Election 1888 Results
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1888 presidential election results by state and county
Benjamin Harrison unseated Grover Cleveland, winning the Electoral College 233 to 168 by flipping New York and Indiana even though Cleveland led the popular vote.
Benjamin Harrison (Republican) beat Grover Cleveland in 1888, winning 233 electoral votes to 168. Grover Cleveland carried 18 states and Benjamin Harrison 20. Across the states, the Democratic and Republican vote came to 5,536,906 and 5,443,625 (D+0.8 of all votes cast).
The closest states were Connecticut (D+0.2), West Virginia (D+0.3) and Indiana (R+0.4). 2 states changed party from 1884: Indiana to the Republicans and New York to the Republicans.
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 1888 presidential election
Cleveland made the tariff the central issue of his re-election campaign, calling for lower duties. Republicans, who favored high protective tariffs, nominated Benjamin Harrison, a former senator from Indiana and grandson of President William Henry Harrison. Cleveland won more popular votes nationwide, but Harrison won where it mattered. Only two states changed hands from 1884, and both went Republican: Indiana, which Harrison carried by 0.4 points, and New York, Cleveland's home state, by 1.1. Those two states turned a Cleveland majority into a Harrison win of 233 electoral votes to 168. Cleveland held Connecticut by 0.2 points and West Virginia by 0.3, and again swept the South. The result was one of a small number of elections in which the popular-vote winner lost the presidency. Republicans also won control of both houses of Congress and went on to pass the McKinley Tariff of 1890. Cleveland left office expecting to return, and four years later he did.
Every state
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin | EV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Grover Cleveland | 117,314 (67.0%) | Benjamin Harrison | 57,177 (32.7%) | 594 | D+34.4 | 10 |
| Arkansas | Grover Cleveland | 86,062 (54.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 59,752 (38.0%) | Alson Streeter (Union Labor) 10,630 (6.8%) |
D+16.8 | 7 |
| California | Grover Cleveland | 117,729 (46.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 124,816 (49.7%) | 8,794 | R+2.8 | 8 |
| Colorado | Grover Cleveland | 37,549 (40.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 50,772 (55.2%) | 3,625 | R+14.4 | 3 |
| Connecticut | Grover Cleveland | 74,920 (48.7%) | Benjamin Harrison | 74,584 (48.4%) | 4,474 | D+0.2 | 6 |
| Delaware | Grover Cleveland | 16,414 (55.1%) | Benjamin Harrison | 12,950 (43.5%) | 400 | D+11.6 | 3 |
| Florida | Grover Cleveland | 39,557 (59.5%) | Benjamin Harrison | 26,529 (39.9%) | 414 | D+19.6 | 4 |
| Georgia | Grover Cleveland | 100,493 (70.4%) | Benjamin Harrison | 40,499 (28.4%) | 1,808 | D+42.0 | 12 |
| Illinois | Grover Cleveland | 348,351 (46.6%) | Benjamin Harrison | 370,475 (49.5%) | 28,987 | R+3.0 | 22 |
| Indiana flip | Grover Cleveland | 260,990 (48.6%) | Benjamin Harrison | 263,366 (49.0%) | 12,632 | R+0.4 | 15 |
| Iowa | Grover Cleveland | 179,876 (44.4%) | Benjamin Harrison | 211,607 (52.3%) | 13,207 | R+7.8 | 13 |
