“System of 1896” county map

[mianfei]

Here is a map of how counties voted between 1896 and 1928 (excluding 1912). I have taken a few liberties with counties created during this period, assigning them to those counties they were part of before creation. I have ignored the fairly frequent third-party votes even outside the divided 1912 election.

[The Govanah Jake]

What made Mississippi and South Carolina vote more Democratic then the Other Solid South states during this time period?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What made Mississippi and South Carolina vote more Democratic then the Other Solid South states during this time period?

More vote suppression.


Also the demographics of both states. There were no Appalachian areas that provided a GOP bastion or even a slightly more Republican enclave like VA, TN, NC, AL and GA. TX had Germans, some of who voted Republican, LA has pro-union enclaves and cajuns and AR had the Ozarks. South FL had a property boom in the early 20th century driven by out of state rich people, some of who would be Republicans from NY or ILL.

[catographer]

What made Mississippi and South Carolina vote more Democratic then the Other Solid South states during this time period?

I'm just gonna make a wild guess based on the geography: note that the less-Democratic areas of Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina are all Appalachian regions that border the solid Republican regions of eastern Tennessee and Kentucky. This region is a more Republican, less pro-slavery region, so maybe some of those voters vote similarly in other states.