# 1912 United States presidential election in Tennessee

Elections in Tennessee :
Federal government
U.S. President
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1864
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Presidential primaries
Democratic
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Republican
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
U.S. Senate
1796
1798
1803
1809
1823
1826
1829
1833
1835
1841
1844
1847
1851
1853
1858
1866
1867
1875
1877
1883
1887
1889
1893
1895
1899
1901
1905
1907
1911
1913
1916
1918
1922
1924
1928
1930
1934
1936
1940
1942
1946
1948
1952
1954
1958
1960
1964
1966
1970
1972
1976
1978
1982
1984
1988
1990
1994
1996
2000
2002
2006
2008
2012
2014
2018
2020
2024
2026
U.S. House
1796
1797
1799
1801
1803
1805
1807
1809
1811
1813
1815
1817
1819
1821
1823
1825
1827
1829
1831
1833
1835
1837
1839
1841
1842
1843
1845
1847
1849
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
1861
1865
1867
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Special elections
Senate
1797
1798
1799
1809
1811
1815
1817
1819
1821
1825
1829
1838
1839
1840
1843
1857
1877
1898
1905
1913
1930
1934
1938
1964
1994
House
At-large
1797
1801
1st
1910
1961
2nd
1815
1891
1939
1964
1988
3rd
1939
4th
1837
1874
1875
5th
1814
1975
1988
6th
1939
7th
1932
1939
8th
1845
1958
1969
9th
1940 :
State government
State elections
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
Gubernatorial elections
1796
1797
1799
1801
1803
1805
1807
1809
1811
1813
1815
1817
1819
1821
1823
1825
1827
1829
1831
1833
1835
1837
1839
1841
1843
1845
1847
1849
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
1861
1863
1865
1867
1869
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
State Senate elections
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
House of Representatives elections
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024 :
Ballot measures
2006
Amendment 1
2014
Amendment 1
2022
Amendment 1
Amendment 3
Nashville measures
Nashville Charter Amendment 1
Let's Move Nashville :
Local elections
Hamilton County mayoral elections
2018
2022
Chattanooga mayoral elections
2013
2017
2021
2025
Knox County mayoral elections
2010
2014
2018
2022
Knoxville mayoral elections
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023
Shelby County mayoral elections
2010
2014
2018
2022
Memphis mayoral elections
2011
2015
2019
2023
Clarksville Mayoral elections
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
Jackson Mayoral elections
2015
2019
2023
Murfreesboro Mayoral elections
2014
2018
2022
Nashville Mayoral elections
2007
2011
2015
2018 (sp)
2019
2023 :
Government :
vte :
The 1912 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 5, 1912, as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose twelve representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
For over a century after the Civil War, Tennessee was divided according to political loyalties established in that war. Unionist regions covering almost all of East Tennessee, Kentucky Pennyroyal-allied Macon County, and the five West Tennessee Highland Rim counties of Carroll, Henderson, McNairy, Hardin and Wayne voted Republican – generally by landslide margins – as they saw the Democratic Party as the “war party” who had forced them into a war they did not wish to fight. Contrariwise, the rest of Middle and West Tennessee who had supported and driven the state's secession was equally fiercely Democratic as it associated the Republicans with Reconstruction. After the disfranchisement of the state's African-American population by a poll tax was largely complete in the 1890s, the Democratic Party was certain of winning statewide elections if united, although unlike the Deep South Republicans would almost always gain thirty to forty percent of the statewide vote from mountain and Highland Rim support.
In the early 1910s, the state Democratic Party was divided over the issue of prohibition. One faction, known as the “Independent Democrats,” wanted the state's Four Mile Law (which banned the sale of liquor within four miles of any school) to apply statewide, while the other faction, known as the “Regular Democrats,” wanted the state's larger cities to be exempt from this law. In 1910, the Independent Democrats fled the party and formed a coalition, known as the “Fusionists,” with Republicans, helping to elect Governor Ben W. Hooper, although the Republicans did not gain at other levels.
With the national Republican Party deeply split, divisions between the dominant eastern wing and the “black-and-tan” western wing of the state Republican Party were opened up as Theodore Roosevelt and governor of California Hiram Johnson planned “lily-whitism” for the South with the “Bull Moose” party after Roosevelt broke from the GOP. The “black-and-tan” wing being revitalised by Memphis banker and businessman Robert R. Church Jr. remained loyal to incumbent President William Howard Taft (R–Ohio), and running mate Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler, though it had many fewer votes due to disenfranchisement.
