# 1920 Presidential Election [[Warren G. Harding]] (Republican), Ohio senator and newspaper publisher, defeated Democrat James M. Cox (governor of Ohio) in the largest popular-vote landslide of any presidential election to that point — 60.3% to 34.1%, a 26.2-point margin. Harding won 404 of 531 electoral votes (76%) and 37 of the 48 states. Cox's running mate was a 38-year-old assistant Secretary of the Navy named [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] — his first appearance on a national ticket. **Eugene V. Debs**, the Socialist candidate, ran from federal prison (he was serving a 10-year sentence under the Wilson-era [[Espionage Act]] for an anti-war speech) and received 3.4% of the popular vote (913,693 votes). The election was the **first in which women voted nationally**, the [[Nineteenth Amendment]] having been ratified in August 1920. The turnout figure (49.2%) was lower than recent elections in significant part because women voters had not yet been broadly mobilized into the electorate. Harding's campaign slogan — "**Return to Normalcy**" — explicitly repudiated the entire Wilson-era progressive-internationalist regulatory state. ## Result - **[[Warren G. Harding]]** (Republican) — 404 electoral votes, 60.3% popular (16,144,093 votes) - **James M. Cox** (Democrat) — 127 electoral votes, 34.1% popular (9,139,661 votes) - Eugene V. Debs (Socialist, from federal prison) — 0 electoral votes, 3.4% popular (913,693 votes) - Total: 531 electoral votes ## Right-wing relevance The 1920 election is the operational political launch of the **first 20th-century conservative restoration** — the rejection of Wilson-era progressivism in favor of low taxes, immigration restriction, isolationism on European affairs, and minimal federal regulatory activity. The Harding-Coolidge-Hoover 1920s decade is conservative-canonical and contemporary tax-cut, immigration-restriction, and limited-government politics all reference this era as the proof-of-concept. The 60.3% Harding margin is also one of the most lopsided general-election results in American history and a recurring reference point in commentary on whether American politics could produce comparable margins in the post-realignment polarized era (broadly: no). ## Connections - [[Warren G. Harding]] — Winner; died in office August 1923. - [[Calvin Coolidge]] — VP; succeeded on Harding's death. - [[Woodrow Wilson]] — Outgoing president; his Progressive program was the explicit target of the Harding campaign. - [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] — Democratic VP nominee; first national-ticket appearance. ---