Ever sincethe disfranchisement of blacksat the beginning of the 1890s, Florida had been a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. The disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by poll taxes in 1889 had left the Republican Party – between 1872 and 1888 dependent upon black votes – virtually extinct. With the single exception of William Howard Taft’s win in Calhoun County in 1908 the Democratic Party won every county in Florida in every presidential election from 1892 until 1916. Only twice – and never for more than one term – did any Republican serve in either house ofthe state legislature between 1896 and 1928. Despite this Democratic dominance and the restrictions on the franchise of the poorer classes due to the poll tax, significant socialist movements were to develop and persist in Tampa and to a lesser extent over other parts of the state, especially against the powerful Ku Klux Klan. There was also a powerful Prohibitionist movements in older North Florida, which saw the Prohibition Party even win the governorship for one term under the notorious anti-Catholic minister Sidney J. Catts. The 1920 presidential election saw Warren Harding, aided substantially by isolationist sentiment in the region, gain more support in the former Confederacy than any Republican since black disfranchisement, in the process winning three Florida counties.
Vote
Owing to a decline in voter turnout, and an easing of isolationist feelings, Coolidge was unable to match Harding’s percentage of the vote. However, vis-à-vis Harding’s performance in this one-party southern state, Coolidge’s losing margin was 2.53 percentage points smaller, and he did make small gains amongst the small but increasing flow of Northeastern migrants moving to Florida’s hot climate. Although he did not manage to hold Broward County or Osceola County, where Harding gained pluralities in 1920, Coolidge did become the first Republican to ever carry Pinellas County. Despite the fact that the Republican Party had never gained 31 percent of Florida’s vote in a presidential election since the poll tax was introduced, 1924 remains,, the last time a Democratic presidential candidate has carried Florida without winning the presidency. As of 2016, it would also be the last time that the Republican presidential candidate who won the election would not carry the state of Florida. Passionate anti-Catholic feelings in the Piney Woods region would turn the presidential electoral votes of this one-party state against urban Catholic Al Smith in 1928, and since World War II, the state has become a consistent bellwether in presidential elections. In fact, it has only backed the loser of the presidential election in both 1960 and 1992, respectively. Florida would proved to be the strongest state for Prohibition Party candidate Herman Faris, who won 5.04% of the popular vote.
