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| Elections in West Virginia |
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The 1968 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 5, 1968, as part of the 1968 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose seven[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
West Virginia was won by the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, with 49.60 percent of the popular vote, against the Republican candidate, former Senator and Vice President Richard Nixon, with 40.78 percent of the popular vote. American Party candidate and former and future Alabama Governor George Wallace also appeared on the ballot, finishing with 9.62 percent of the popular vote.[3][4]
West Virginia was Wallace’s weakest antebellum slave state, whilst it was Humphrey’s strongest as it had been for outgoing President Johnson. Wallace fared best in the Eastern Panhandle, urbanised Kanawha County and the emerging Rust Belt of the extreme Northern Panhandle, but even in those areas he did not crack a sixth of the vote in any county.
Strong unionisation meant that the state’s predominant poverty-stricken white population did not turn to Wallace in significant numbers.[5] The state’s relative loyalty to Humphrey was enhanced by its deep ties to the New Deal and the resultant unionisation, as in all of Appalachian coal country between the 1930s and 1990s.[6] This was helped by the fact that Johnson focused on this state, alongside Texas and culturally allied Kentucky, as critical for Humphrey’s hope of regaining the White House.[7] Humphrey nonetheless did lose eighteen percent on Johnson’s record performance from 1964, and Nixon was the first Republican victor in Hardy County since Abraham Lincoln in 1864,[b] and the first to carry Pendleton County since Ulysses S. Grant in 1868.[8]
Results[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Hubert Humphrey | 374,091 | 49.60% | |
| Republican | Richard Nixon | 307,555 | 40.78% | |
| American | George Wallace | 72,560 | 9.62% | |
| Total votes | 754,206 | 100.00% | ||
Results by county[edit]
| County | Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. Democratic |
Richard Milhous Nixon Republican |
George Corley Wallace American |
Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Barbour | 3,210 | 47.34% | 3,206 | 47.28% | 365 | 5.38% | 4 | 0.06% | 6,781 |
| Berkeley | 4,929 | 34.06% | 7,223 | 49.91% | 2,321 | 16.04% | -2,294 | -15.85% | 14,473 |
| Boone | 6,391 | 62.13% | 2,970 | 28.87% | 926 | 9.00% | 3,421 | 33.26% | 10,287 |
| Braxton | 3,268 | 54.02% | 2,441 | 40.35% | 341 | 5.64% | 827 | 13.67% | 6,050 |
| Brooke | 7,506 | 57.12% | 4,191 | 31.89% | 1,444 | 10.99% | 3,315 | 25.23% | 13,141 |
| Cabell | 19,018 | 44.12% | 19,418 | 45.05% | 4,666 | 10.83% | -400 | -0.93% | 43,102 |
| Calhoun | 1,682 | 46.57% | 1,612 | 44.63% | 318 | 8.80% | 70 | 1.94% | 3,612 |
| Clay | 1,916 | 51.24% | 1,474 | 39.42% | 349 | 9.33% | 442 | 11.82% | 3,739 |
| Doddridge | 844 | 29.60% | 1,861 | 65.28% | 146 | 5.12% | -1,017 | -35.67% | 2,851 |
| Fayette | 14,546 | 66.96% | 5,246 | 24.15% | 1,931 | 8.89% | 9,300 | 42.81% | 21,723 |
| Gilmer | 1,582 | 49.48% | 1,401 | 43.82% | 214 | 6.69% | 181 | 5.66% | 3,197 |
| Grant | 786 | 19.76% | 2,936 | 73.81% | 256 | 6.44% | -2,150 | -54.05% | 3,978 |
| Greenbrier | 6,318 | 46.46% | 5,559 | 40.88% | 1,722 | 12.66% | 759 | 5.58% | 13,599 |
| Hampshire | 1,791 | 40.30% | 1,959 | 44.08% | 694 | 15.62% | -168 | -3.78% | 4,444 |
| Hancock | 10,174 | 54.03% | 6,181 | 32.82% | 2,476 | 13.15% | 3,993 | 21.20% | 18,831 |
| Hardy | 1,767 | 43.90% | 1,768 | 43.93% | 490 | 12.17% | -1 | -0.02% | 4,025 |
| Harrison | 18,872 | 54.22% | 13,703 | 39.37% | 2,234 | 6.42% | 5,169 | 14.85% | 34,809 |
| Jackson | 3,462 | 36.13% | 5,173 | 53.99% | 947 | 9.88% | -1,711 | -17.86% | 9,582 |
| Jefferson | 3,129 | 45.16% | 2,718 | 39.23% | 1,082 | 15.62% | 411 | 5.93% | 6,929 |
| Kanawha | 46,650 | 46.70% | 41,712 | 41.76% | 11,524 | 11.54% | 4,938 | 4.94% | 99,886 |
| Lewis | 3,168 | 40.43% | 4,027 | 51.40% | 640 | 8.17% | -859 | -10.96% | 7,835 |
| Lincoln | 4,386 | 50.82% | 3,662 | 42.43% | 583 | 6.75% | 724 | 8.39% | 8,631 |
| Logan | 13,686 | 67.42% | 4,754 | 23.42% | 1,861 | 9.17% | 8,932 | 44.00% | 20,301 |