Pollsters always conceded Tennessee to Democratic nominees Princeton University President Woodrow Wilson and governor of Indiana Thomas R. Marshall.

## Results

1912 United States presidential election in Tennessee :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes |
| | Democratic | Woodrow Wilson | 133,021 | 52.80% | 12 |
| | Republican | William Howard Taft (incumbent) | 60,475 | 24.00% | 0 |
| | Progressive | Theodore Roosevelt | 54,041 | 21.45% | 0 |
| | Socialist | Eugene V. Debs | 3,564 | 1.41% | 0 |
| | Prohibition | Eugene W. Chafin | 832 | 0.33% | 0 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | 251,933 | 100.00% | 12 |

### Results by county

1912 United States presidential election in Tennessee by county :
| County | Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic | Thomas Woodrow Wilson Democratic | William Howard Taft Republican | William Howard Taft Republican | Theodore Roosevelt Progressive "Bull Moose" | Theodore Roosevelt Progressive "Bull Moose" | Eugene Victor Debs Socialist | Eugene Victor Debs Socialist | Margin | Margin | Total votes cast |
| County | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | Total votes cast |
| Anderson | 597 | 25.52% | 539 | 23.04% | 1,148 | 49.08% | 55 | 2.35% | -551 | -23.56% | 2,339 |
| Bedford | 2,305 | 59.39% | 1,474 | 37.98% | 96 | 2.47% | 6 | 0.15% | 831 | 21.41% | 3,881 |
| Benton | 1,095 | 53.00% | 652 | 31.56% | 289 | 13.99% | 30 | 1.45% | 443 | 21.44% | 2,066 |
| Bledsoe | 464 | 37.00% | 379 | 30.22% | 401 | 31.98% | 10 | 0.80% | 63 | 5.02% | 1,254 |
| Blount | 836 | 26.83% | 870 | 27.92% | 1,410 | 45.25% | 0 | 0.00% | -540 | -17.33% | 3,116 |
| Bradley | 645 | 38.21% | 485 | 28.73% | 548 | 32.46% | 10 | 0.59% | 97 | 5.75% | 1,688 |
| Campbell | 554 | 26.37% | 302 | 14.37% | 1,193 | 56.78% | 52 | 2.48% | -639 | -30.41% | 2,101 |
| Cannon | 1,184 | 63.32% | 631 | 33.74% | 48 | 2.57% | 7 | 0.37% | 553 | 29.57% | 1,870 |
| Carroll | 1,653 | 40.80% | 1,362 | 33.62% | 967 | 23.87% | 69 | 1.70% | 291 | 7.18% | 4,051 |
| Carter | 478 | 13.11% | 1,243 | 34.08% | 1,926 | 52.81% | 0 | 0.00% | -683 | -18.73% | 3,647 |
| Cheatham | 1,096 | 70.30% | 317 | 20.33% | 123 | 7.89% | 23 | 1.48% | 779 | 49.97% | 1,559 |
| Chester | 636 | 46.29% | 312 | 22.71% | 388 | 28.24% | 38 | 2.77% | 248 | 18.05% | 1,374 |
| Claiborne | 903 | 34.61% | 589 | 22.58% | 1,098 | 42.09% | 19 | 0.73% | -195 | -7.47% | 2,609 |
| Clay | 718 | 57.30% | 440 | 35.12% | 83 | 6.62% | 12 | 0.96% | 278 | 22.19% | 1,253 |
| Cocke | 597 | 31.21% | 757 | 39.57% | 549 | 28.70% | 10 | 0.52% | -160 | -8.36% | 1,913 |
| Coffee | 1,705 | 73.59% | 521 | 22.49% | 63 | 2.72% | 28 | 1.21% | 1,184 | 51.10% | 2,317 |
| Crockett | 1,297 | 48.31% | 852 | 31.73% | 509 | 18.96% | 27 | 1.01% | 445 | 16.57% | 2,685 |