| Kansas | Grover Cleveland | 102,745 (31.0%) | Benjamin Harrison | 182,904 (55.2%) | Alson Streeter (Union Labor) 37,788 (11.4%) |
R+24.2 | 9 |
| Kentucky | Grover Cleveland | 183,830 (53.3%) | Benjamin Harrison | 155,138 (45.0%) | 5,900 | D+8.3 | 13 |
| Louisiana | Grover Cleveland | 85,032 (73.4%) | Benjamin Harrison | 30,660 (26.5%) | 199 | D+46.9 | 8 |
| Maine | Grover Cleveland | 50,472 (39.4%) | Benjamin Harrison | 73,730 (57.5%) | 4,051 | R+18.1 | 6 |
| Maryland | Grover Cleveland | 106,188 (50.3%) | Benjamin Harrison | 99,986 (47.4%) | 4,767 | D+2.9 | 8 |
| Massachusetts | Grover Cleveland | 151,590 (44.0%) | Benjamin Harrison | 183,892 (53.4%) | 8,761 | R+9.4 | 14 |
| Michigan | Grover Cleveland | 213,328 (44.9%) | Benjamin Harrison | 236,384 (49.7%) | 25,500 | R+4.9 | 13 |
| Minnesota | Grover Cleveland | 104,385 (39.6%) | Benjamin Harrison | 142,492 (54.1%) | Clinton B. Fisk (Prohibition) 15,311 (5.8%) |
R+14.5 | 7 |
| Mississippi | Grover Cleveland | 85,451 (73.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 30,095 (26.0%) | 240 | D+47.8 | 9 |
| Missouri | Grover Cleveland | 261,943 (50.2%) | Benjamin Harrison | 236,252 (45.3%) | 23,165 | D+4.9 | 16 |
| Nebraska | Grover Cleveland | 80,552 (39.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 108,417 (53.5%) | 13,661 | R+13.8 | 5 |
| Nevada | Grover Cleveland | 5,149 (41.9%) | Benjamin Harrison | 7,088 (57.7%) | 41 | R+15.8 | 3 |
| New Hampshire | Grover Cleveland | 43,382 (47.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 45,734 (50.4%) | 1,596 | R+2.6 | 4 |
| New Jersey | Grover Cleveland | 151,493 (49.9%) | Benjamin Harrison | 144,347 (47.5%) | 7,794 | D+2.4 | 9 |
| New York flip | Grover Cleveland | 635,965 (48.2%) | Benjamin Harrison | 650,338 (49.3%) | 33,445 | R+1.1 | 36 |
| North Carolina | Grover Cleveland | 147,902 (51.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 134,784 (47.2%) | 2,877 | D+4.6 | 11 |
| Ohio | Grover Cleveland | 395,456 (47.1%) | Benjamin Harrison | 416,055 (49.6%) | 27,847 | R+2.5 | 23 |
| Oregon | Grover Cleveland | 26,518 (42.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 33,291 (53.8%) | 2,080 | R+10.9 | 3 |
| Pennsylvania | Grover Cleveland | 446,633 (44.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 526,091 (52.7%) | 24,844 | R+8.0 | 30 |
| Rhode Island | Grover Cleveland | 17,530 (43.0%) | Benjamin Harrison | 21,969 (53.9%) | 1,276 | R+10.9 | 4 |
| South Carolina | Grover Cleveland | 65,824 (82.3%) | Benjamin Harrison | 13,736 (17.2%) | 437 | D+65.1 | 9 |
| Tennessee | Grover Cleveland | 158,699 (52.3%) | Benjamin Harrison | 138,978 (45.8%) | 6,017 | D+6.5 | 12 |
| Texas | Grover Cleveland | 234,883 (65.7%) | Benjamin Harrison | 88,422 (24.7%) | Alson Streeter (Union Labor) 29,459 (8.2%) |
D+41.0 | 13 |
| Vermont | Grover Cleveland | 16,788 (25.6%) | Benjamin Harrison | 45,192 (69.0%) | 3,472 | R+43.4 | 4 |
| Virginia | Grover Cleveland | 152,004 (50.0%) | Benjamin Harrison | 150,399 (49.5%) | 1,684 | D+0.5 | 12 |
| West Virginia | Grover Cleveland | 78,677 (49.3%) | Benjamin Harrison | 78,171 (49.0%) | 2,592 | D+0.3 | 6 |
| Wisconsin | Grover Cleveland | 155,232 (43.8%) | Benjamin Harrison | 176,553 (49.8%) | 22,829 | R+6.0 | 11 |
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.