13 0 46.65% 46.27% | 466,289 462,516 Start date November 7, 1916 | |
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The 1916 United States presidential election in California refers to how California participated in the 1916 United States presidential election. California narrowly voted for the Democratic incumbent, Woodrow Wilson, over the Republican nominee, Associate Justice Charles Evans Hughes.
Although very close, this was not as close as the previous election or the equally critical 1892 election in the Golden State, and was only the third-closest state in a thrilling election behind New Hampshire and Minnesota. Following on from breaking half-a-dozen county droughts in 1912, Wilson became the first Democrat to carry Santa Barbara County and Plumas County since Stephen A. Douglas in 1860, and the first to carry the counties of Santa Cruz and Placer since James Buchanan in 1856. Had Hughes won California, he would have won the election despite losing the popular vote.