| Cumberland | 489 | 37.44% | 372 | 28.48% | 434 | 33.23% | 11 | 0.84% | 55 | 4.21% | 1,306 |
| Davidson | 9,517 | 76.25% | 1,428 | 11.44% | 1,330 | 10.66% | 206 | 1.65% | 8,089 | 64.81% | 12,481 |
| Decatur | 758 | 45.42% | 405 | 24.27% | 491 | 29.42% | 15 | 0.90% | 267 | 16.00% | 1,669 |
| DeKalb | 1,394 | 48.40% | 1,219 | 42.33% | 265 | 9.20% | 2 | 0.07% | 175 | 6.08% | 2,880 |
| Dickson | 1,689 | 67.97% | 448 | 18.03% | 293 | 11.79% | 55 | 2.21% | 1,241 | 49.94% | 2,485 |
| Dyer | 1,469 | 66.26% | 318 | 14.34% | 348 | 15.70% | 82 | 3.70% | 1,121 | 50.56% | 2,217 |
| Fayette | 830 | 84.52% | 59 | 6.01% | 93 | 9.47% | 0 | 0.00% | 737 | 75.05% | 982 |
| Fentress | 399 | 33.78% | 444 | 37.60% | 317 | 26.84% | 21 | 1.78% | -45 | -3.81% | 1,181 |
| Franklin | 2,172 | 79.33% | 370 | 13.51% | 164 | 5.99% | 32 | 1.17% | 1,802 | 65.81% | 2,738 |
| Gibson | 2,671 | 63.20% | 1,002 | 23.71% | 518 | 12.26% | 35 | 0.83% | 1,669 | 39.49% | 4,226 |
| Giles | 3,081 | 60.44% | 1,596 | 31.31% | 419 | 8.22% | 2 | 0.04% | 1,485 | 29.13% | 5,098 |
| Grainger | 841 | 33.88% | 741 | 29.85% | 900 | 36.26% | 0 | 0.00% | -59 | -2.38% | 2,482 |
| Greene | 2,076 | 41.75% | 1,650 | 33.18% | 1,242 | 24.97% | 5 | 0.10% | 426 | 8.57% | 4,973 |
| Grundy | 529 | 61.58% | 122 | 14.20% | 87 | 10.13% | 121 | 14.09% | 407 | 47.38% | 859 |
| Hamblen | 722 | 48.39% | 427 | 28.62% | 325 | 21.78% | 18 | 1.21% | 295 | 19.77% | 1,492 |
| Hamilton | 4,394 | 50.96% | 1,493 | 17.32% | 2,454 | 28.46% | 281 | 3.26% | 1,940 | 22.50% | 8,622 |
| Hancock | 427 | 36.50% | 659 | 56.32% | 84 | 7.18% | 0 | 0.00% | -232 | -19.83% | 1,170 |
| Hardeman | 1,323 | 69.09% | 320 | 16.71% | 264 | 13.79% | 8 | 0.42% | 1,003 | 52.38% | 1,915 |
| Hardin | 738 | 31.85% | 955 | 41.22% | 592 | 25.55% | 32 | 1.38% | -217 | -9.37% | 2,317 |
| Hawkins | 1,026 | 40.52% | 828 | 32.70% | 660 | 26.07% | 18 | 0.71% | 198 | 7.82% | 2,532 |
| Haywood | 1,069 | 87.69% | 34 | 2.79% | 88 | 7.22% | 28 | 2.30% | 981 | 80.48% | 1,219 |
| Henderson | 738 | 33.90% | 473 | 21.73% | 947 | 43.50% | 19 | 0.87% | -209 | -9.60% | 2,177 |
| Henry | 2,526 | 65.44% | 941 | 24.38% | 282 | 7.31% | 111 | 2.88% | 1,585 | 41.06% | 3,860 |
| Hickman | 1,288 | 56.49% | 868 | 38.07% | 111 | 4.87% | 13 | 0.57% | 420 | 18.42% | 2,280 |
| Houston | 586 | 64.47% | 172 | 18.92% | 65 | 7.15% | 86 | 9.46% | 414 | 45.54% | 909 |
| Humphreys | 1,283 | 69.54% | 343 | 18.59% | 189 | 10.24% | 30 | 1.63% | 940 | 50.95% | 1,845 |
| Jackson | 1,344 | 57.49% | 743 | 31.78% | 251 | 10.74% | 0 | 0.00% | 601 | 25.71% | 2,338 |
| James | 202 | 25.93% | 169 | 21.69% | 408 | 52.37% | 0 | 0.00% | -206 | -26.44% | 779 |
| Jefferson | 514 | 25.66% | 540 | 26.96% | 940 | 46.93% | 9 | 0.45% | -400 | -19.97% | 2,003 |
