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447 members of the Electoral College 224 electoral votes needed to win | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 73.7%[1] 5.9 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by McKinley/Roosevelt, blue denotes those won by Bryan/Stevenson. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1900. Incumbent Republican President William McKinley defeated his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan. McKinley's victory made him the eighth president to win consecutive re-election[2] and first since Ulysses S. Grant accomplished the same feat in 1872. Until 1956, this would be the last time in which an incumbent Republican president would win re-election after serving a full term in office. This election saw the fifth rematch in presidential history but the first to produce the same winner both times; neither would occur again until 1956.
McKinley and Bryan each faced little opposition within their own parties. Although some Gold Democrats explored the possibility of a campaign by Admiral George Dewey, Bryan was easily re-nominated at the 1900 Democratic National Convention after Dewey withdrew from the race. McKinley was unanimously re-nominated at the 1900 Republican National Convention. As Vice President Garret Hobart had died in 1899, the Republican convention chose New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt as McKinley's running mate.
The return of economic prosperity and recent victory in the Spanish–American War helped McKinley score a decisive victory, while Bryan's anti-imperialist stance and continued support for bimetallism attracted only limited support.[3][4] McKinley carried most states outside of the Solid South and won 51.6% of the popular vote. The election results were similar to those of 1896, though McKinley picked up several Western states and Bryan picked up Kentucky.
Six months into his second term, McKinley was assassinated, and his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt, succeeded him.