| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() County Results
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Elections in Kentucky |
---|
![]() |
![]() |
The 1860 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.[1]
Kentucky was won by the Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 45.18% of the popular vote, against 14th Vice President of the United States John C. Breckinridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 36.35% of the popular vote and the 15th Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 17.54% of the popular vote.[1]
Despite former representative Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) having been born and raised for the first five years of his life in Kentucky, he came in a distant fourth, failing to win 1% of the vote. Even worse, Lincoln failed to win LaRue County, the location of his birth. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Clay County and Owsley County voted for a Democratic candidate.
Lincoln's support came from German-Americans and the mountainous counties.[2]
Results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Constitutional Union | John Bell | 66,058 | 45.18% | |
Southern Democratic | John C. Breckinridge | 53,143 | 36.35% | |
Democratic | Stephen A. Douglas | 25,651 | 17.54% | |
Republican | Abraham Lincoln | 1,364 | 0.93% | |
Total votes | 146,216 | 100% |
References
Works cited
- Abbott, Richard (1986). The Republican Party and the South, 1855-1877: The First Southern Strategy. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807816809.