1924 Democratic Party presidential primaries

1924 Democratic Party presidential primaries

← 1920 March 12 to June 7, 1924 1928 →

1,096 delegates to the 1924 Democratic National Convention
729 (two-thirds) votes needed to win
 
Candidate William Gibbs McAdoo Al Smith John W. Davis
Home state California New York West Virginia
Delegate count 431.5 241 31
Contests won 21 8 1
Popular vote 456,733
Percentage 59.8%

First place by convention roll call
     McAdoo      Smith      Davis
     Underwood      Harrison      Brown      Various

Previous Democratic nominee

James M. Cox

Democratic nominee

John W. Davis

From March 12 to June 7, 1924, voters and members of the Democratic Party elected delegates to the 1924 Democratic National Convention, in part to nominate a candidate for President of the United States in the 1924 election.[1]

Though William Gibbs McAdoo won a vast majority of states, and almost three-fifths of the popular vote, in those twelve states that held primary elections, it meant little to his performance nationwide. Many of the delegations from states that did not hold primary elections favored his main rivals, Oscar Underwood of Alabama and Al Smith of New York, neither of whom won any primary elections. As well as the primaries that McAdoo did not win were won by "local sons" who stood no chance of winning the nomination, or in some cases were not even formal candidates. Once at the convention, the party was deadlocked for 102 straight ballots, before dark horse candidate John W. Davis, (who was not a formal candidate when he arrived at the convention) was chosen on the 103rd ballot. Davis went on to lose the election to Republican candidate Calvin Coolidge.

  1. ^ Kalb, Deborah (February 19, 2016). Guide to U.S. Elections – Google Books. ISBN 9781483380353. Retrieved February 19, 2016.