In 1924, John W. Davis won less than 10% of the vote in CA...

[All Along The Watchtower]

Seems kinda insane that such a large state would give such a small percentage to a major-party nominee, even back then...

I guess Fighting Bob LaFollette was really popular here!

[Thunderbird is the word]

Also Democrats were kind of a joke at that point. If not for Al Smith expanding the party's constituency and the Great Depression I could easily see them going the way of the Whigs or just becoming a strictly regional party.

[Del Tachi]

Is is more impressive that the Dems won less than 10% in California or that Calvin Coolidge won more than 75% of the vote in the even more populous state of Michigan?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

The progressive movement was strong there, while the Democratic party was generally weak.  McAdoo might have done decently, but not an unfamiliar conservative Democrat from the East.

[ElectionsGuy]

Yeah, progressivism was strong in California and John Davis was a Southern Democrat who didn't gain any traction. He got below 20% in many states.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Yeah, progressivism was strong in California and John Davis was a Southern Democrat who didn't gain any traction. He got below 20% in many states.

I don't know that Southern is quite accurate.

[Sumner 1868]

Is is more impressive that the Dems won less than 10% in California or that Calvin Coolidge won more than 75% of the vote in the even more populous state of Michigan?

Michigan was very Republican before the Depression. FDR would be the first Democrat to win Michigan since 1852.

[Famous Mortimer]

Yeah, progressivism was strong in California and John Davis was a Southern Democrat who didn't gain any traction. He got below 20% in many states.

I don't know that Southern is quite accurate.

He represented the Board of Education in Brown vs. Board of Education. Even if he wasn't from the Old Confederacy in actuality, he was in spirit.

[Podgy the Bear]

Outside the Solid South, Davis's performance was dismal.  He did poorly in the Midwest (no more than 5-8% of the vote in states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota), as LaFollette took away a lot of the vote.  Also, in the Northeast, where the Republicans rolled up huge margins in states like Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania (hard to believe today!).

Davis was a very conservative candidate--the last conservative nominee the Democrats would have.  He supported FDR in 1932 but swung to the Republicans in 1936 (just like Al Smith) and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of his life.

[ElectionsGuy]

Yeah, progressivism was strong in California and John Davis was a Southern Democrat who didn't gain any traction. He got below 20% in many states.

I don't know that Southern is quite accurate.

I consider West Virginia to be southern, but he did fight against some interests of the south (such as prohibition).

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Yeah, progressivism was strong in California and John Davis was a Southern Democrat who didn't gain any traction. He got below 20% in many states.

I don't know that Southern is quite accurate.

He represented the Board of Education in Brown vs. Board of Education. Even if he wasn't from the Old Confederacy in actuality, he was in spirit.

He argued during his time as Solicitor General against Oklahoma's literacy test that was written in such a way as to apply to blacks but not whites.

[RINO Tom]

People can define the South however they want, but WV is technically part of the South (according to the Census Bureau), and it clearly has some cultural ties to the region.

[TDAS04]

Is is more impressive that the Dems won less than 10% in California or that Calvin Coolidge won more than 75% of the vote in the even more populous state of Michigan?

Or that Davis won 74% in Texas, a more populous state still? (Though of course, it was solidly Democratic).

[Thunderbird is the word]

Really seems like Davis appealed to almost nobody outside the south aside from scattered diehard Democratic partisans and machine types. I mean if you were a conservative already you'd have no reason to vote for anybody but Coolidge who was doing a pretty good job of it and if you were a progressive you'd obviously go with LaFollette.