| Marion | 17,246 | 58.94% | 10,177 | 34.78% | 1,838 | 6.28% | 7,069 | 24.16% | 29,261 |
| Marshall | 8,449 | 49.47% | 7,252 | 42.46% | 1,379 | 8.07% | 1,197 | 7.01% | 17,080 |
| Mason | 4,549 | 42.77% | 5,208 | 48.97% | 879 | 8.26% | -659 | -6.20% | 10,636 |
| McDowell | 12,842 | 67.81% | 4,020 | 21.23% | 2,075 | 10.96% | 8,822 | 46.59% | 18,937 |
| Mercer | 12,739 | 48.83% | 9,985 | 38.28% | 3,363 | 12.89% | 2,754 | 10.56% | 26,087 |
| Mineral | 4,225 | 42.07% | 4,545 | 45.26% | 1,273 | 12.68% | -320 | -3.19% | 10,043 |
| Mingo | 8,677 | 62.89% | 3,988 | 28.90% | 1,133 | 8.21% | 4,689 | 33.98% | 13,798 |
| Monongalia | 13,128 | 54.83% | 9,261 | 38.68% | 1,556 | 6.50% | 3,867 | 16.15% | 23,945 |
| Monroe | 2,412 | 40.95% | 2,925 | 49.66% | 553 | 9.39% | -513 | -8.71% | 5,890 |
| Morgan | 1,015 | 27.28% | 2,244 | 60.32% | 461 | 12.39% | -1,229 | -33.04% | 3,720 |
| Nicholas | 4,858 | 51.81% | 3,678 | 39.22% | 841 | 8.97% | 1,180 | 12.58% | 9,377 |
| Ohio | 15,026 | 49.65% | 13,073 | 43.20% | 2,164 | 7.15% | 1,953 | 6.45% | 30,263 |
| Pendleton | 1,643 | 45.29% | 1,687 | 46.50% | 298 | 8.21% | -44 | -1.21% | 3,628 |
| Pleasants | 1,522 | 46.69% | 1,534 | 47.06% | 204 | 6.26% | -12 | -0.37% | 3,260 |
| Pocahontas | 1,948 | 43.93% | 2,040 | 46.01% | 446 | 10.06% | -92 | -2.07% | 4,434 |
| Preston | 4,020 | 39.35% | 5,636 | 55.16% | 561 | 5.49% | -1,616 | -15.82% | 10,217 |
| Putnam | 5,009 | 43.18% | 5,252 | 45.27% | 1,340 | 11.55% | -243 | -2.09% | 11,601 |
| Raleigh | 17,744 | 60.14% | 8,775 | 29.74% | 2,987 | 10.12% | 8,969 | 30.40% | 29,506 |
| Randolph | 5,562 | 50.72% | 4,508 | 41.11% | 897 | 8.18% | 1,054 | 9.61% | 10,967 |
| Ritchie | 1,281 | 27.42% | 3,106 | 66.50% | 284 | 6.08% | -1,825 | -39.07% | 4,671 |
| Roane | 2,639 | 38.17% | 3,851 | 55.70% | 424 | 6.13% | -1,212 | -17.53% | 6,914 |
| Summers | 3,521 | 52.75% | 2,305 | 34.53% | 849 | 12.72% | 1,216 | 18.22% | 6,675 |
| Taylor | 2,953 | 45.92% | 3,012 | 46.84% | 466 | 7.25% | -59 | -0.92% | 6,431 |
| Tucker | 1,758 | 48.82% | 1,511 | 41.96% | 332 | 9.22% | 247 | 6.86% | 3,601 |
| Tyler | 1,324 | 29.20% | 2,897 | 63.90% | 313 | 6.90% | -1,573 | -34.69% | 4,534 |
| Upshur | 2,319 | 31.72% | 4,565 | 62.44% | 427 | 5.84% | -2,246 | -30.72% | 7,311 |
| Wayne | 8,227 | 50.41% | 6,004 | 36.79% | 2,088 | 12.79% | 2,223 | 13.62% | 16,319 |
| Webster | 2,582 | 62.87% | 1,241 | 30.22% | 284 | 6.92% | 1,341 | 32.65% | 4,107 |
| Wetzel | 4,038 | 45.12% | 4,122 | 46.06% | 789 | 8.82% | -84 | -0.94% | 8,949 |
| Wirt | 820 | 40.78% | 1,051 | 52.26% | 140 | 6.96% | -231 | -11.49% | 2,011 |
| Wood | 14,293 | 39.02% | 18,960 | 51.76% | 3,379 | 9.22% | -4,667 | -12.74% | 36,632 |
| Wyoming | 6,641 | 57.27% | 3,947 | 34.04% | 1,007 | 8.68% | 2,694 | 23.23% | 11,595 |
| Totals | 374,091 | 49.60% | 307,555 | 40.78% | 72,560 | 9.62% | 66,536 | 8.82% | 754,206 |
Notes[edit]
- ^ Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon’s official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon's home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.
- ^ Hardy County at that time included Grant County, which has been the banner Republican county in West Virginia for most of its history and in which no Democratic presidential candidate has ever obtained forty percent of the vote, whilst since 1884 only Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Jimmy Carter in 1976 have received so much as thirty percent.
References[edit]
- ^ "United States Presidential election of 1968 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved May 27, 2017.
- ^ "1968 Election for the Forty-Sixth Term (1969-73)". Retrieved May 27, 2017.
- ^ "1968 Presidential General Election Results — West Virginia". Retrieved May 27, 2017.
- ^ "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1968". Retrieved May 27, 2017.
- ^ Phillips, Kevin P. The Emerging Republican Majority. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6.
- ^ Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 135, 288, 347, 374
- ^ Wainstock, Dennis. Election year 1968: the turning point. p. 172. ISBN 1936274418.
- ^ Menendez, Albert J. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. pp. 334–337. ISBN 0786422173.
- ^ "WV US President — November 05, 1968". Our Campaigns.
