1872 United States presidential election in California explained

See main article: 1872 United States presidential election.

The 1872 United States presidential election in California was held on November 5, 1872, as part of the 1872 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. As was standard at the time, voters chose electors directly rather than simply voting for their party's candidate.

California voted for the Republican incumbent, Ulysses S. Grant, over the Liberal Republican nominee, New York Tribune publisher Horace Greeley.

Results

+ General Election Results[1]	Party		Pledged to	Elector	Votes
	Republican Party	Ulysses S. Grant	C. Spreckles	51,181
	Republican Party	Ulysses S. Grant	J. E. Hale	51,162
	Republican Party	Ulysses S. Grant	J. O. Goodwin	51,157
	Republican Party	Ulysses S. Grant	J. F. Miller	51,151
	Republican Party	Ulysses S. Grant	J. B. Felton	51,149
	Republican Party	Ulysses S. Grant	T. H. Rose	51,140
	Liberal Republican Party	Horace Greeley	J. C. Shorb	39,060
	Liberal Republican Party	Horace Greeley	Jo Hamilton	39,006
	Liberal Republican Party	Horace Greeley	John Yule	38,972
	Liberal Republican Party	Horace Greeley	F. M. Pixley	38,962
	Liberal Republican Party	Horace Greeley	Peter Donahue	38,954
	Liberal Republican Party	Horace Greeley	F. H. Rosenbaum	38,931
	Straight-Out Democratic Party	Charles O'Conor	J. Mora Moss	920
	Straight-Out Democratic Party	Charles O'Conor	Z. Montgomery	915
	Straight-Out Democratic Party	Charles O'Conor	A. J. King	905
	Straight-Out Democratic Party	Charles O'Conor	W. J. Graves	903
	Straight-Out Democratic Party	Charles O'Conor	John Nugent	883
	Straight-Out Democratic Party	Charles O'Conor	M. R. C. Pullen	880
	Write-in		Scattering	226
Votes cast				91,387

