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Election 1880 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

1880 presidential election results by state and county

James A. Garfield beat fellow Civil War general Winfield Scott Hancock in one of the closest popular votes on record, while winning the Electoral College 214 to 155.

James A. Garfield (Republican) beat Winfield Scott Hancock in 1880, winning 214 electoral votes to 155. Winfield Scott Hancock carried 19 states and James A. Garfield 19. Across the states, the Democratic and Republican vote came to 4,445,303 and 4,453,914 (R+0.1 of all votes cast).

The closest states were California (D+0.1), New Jersey (D+0.8) and Indiana (R+1.4). 8 states changed party from 1876: California to the Democrats, Connecticut to the Republicans, Florida to the Democrats, Indiana to the Republicans, Louisiana to the Democrats, Nevada to the Democrats, New York to the Republicans and South Carolina to the Democrats.

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Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

About the 1880 presidential election

Republicans nominated James A. Garfield, an Ohio congressman, as a compromise after a long convention fight. Democrats chose Winfield Scott Hancock, a Union general admired for his conduct at Gettysburg. With Reconstruction over, the South now voted solidly Democratic, so the contest came down to a handful of Northern states. The popular vote was almost even, with Garfield ahead by a few thousand votes out of more than nine million. The Electoral College was clearer: Garfield won 214 votes to Hancock's 155, with each man carrying 19 states. Garfield's decisive gains were New York, which he won by 1.9 points, and Indiana, by 1.4, both of which had backed Tilden four years earlier. Hancock picked up California, by about a tenth of a point, and also took Nevada, New Jersey and the Southern states. Garfield served only a few months. He was shot by a disappointed office seeker in July 1881 and died that September, leaving Chester A. Arthur as president. His death helped bring about the Pendleton Act of 1883, which began the federal civil service merit system.

Every state

StateDemocratVotesRepublicanVotesOthersMargin EV
Alabama Winfield Scott Hancock91,130 (60.0%) James A. Garfield56,350 (37.1%) 4,422 D+22.9 10
Arkansas Winfield Scott Hancock60,775 (56.6%) James A. Garfield42,436 (39.6%) 4,079 D+17.1 6
California flip Winfield Scott Hancock80,426 (49.0%) James A. Garfield80,282 (48.9%) 3,510 D+0.1 6
Colorado Winfield Scott Hancock24,647 (46.0%) James A. Garfield27,450 (51.3%) 1,449 R+5.2 3
Connecticut flip Winfield Scott Hancock64,411 (48.5%) James A. Garfield67,071 (50.5%) 1,277 R+2.0 6
Delaware Winfield Scott Hancock15,181 (51.5%) James A. Garfield14,148 (48.0%) 129 D+3.5 3
Florida flip Winfield Scott Hancock27,964 (54.2%) James A. Garfield23,654 (45.8%) D+8.4 4
Georgia Winfield Scott Hancock102,470 (65.5%) James A. Garfield54,086 (34.5%) D+30.9 11
Illinois Winfield Scott Hancock277,321 (44.6%) James A. Garfield318,036 (51.1%) 26,948 R+6.5 21
Indiana flip Winfield Scott Hancock225,523 (47.9%) James A. Garfield232,169 (49.3%) 13,066 R+1.4 15
Iowa Winfield Scott Hancock105,845 (32.7%) James A. Garfield183,927 (56.9%) James B. Weaver (Greenback) 32,701 (10.1%)
R+24.1 11
Kansas Winfield Scott Hancock59,801 (29.7%) James A. Garfield121,549 (60.4%) James B. Weaver (Greenback) 19,851 (9.9%)
R+30.7 5
Kentucky Winfield Scott Hancock148,875 (55.7%) James A. Garfield106,490 (39.9%) 11,739 D+15.9 12
Louisiana flip Winfield Scott Hancock65,047 (62.3%) James A. Garfield38,978 (37.3%) 437 D+25.0 8
Maine Winfield Scott Hancock65,171 (45.3%) James A. Garfield74,039 (51.5%) 4,639 R+6.2 7
Maryland Winfield Scott Hancock93,706 (54.2%) James A. Garfield78,515 (45.4%) 818 D+8.8 8
Massachusetts Winfield Scott Hancock111,960 (39.6%) James A. Garfield165,198 (58.5%) 5,347 R+18.8 13
Michigan Winfield Scott Hancock131,597 (37.3%) James A. Garfield185,341 (52.5%) James B. Weaver (Greenback) 34,895 (9.9%)
R+15.2 11
Minnesota Winfield Scott Hancock53,314 (35.4%) James A. Garfield93,939 (62.3%) 3,553 R+26.9 5
Mississippi Winfield Scott Hancock75,750 (65.1%) James A. Garfield34,854 (29.9%) 5,797 D+35.1 8
Missouri Winfield Scott Hancock208,609 (52.1%) James A. Garfield153,567 (38.4%) James B. Weaver (Greenback) 35,135 (8.8%)
D+13.8 15
Nebraska Winfield Scott Hancock28,523 (32.7%) James A. Garfield54,979 (62.9%) 3,853 R+30.3 3
Nevada flip Winfield Scott Hancock9,611 (52.4%) James A. Garfield8,732 (47.6%) D+4.8 3
New Hampshire Winfield Scott Hancock40,797 (47.2%) James A. Garfield44,856 (51.9%) 708 R+4.7 5
New Jersey Winfield Scott Hancock122,565 (49.8%) James A. Garfield120,555 (49.0%) 2,808 D+0.8 9
New York flip Winfield Scott Hancock534,511 (48.4%) James A. Garfield555,544 (50.3%) 13,890 R+1.9 35
North Carolina Winfield Scott Hancock124,204 (51.5%) James A. Garfield115,616 (48.0%) 1,126 D+3.6 10
Ohio Winfield Scott Hancock340,867 (47.0%) James A. Garfield375,048 (51.7%) 9,069 R+4.7 22
Oregon Winfield Scott Hancock19,955 (48.9%) James A. Garfield20,619 (50.5%) 267 R+1.6 3
Pennsylvania Winfield Scott Hancock407,428 (46.6%) James A. Garfield444,704 (50.8%) 22,651 R+4.3 29
Rhode Island Winfield Scott Hancock10,779 (36.9%) James A. Garfield18,195 (62.2%) 261 R+25.4 4
South Carolina flip Winfield Scott Hancock112,312 (65.7%) James A. Garfield58,071 (34.0%) 566 D+31.7 7
Tennessee Winfield Scott Hancock129,360 (53.3%) James A. Garfield107,274 (44.2%) 5,993 D+9.1 12
Texas Winfield Scott Hancock156,428 (64.7%) James A. Garfield57,893 (23.9%) James B. Weaver (Greenback) 27,405 (11.3%)
D+40.8 8
Vermont Winfield Scott Hancock18,316 (28.1%) James A. Garfield45,567 (70.0%) 1,215 R+41.9 5
Virginia Winfield Scott Hancock128,083 (60.5%) James A. Garfield83,533 (39.5%) D+21.1 11
West Virginia Winfield Scott Hancock57,391 (50.9%) James A. Garfield46,243 (41.0%) James B. Weaver (Greenback) 9,079 (8.1%)
D+9.9 5
Wisconsin Winfield Scott Hancock114,650 (42.9%) James A. Garfield144,406 (54.1%) 7,986 R+11.1 10

Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). Maine and Nebraska are shown whole, without their district votes. By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area, so its county detail is an estimate. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.

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