| Johnson | 256 | 11.56% | 933 | 42.14% | 1,025 | 46.30% | 0 | 0.00% | -92 | -4.16% | 2,214 |
| Knox | 4,069 | 40.73% | 1,984 | 19.86% | 3,816 | 38.19% | 122 | 1.22% | 253 | 2.53% | 9,991 |
| Lake | 499 | 75.04% | 122 | 18.35% | 31 | 4.66% | 13 | 1.95% | 377 | 56.69% | 665 |
| Lauderdale | 1,020 | 55.83% | 186 | 10.18% | 593 | 32.46% | 28 | 1.53% | 427 | 23.37% | 1,827 |
| Lawrence | 1,504 | 46.81% | 878 | 27.33% | 783 | 24.37% | 48 | 1.49% | 626 | 19.48% | 3,213 |
| Lewis | 370 | 57.28% | 126 | 19.50% | 144 | 22.29% | 6 | 0.93% | 226 | 34.98% | 646 |
| Lincoln | 2,651 | 77.27% | 672 | 19.59% | 98 | 2.86% | 10 | 0.29% | 1,979 | 57.68% | 3,431 |
| Loudon | 415 | 38.04% | 322 | 29.51% | 348 | 31.90% | 6 | 0.55% | 67 | 6.14% | 1,091 |
| Macon | 787 | 35.26% | 1,251 | 56.05% | 183 | 8.20% | 11 | 0.49% | -464 | -20.79% | 2,232 |
| Madison | 2,702 | 65.36% | 1,036 | 25.06% | 316 | 7.64% | 80 | 1.94% | 1,666 | 40.30% | 4,134 |
| Marion | 810 | 45.28% | 463 | 25.88% | 442 | 24.71% | 74 | 4.14% | 347 | 19.40% | 1,789 |
| Marshall | 1,551 | 76.59% | 376 | 18.57% | 87 | 4.30% | 11 | 0.54% | 1,175 | 58.02% | 2,025 |
| Maury | 2,309 | 68.70% | 615 | 18.30% | 389 | 11.57% | 48 | 1.43% | 1,694 | 50.40% | 3,361 |
| McMinn | 912 | 42.36% | 667 | 30.98% | 557 | 25.87% | 17 | 0.79% | 245 | 11.38% | 2,153 |
| McNairy | 1,155 | 41.67% | 616 | 22.22% | 1,001 | 36.11% | 0 | 0.00% | 154 | 5.56% | 2,772 |
| Meigs | 517 | 50.79% | 337 | 33.10% | 163 | 16.01% | 1 | 0.10% | 180 | 17.68% | 1,018 |
| Monroe | 1,136 | 48.63% | 721 | 30.86% | 475 | 20.33% | 4 | 0.17% | 415 | 17.77% | 2,336 |
| Montgomery | 1,638 | 67.32% | 514 | 21.13% | 199 | 8.18% | 82 | 3.37% | 1,124 | 46.20% | 2,433 |
| Moore | 694 | 84.43% | 116 | 14.11% | 11 | 1.34% | 1 | 0.12% | 578 | 70.32% | 822 |
| Morgan | 466 | 28.17% | 312 | 18.86% | 841 | 50.85% | 35 | 2.12% | -375 | -22.67% | 1,654 |
| Obion | 2,152 | 75.17% | 455 | 15.89% | 193 | 6.74% | 63 | 2.20% | 1,697 | 59.27% | 2,863 |
| Overton | 1,531 | 60.73% | 743 | 29.47% | 181 | 7.18% | 66 | 2.62% | 788 | 31.26% | 2,521 |
| Perry | 664 | 56.32% | 379 | 32.15% | 94 | 7.97% | 42 | 3.56% | 285 | 24.17% | 1,179 |
| Pickett | 411 | 45.67% | 355 | 39.44% | 134 | 14.89% | 0 | 0.00% | 56 | 6.22% | 900 |
| Polk | 867 | 42.69% | 533 | 26.24% | 622 | 30.63% | 9 | 0.44% | 245 | 12.06% | 2,031 |
| Putnam | 1,867 | 58.69% | 923 | 29.02% | 386 | 12.13% | 5 | 0.16% | 944 | 29.68% | 3,181 |
| Rhea | 692 | 45.38% | 253 | 16.59% | 552 | 36.20% | 28 | 1.84% | 140 | 9.18% | 1,525 |
| Roane | 570 | 29.26% | 482 | 24.74% | 826 | 42.40% | 70 | 3.59% | -256 | -13.14% | 1,948 |
| Robertson | 2,287 | 74.57% | 513 | 16.73% | 142 | 4.63% | 125 | 4.08% | 1,774 | 57.84% | 3,067 |
| Rutherford | 3,406 | 68.57% | 1,217 | 24.50% | 280 | 5.64% | 64 | 1.29% | 2,189 | 44.07% | 4,967 |
