1860 United States presidential election in California explained

See main article: 1860 United States presidential election.

The 1860 United States presidential election in California took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

California narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, former Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln. He defeated the Democratic nominee, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the Southern Democratic nominee, Vice President John C. Breckinridge and the Constitutional Union nominee John Bell. Lincoln won the state by a narrow margin of 0.61%, or 734 votes.

After this election, Humboldt County would not vote for a Democratic candidate again until 1932. This was also the last time a Democratic candidate would carry Placer County and Plumas County until 1916, nor would any Democratic candidate carry Napa County, San Mateo County, and Solano County again until 1912.

Results

+ General Election Results[1]	Party		Pledged to	Elector	Votes
	Republican Party	Abraham Lincoln	Charles A. Tuttle	38,734
	Republican Party	Abraham Lincoln	Charles Washburn	38,733
	Republican Party	Abraham Lincoln	W. H. Weeks	38,720
	Republican Party	Abraham Lincoln	Antonio M. Pico	38,699
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Stephen A. Douglas	Humphrey Griffith	38,023
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Stephen A. Douglas	R. P. Hammond	37,999
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Stephen A. Douglas	George F. Price	37,959
bgcolor=		Democratic Party	Stephen A. Douglas	Pablo de la Guerra	37,957
	Southern Democratic	John C. Breckinridge	Allen P. Dudley	33,975
	Southern Democratic	John C. Breckinridge	Vincent E. Geiger	33,970
	Southern Democratic	John C. Breckinridge	Zach Montgomery	33,970
	Southern Democratic	John C. Breckinridge	Antonio T. Coronel	33,969
	Constitutional Union	John Bell	Phineas L. Miner	9,136
	Constitutional Union	John Bell	J. B. Crockett	9,111
	Constitutional Union	John Bell	G. W. Bowie	9,110
	Constitutional Union	John Bell	James H. Lander	9,098
	Write-in		Scattering	17
Votes cast				119,885

Results by County

County! colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"