Results by county

County	Ulysses S. Grant Republican		Horace Greeley Liberal Republican		Charles O'Conor Straight-Out Democratic		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%
	Alameda		2,564		67.21%		1,228		32.19%		23		0.60%		0		0.00%		1,336		35.02%		3,815
	Alpine		89		64.49%		38		27.54%		11		7.97%		0		0.00%		51		36.96%		138
	Amador		994		55.81%		766		43.01%		13		0.73%		8		0.45%		228		12.80%		1,781
	Butte		1,204		56.95%		816		38.60%		90		4.26%		4		0.19%		388		18.35%		2,114
	Calaveras		908		54.18%		751		44.81%		17		1.01%		0		0.00%		157		9.37%		1,676
	Colusa		490		49.54%		499		50.46%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		−9		−0.91%		989
	Contra Costa		958		67.51%		461		32.49%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		497		35.02%		1,419
	Del Norte		169		54.87%		139		45.13%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		30		9.74%		308
	El Dorado		1,309		52.30%		1,093		43.67%		101		4.04%		0		0.00%		216		8.63%		2,503
	Fresno		111		31.90%		237		68.10%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		−126		−36.21%		348
	Humboldt[2]		993		70.18%		403		28.48%		19		1.34%		0		0.00%		590		41.70%		1,415
	Inyo		206		53.93%		176		46.07%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		30		7.85%		382
	Kern		175		38.04%		285		61.96%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		−110		−23.91%		460
	Klamath		83		40.49%		122		59.51%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		−39		−19.02%		205
	Lake		202		36.14%		355		63.51%		2		0.36%		0		0.00%		−153		−7.37%		559
	Lassen		182		66.67%		91		33.33%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		91		33.33%		273
	Los Angeles		1,312		47.23%		1,229		44.24%		236		8.50%		1		0.04%		83		2.99%		2,778
	Marin		600		66.52%		301		33.37%		1		0.11%		0		0.00%		299		33.15%		902
	Mariposa		399		52.29%		364		47.71%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		35		4.59%		763
	Mendocino		662		45.28%		725		49.59%		69		4.72%		6		0.41%		−63		−4.31%		1,462
	Merced		263		40.90%		380		59.10%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		−117		−18.20%		643
	Mono		88		63.77%		50		36.23%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		38		27.54%		138
	Monterey		1,154		53.62%		976		45.35%		22		1.02%		0		0.00%		178		8.27%		2,152
	Napa		900		61.18%		552		37.53%		19		1.29%		0		0.00%		348		23.66%		1,471
	Nevada		2,039		58.51%		1,437		41.23%		9		0.26%		0		0.00%		602		17.27%		3,485
	Placer		1,416		62.24%		838		36.84%		11		0.48%		10		0.44%		578		25.41%		2,275
	Plumas		512		64.65%		280		35.35%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		232		29.29%		792
	Sacramento		3,390		69.70%		1,469		30.20%		5		0.10%		0		0.00%		1,921		39.49%		4,864
	San Bernardino		318		53.74%		189		30.05%		102		16.22%		0		0.00%		149		23.69%		629
	San Diego		513		57.45%		360		40.31%		20		2.24%		0		0.00%		153		17.13%		893
	San Francisco		11,811		51.02%		11,185		48.32%		0		0.00%		154		0.67%		626		2.70%		23,150
	San Joaquin		1,784		57.40%		1,312		42.21%		12		0.39%		0		0.00%		472		15.19%		3,108
	San Luis Obispo		461		55.01%		321		38.31%		56		6.68%		0		0.00%		140		16.71%		838
	San Mateo		648		68.14%		303		31.86%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		345		36.28%		951
	Santa Barbara		692		58.94%		482		41.06%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		210		17.89%		1,174
	Santa Clara		2,218		56.96%		1,670		42.89%		6		0.15%		0		0.00%		548		14.07%		3,894
	Santa Cruz		1,029		66.99%		470		30.60%		37		2.41%		0		0.00%		559		36.39%		1,536
	Shasta		539		62.38%		282		32.64%		43		4.98%		0		0.00%		257		29.75%		864
	Sierra		925		71.21%		374		28.79%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		551		42.42%		1,299
	Siskiyou		709		51.68%		663		48.32%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		46		3.35%		1,372
	Solano		2,412		65.61%		1,257		34.19%		7		0.19%		0		0.00%		1,155		31.42%		3,676
	Sonoma		1,703		50.24%		1,601		47.23%		46		1.36%		40		1.18%		102		3.01%		3,390
	Stanislaus		464		41.06%		666		58.94%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		−202		−17.88%		1,130
	Sutter		495		62.50%		276		34.85%		19		2.40%		2		0.25%		219		27.65%		792
	Tehama		400		62.60%		235		36.78%		4		0.63%		0		0.00%		165		25.82%		639
	Trinity		345		52.75%		307		46.94%		2		0.31%		0		0.00%		38		5.81%		654
	Tulare		395		44.23%		498		55.77%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		−103		−11.53%		893
	Tuolumne		810		51.20%		726		45.89%		46		2.91%		0		0.00%		84		5.31%		1,582
	Yolo		841		53.74%		711		45.43%		12		0.77%		1		0.06%		130		8.31%		1,565
	Yuba		1,158		57.53%		852		42.32%		3		0.15%		0		0.00%		306		15.20%		2,013
Total	51,181	56.00%	39,060	42.74%	920	1.01%	226	0.25%	12,121	13.26%	91,387

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Amador
• Del Norte
• El Dorado
• Los Angeles
• Mariposa
• Monterey
• San Bernardino
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Santa Clara
• Siskiyou
• Sonoma
• Tehama
• Tuolumne
• Yolo

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Liberal Republican

• Colusa
• Fresno
• Kern
• Klamath
• Lake
• Mendocino
• Merced
• Shasta
• Stanislaus
• Tulare

Notes and References

1. A Statement of the votes polled at the General Election held throughout the State on Tuesday November 5th A.D. 1872 for Presidential Electors
2. Web site: Official Returns . California Digital Newspaper Collection . Sacramento Daily Union. 18 June 2024 . en . 26 Nov 1872.