1912 United States presidential election in Rhode Island 1912 United States presidential election in Rhode Island The 1912 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States Presidential Election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Rhode Island was won by the Republican nominees, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall. Wilson and Marshall defeated incumbent President William Howard Taft, and his running mate Vice President James S. Sherman and Progressive Party candidates, former President
Presidency of William Howard Taft 1912 election under its banner. This split among Republicans all but doomed Taft's chances for re-election, giving Democrats, in the person of Woodrow Wilson, control of the White House for the first time in sixteen years. Historians generally consider Taft to have been an average president. As the 1908 presidential election approached, President Roosevelt, who had announced after his 1904 victory that he would not run for re-election considered Secretary of War Taft was his logical successor, although Taft was initially reluctant to run. He would have preferred being appointed U.S. Supreme Court chief justice. Roosevelt used his control of