| Well, the time has come again---for that
quadrennial circus we call a presidential election. The
political parties have once more discovered the definitive cures
for our nation's ills. And the opposing candidates scramble to
declare that indoor plumbing was an unattainable luxury during
their poverty-plagued childhoods.
One day, while seeking refuge from sound bites and spin
doctors, I became curious as to how Jo Daviess County has
reacted historically to this presidential jousting. I decided to
survey the voting results of twenty-two elections---from Lincoln
vs. Douglas in 1860, to Franklin Roosevelt vs. Tom Dewey in
1944. Utilizing statistics gleaned from the Galena newspapers, I
was able to draw a number of conclusions about the voting
behavior and preferences of Jo Daviess County and its individual
townships.
Jo Daviess County customarily followed the
Republicans---nineteen of the twenty-two elections going to the
candidates of the GOP. Overall, the party received an average of
55.8% of the county's vote. Two townships, Elizabeth and
Stockton, were carried by the Republicans in every election,
1860-1944. Five others: Council Hill, Hanover, Scales Mound,
Warren, and Woodbine were strictly GOP domains except for
solitary victories by Progressive third parties. In terms of
voting percentages, Council Hill Township was the county's
Republican stronghold---the party receiving an average of 76% of
the vote, to the Democrat's 18.9%, a margin of 57.1%
The three successful Democratic candidates in Jo Daviess
County were Grover Cleveland in 1892; Woodrow Wilson in 1912;
and Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. However, on average, their party
received just 39.4% of the county's vote in the twenty-two
elections surveyed. The strength of the Democratic Party was
centered in the northwestern corner of the county, an area
dominated by Irish and German Catholic voters, and also
influenced by Democratic Dubuque to the west. Five townships
were statistically Democratic: Menominee (78.4% of vote
Democratic); Vinegar Hill (58.9%); Dunleith (53.4%); West Galena
(49.0%); and East Galena (48.3%). Guilford Township can also be
added to this cluster---for although statistically Republican by
only 1.7% of the vote, this township was carried by the
Democrats in twelve of the twenty-two elections.
The county's Democratic powerhouse, Menominee Township,
spurned the Republicans by an average margin of 60.5% of the
vote. Even a local hero, Ulysses Grant, found Menominee
inhospitable. For example, in Grant's 1872 try for a second
term, Menominee gave Democratic candidate Horace Greeley 110
votes---and President Grant, a mere 7 votes. And in East Galena,
home of the President, Greeley won 53% of the vote. What a way
to treat a neighbor!
Democratic Galena provided other surprises. In 1864, in the
midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln sought his second term.
Galena's military men were off chasing glory and Confederates.
But back home, Democratic candidate George McClellan was
defeating Mr. Lincoln in both West Galena (55% to 45%) and East
Galena (51% to 49%). Stunning figures, considering Galena's
Civil War-era reputation!!
But even though the Democratic townships of the northwest
were piling up margins of victory, the county's political war
was won by the Republican margins in the eighteen townships to
the south and east. These townships, with their strong Yankee
and German Protestant polulations, assured the Republicans that
Jo Daviess County would likely remain in their column.
If Jo Daviess County had a "representative
township" in the course of this survey, it was Apple River.
Its voting percentages for the respective parties most closely
matched those of the county as a whole.
Two third party campaigns showed significant strength in Jo
Daviess County---each earning 34% of the popular vote. In 1912,
Theodore Roosevelt and his Progressive "Bull Moose"
party carried seven townships. And in 1924, "Fighting
Bob" LaFollette's Progressives won five. Twelve of the
county's twenty-three townships were carried by third party
candidates---but no townships more than once.
And did the county go with the winners? Jo Daviess supported
seventeen of the twenty-two successful presidential candidates.
Those men attaining the office without carrying the county were:
Grover Cleveland (1884); Woodrow Wilson (1916); and Franklin
Roosevelt (1936,1940 & 1944).
The favorite candidate of Jo Daviess County was Republican
Warren Harding, who in 1920 received 79% of the vote. This
particular election was the first in which women were allowed to
participate. The least popular candidate was Democrat John
Davis, who in 1924 received only 15% of the total vote. Poor Mr.
Davis was no doubt a victim of Calvin Coolidge's overwhelming
charisma.
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