Abraham Lincoln Republican	Stephen A. Douglas Democratic		John C. Breckinridge Southern Democratic		John Bell Constitutional Union		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total Votes Cast
	%		%		%		%		%			%
	Alameda		1,033		49.40%		513		24.53%		481		23.00%		62		2.97%		2		0.10%		520		24.87%		2,091
	Amador		995		24.97%		1,866		46.84%		945		23.72%		178		4.47%		0		0.00%		-871		-21.86%		3,984
	Butte		1,437		32.38%		1,502		33.84%		1,173		26.43%		326		7.35%		0		0.00%		-65		-1.46%		4,438
	Calaveras		978		20.30%		1,883		39.08%		1,717		35.64%		240		4.98%		0		0.00%		-166		-3.45%		4,818
	Colusa		258		27.10%		235		24.68%		386		40.55%		73		7.67%		0		0.00%		-128		-13.45%		952
	Contra Costa		608		39.33%		413		26.71%		391		25.29%		134		8.67%		0		0.00%		195		12.61%		1,546
	Del Norte		175		33.72%		88		16.96%		217		41.81%		39		7.51%		0		0.00%		-42		-8.09%		519
	El Dorado		2,119		30.06%		2,695		38.23%		1,901		26.96%		334		4.74%		1		0.01%		-576		-8.17%		7,050
	Fresno		53		11.30%		22		4.69%		271		57.78%		123		26.23%		0		0.00%		-148		-31.56%		469
	Humboldt		335		32.49%		444		43.06%		232		22.50%		20		1.94%		0		0.00%		-109		-10.57%		1,031
	Klamath		92		13.77%		377		56.44%		163		24.40%		36		5.39%		0		0.00%		-214		-32.04%		668
	Los Angeles		352		20.51%		475		27.68%		688		40.09%		201		11.71%		0		0.00%		-213		-12.41%		1,716
	Marin		408		40.28%		282		27.84%		285		28.13%		38		3.75%		0		0.00%		123		12.14%		1,013
	Mariposa		262		13.90%		489		25.94%		815		43.24%		319		16.92%		0		0.00%		-326		-17.29%		1,885
	Mendocino		198		18.70%		235		22.19%		499		47.12%		116		10.95%		11		1.04%		-264		-24.93%		1,059
	Merced		42		10.74%		52		13.30%		233		59.59%		64		16.37%		0		0.00%		-169		-43.22%		391
	Monterey		306		38.64%		233		29.42%		246		31.06%		4		0.51%		3		0.38%		60		7.58%		792
	Napa		441		24.79%		518		29.12%		679		38.17%		141		7.93%		0		0.00%		-161		-9.05%		1,779
	Nevada		2,539		36.45%		2,373		34.07%		1,653		23.73%		400		5.74%		0		0.00%		166		2.38%		6,965
	Placer		1,743		29.93%		1,858		31.90%		1,448		24.86%		775		13.31%		0		0.00%		-115		-1.97%		5,824
	Plumas		458		28.18%		503		30.95%		453		27.88%		211		12.98%		0		0.00%		-45		-2.77%		1,625
	Sacramento		2,670		35.40%		2,836		37.60%		1,684		22.33%		352		4.67%		0		0.00%		-166		-2.20%		7,542
	San Bernardino		305		37.24%		224		27.35%		192		23.44%		98		11.97%		0		0.00%		81		9.89%		819
	San Diego		81		30.45%		29		10.90%		148		55.64%		8		3.01%		0		0.00%		-67		-25.19%		266
	San Francisco		6,825		47.53%		4,035		28.10%		2,560		17.83%		940		6.55%		0		0.00%		2,790		19.43%		14,360
	San Joaquin		1,131		32.92%		733		21.33%		1,373		39.96%		199		5.79%		0		0.00%		-242		-7.04%		3,436
	San Luis Obispo		148		34.99%		120		28.37%		155		36.64%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		-7		-1.65%		423
	San Mateo		389		35.27%		543		49.23%		130		11.79%		41		3.72%		0		0.00%		-154		-13.96%		1,103
	Santa Barbara		46		9.70%		305		64.35%		123		25.95%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		-182		-38.40%		474
	Santa Clara		1,463		46.05%		881		27.73%		722		22.73%		111		3.49%		0		0.00%		582		18.32%		3,177
	Santa Cruz		670		47.72%		286		20.37%		319		22.72%		129		9.19%		0		0.00%		351		25.00%		1,404
	Shasta		464		19.37%		1,094		45.68%		585		24.43%		252		10.52%		0		0.00%		-509		-21.25%		2,395
	Sierra		1,468		30.95%		1,539		32.45%		1,347		28.40%		389		8.20%		0		0.00%		-71		-1.50%		4,743
	Siskiyou		955		25.58%		1,503		40.25%		760		20.35%		516		13.82%		0		0.00%		-548		-14.68%		3,734
	Solano		681		29.33%		603		25.97%		746		32.13%		292		12.58%		0		0.00%		-65		-2.80%		2,322
	Sonoma		1,236		32.85%		611		16.24%		1,467		38.98%		449		11.93%		0		0.00%		-231		-6.14%		3,763
	Stanislaus		167		18.58%		232		25.81%		433		48.16%		67		7.45%		0		0.00%		-201		-22.36%		899
	Sutter		403		30.44%		441		33.31%		440		33.23%		40		3.02%		0		0.00%		-1		-0.08%		1,324
	Tehama		243		18.65%		496		38.07%		311		23.87%		253		19.42%		0		0.00%		-185		-14.20%		1,303
	Trinity		593		27.62%		885		41.22%		516		24.03%		153		7.13%		0		0.00%		-292		-13.60%		2,147
	Tulare		131		9.89%		211		15.94%		574		43.35%		408		30.82%		0		0.00%		-166		-12.54%		1,324
	Tuolumne		1,633		29.47%		1,503		27.12%		2,034		36.70%		372		6.71%		0		0.00%		-401		-7.24%		5,542
	Yolo		535		31.25%		497		29.03%		606		35.40%		74		4.32%		0		0.00%		-71		-4.15%		1,712
	Yuba		1,665		32.92%		1,360		26.89%		1,874		37.05%		159		3.14%		0		0.00%		-209		-4.13%		5,058
Total	38,734	32.31%	38,023	31.72%	33,975	28.34%	9,136	7.62%	17	0.01%	711	0.59%	119,885

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Alameda
• Contra Costa
• Marin
• Monterey
• Nevada
• San Bernardino
• San Francisco
• Santa Cruz

Counties that flipped from Know Nothing to Democratic

• Colusa
• Yolo

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• San Luis Obispo
• Santa Barbara

Notes and References

1. Statement of votes polled at a General Election Held in the State of California, on the Sixth day of November, A.D. 1860