1876 United States presidential election in Kentucky

Main article: 1876 United States presidential election

1876 United States presidential election in Kentucky

November 7, 1876

Nominee Samuel J. Tilden Rutherford B. Hayes Party Democratic Republican Home state New York Ohio Running mate Thomas A. Hendricks William A. Wheeler Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 160,060 97,568 Percentage 61.41% 37.44%

County Results Tilden   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Hayes   30-40%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election Ulysses S. Grant Republican Elected President Rutherford B. Hayes Republican

The 1876 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 7, 1876, as part of the 1876 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose twelve representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

The Civil War would shape Kentucky politically for not merely the rest of the nineteenth century but also for the twentieth by creating entrenched divisions between secessionist, Democratic counties and Unionist, Republican ones.^[1] The southern cultural hegemony meant state as a whole leaned Democratic throughout the Third Party System and the GOP would never carry the state during that era at either the presidential^[2] or gubernatorial level.^[3]

Kentucky had been one of only six states to vote against popular incumbent Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, and the effects of an economic downturn^[4] meant that Democratic nominees Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks increased their margin by nineteen points. Kentucky would prove Tilden's fourth-strongest state behind Georgia, Texas and Mississippi. Only Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Richard Nixon in 1972, and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 have since exceeded Tilden's percentage for either party in Kentucky.^[5]

As of the 2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last occasion when Lewis County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.^[6]

Results

Presidential Candidate	Running Mate	Party	Electoral Vote (EV)	Popular Vote (PV)
Samuel J. Tilden of New York	Thomas A. Hendricks	Democratic	12[7]	160,060	61.41%
Rutherford B. Hayes	William A. Wheeler	Republican	0	97,568	37.44%
—	—	Write-ins	0	2,998	1.15%

References

1. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
2. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 350 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
3. Brown, Thomas J.; ‘The Roots of Bluegrass Insurgency: An Analysis of the Populist Movement in Kentucky’; The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Summer 1980), pp. 219-242
4. See Tiffany, Jordan A.; ‘On How the Republican Party Won Elections: 1860 To 1892’ (thesis), p. 40
5. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Kentucky". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.
6. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004; pp. 208-213 ISBN 0786422173
7. "1876 Presidential Election Results – Kentucky". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.