| Scott | 160 | 9.74% | 123 | 7.49% | 1,234 | 75.15% | 125 | 7.61% | -1,074 | -65.41% | 1,642 |
| Sequatchie | 354 | 57.56% | 139 | 22.60% | 83 | 13.50% | 39 | 6.34% | 215 | 34.96% | 615 |
| Sevier | 341 | 9.17% | 967 | 26.00% | 2,410 | 64.80% | 1 | 0.03% | -1,443 | -38.80% | 3,719 |
| Shelby | 6,732 | 64.11% | 589 | 5.61% | 2,951 | 28.10% | 228 | 2.17% | 3,781 | 36.01% | 10,500 |
| Smith | 1,863 | 62.90% | 915 | 30.89% | 184 | 6.21% | 0 | 0.00% | 948 | 32.01% | 2,962 |
| Stewart | 1,312 | 64.06% | 485 | 23.68% | 54 | 2.64% | 197 | 9.62% | 827 | 40.38% | 2,048 |
| Sullivan | 2,413 | 57.07% | 538 | 12.72% | 1,265 | 29.92% | 12 | 0.28% | 1,148 | 27.15% | 4,228 |
| Sumner | 2,477 | 72.94% | 769 | 22.64% | 89 | 2.62% | 61 | 1.80% | 1,708 | 50.29% | 3,396 |
| Tipton | 987 | 55.29% | 564 | 31.60% | 222 | 12.44% | 12 | 0.67% | 423 | 23.70% | 1,785 |
| Trousdale | 544 | 68.86% | 211 | 26.71% | 35 | 4.43% | 0 | 0.00% | 333 | 42.15% | 790 |
| Unicoi | 170 | 13.87% | 280 | 22.84% | 765 | 62.40% | 11 | 0.90% | -485 | -39.56% | 1,226 |
| Union | 404 | 21.12% | 307 | 16.05% | 1,192 | 62.31% | 10 | 0.52% | -788 | -41.19% | 1,913 |
| Van Buren | 225 | 58.44% | 106 | 27.53% | 30 | 7.79% | 24 | 6.23% | 119 | 30.91% | 385 |
| Warren | 1,745 | 74.26% | 339 | 14.43% | 250 | 10.64% | 16 | 0.68% | 1,406 | 59.83% | 2,350 |
| Washington | 1,531 | 35.89% | 1,134 | 26.58% | 1,592 | 37.32% | 9 | 0.21% | -61 | -1.43% | 4,266 |
| Wayne | 435 | 24.10% | 971 | 53.80% | 390 | 21.61% | 9 | 0.50% | -536 | -29.70% | 1,805 |
| Weakley | 2,810 | 63.03% | 1,265 | 28.38% | 350 | 7.85% | 33 | 0.74% | 1,545 | 34.66% | 4,458 |
| White | 1,222 | 64.72% | 330 | 17.48% | 279 | 14.78% | 57 | 3.02% | 892 | 47.25% | 1,888 |
| Williamson | 2,205 | 71.75% | 797 | 25.94% | 62 | 2.02% | 9 | 0.29% | 1,408 | 45.82% | 3,073 |
| Wilson | 2,325 | 70.35% | 682 | 20.64% | 292 | 8.84% | 6 | 0.18% | 1,643 | 49.71% | 3,305 |
| Totals | 133,021 | 52.71% | 60,475 | 23.96% | 54,041 | 21.41% | 3,564 | 1.41% | 72,546 | 28.75% | 252,353 |

## Analysis

In the end Wilson achieved just under 53 percent of the popular vote, a figure very similar to that which Democrats had achieved in Tennessee over the previous four elections. Despite the appeal of Roosevelt's lily-white policy in the many emerging sundown towns or counties of East Tennessee, the “Bull Moose” candidate finished third in the state, 2.55 percentage points behind incumbent President Taft.
As of ‹See RfD› 2025, this is the last presidential election in which Hawkins County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, as well as the last election in which Blount County, Washington County, Sevier County, Carter County, Jefferson County, Henderson County, Grainger County, Scott County, Unicoi County, and Johnson County did not vote for the Republican candidate.