New York who had easily carried the state four years earlier, Franklin Roosevelt won New York State in 1936 by an even more decisive margin. Roosevelt took 58.85% of the vote versus Alf Landon's 38.97%, a margin of 19.88%.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
Despite being Roosevelt's home state, in the context of the 1936 nationwide Democratic landslide, New York weighed in for this election as 4% more Republican than the national average, although FDR won the state by nearly 20 points.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
The presidential election of 1936 was a very partisan election for New York, with more than 97.8% of the electorate casting votes for either the Democratic Party or the Republican.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
Roosevelt won his home state by means of a dominance of the massively populated New York City area, performing even more strongly than he had in 1932. Roosevelt took over 70% of the vote in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, and took over sixty percent of the vote in Queens and Staten Island. For the era, this was an historically overwhelming victory for a Democratic presidential candidate in the five boroughs of New York City, and enough to easily secure a statewide win for Roosevelt.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
The emergence of the New Deal Coalition was at its peak in 1936, and made American cities with their powerful political machines core bases of support for the Democratic Party. The Great Depression had accelerated the process of urbanization of the Democratic Party which had begun with the election of 1928. Roosevelt's landslide win in New York City was a fruit born by this process, and over the whole nation he achieved majorities in the largest cities totalling twice what Harding had achieved in 1920.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
1936 was the third election in a row in which Democrats had won all five boroughs of NYC, following 1928 and 1932. After 1936, New York City would remain Democratic overall in every election that has followed, although no presidential candidate would sweep all five boroughs of NYC again until Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Partly as a consequence of this, FDR's 1936 victory in New York State would also be the strongest statewide Democratic performance ever in terms of both margin and vote share until 1964.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
In upstate New York, Roosevelt's support was mostly concentrated in the cities. Roosevelt again carried the state capital of Albany, which since 1928 had become a Democratic stronghold of a city. Nearby Schenectady and Montgomery counties went Democratic as well. In 1936, FDR also managed to flip Erie County into the Democratic column, home to the city of Buffalo in western New York, up to that point a Republican city that had even held for Herbert Hoover in 1932. Finally flipping in 1936, Buffalo has remained a loyal Democratic bastion ever since. Monroe County, home to the city of Rochester, also swung from voting for Hoover in 1932 to Roosevelt in 1936.


1936 United States presidential election in New York
However much of rural upstate New York remained one of the most loyally Republican regions in the nation throughout the FDR era, which many locals attributed to the fact that New Deal public works had barely affected the region. In northern New York, FDR lost Franklin County, which was won by him 1932 and even won by Al Smith in 1928, leaving Clinton County as the sole Democratic win in the region. Roosevelt's only other wins in the state were pluralities in Rockland County and Sullivan County. The rural Midwest, rural upstate New York and Unionist parts of Appalachia have been the consistent bastions of the Republican Party since the Civil War.


1936 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1936 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina was won by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Vice President John Nance Garner, with 73.40 percent of the popular vote, against Governor Alf Landon (R–Kansas), running with Frank Knox, with 26.60 percent of the popular vote.


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota
The 1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the 1936 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota, Background
Ever since statehood, North Dakota had been overwhelmingly Republican at state level and in many presidential elections, although progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson was able to carry the state in both his campaigns, in the second due to his anti-war platform. In the following three elections, the state's voting would be shaped by its extreme isolationism in the aftermath of President Wilson's pushing of the nation into World War I and his “League of Nations” proposal, to which the Russian-Germans who dominated North Dakota's populace were vehemently opposed.


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota, Background
The Peace Garden State thus shifted markedly from voting four-to-one for Warren G. Harding against the pro-League James M. Cox, to being the second-strongest state for Robert La Follette under the Nonpartisan League banner in 1924, to strong pro-Catholic and anti-Prohibition voting for Al Smith in 1928. Severe drought and depression in the following three years turned the state overwhelmingly to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, despite President Hoover's call to “be safe” by supporting him, and at the same time North Dakota elected progressive, pro-New Deal Republicans to fill its House and Senate seats. One of these, Gerald Nye, would say in 1934 that the GOP needed to


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota, Background
turn its back up “that which has been its undoing, namely the private money bags”.


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota, Background, Local third-party candidacy
Controversial Louisiana Governor and Senator Huey P. Long had planned to run against incumbent Roosevelt on an economically more radical platform in the 1936 election, but was assassinated in September 1935. The ashes of Long's movement were taken over by “radio priest” Father Charles Coughlin, who nominated local Representative William Lemke as the presidential candidate of the new “Union Party” on June 9, whose platform was vague and clearly Coughlin's personal creation. Lemke had had a long history as a progressive reformer since endorsing Woodrow Wilson in 1912.


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota, Vote
Lemke was a poor campaigner and speaker, and unable to build his hoped-for “consensus of despair” amongst agrarian radicals, southern poor whites, Catholics and the elderly. The “favorite son” effect and the state's extreme isolationism meant Lemke received 13.41 percent of his home state's vote – over four and a half times the 2.88 percent of on-ballot votes he won nationally. Lemke exceeded 28 percent in the counties of Burke, Sheridan and Hettinger, and ran second ahead of Republican nominee Alf Landon in six counties.


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota, Vote
However, he did not make the impact personally expected when nominated, and unlike elsewhere in the nation, Lemke's best vote was not where ethnic and religious influences might have been expected to give him the largest vote, but in the northwest where local leaders held votes for him. Nonetheless, only Ross Perot in 1992 and Evan McMullin in 2016 have since equalled Lemke's performance for a third-party candidate in any non-southern county.


1936 United States presidential election in North Dakota, Vote
Roosevelt won North Dakota by a margin of 33.02 percentage points and for the second consecutive election carried every county in the state. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion the following counties have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Golden Valley, Grant, Kidder, Logan, McIntosh, Mercer and Sheridan.