What president won the most congressional districts?

[A18]

Ronald Reagan in 1984? Lyndon Johnson in 1964? FDR in 1932? Warren Harding in 1920?

[skybridge]

Nixon in 1972 won the most counties.

[Calthrina950]

Nixon in 1972 won the most counties.

I'm bumping this up to finally answer the question in this thread, although neither poster in this thread above me has been active for more than a decade. I recall reading somewhere that McGovern only won 56 congressional districts. In fact, the map below displays the results by congressional district that year:

As one can see, virtually all of McGovern's congressional districts were in urban areas. Out in the West, he carried that decade's version of OR-03 (Portland), that decade's version of CA-06 (Sacramento), that decade's versions of CA-13 (Oakland) and CA-14 (San Francisco), one other district in the Bay Area, and at least four districts in Los Angeles County. McGovern won only two congressional districts in the Old Confederacy-TX-18 (Houston) and TX-20 (San Antonio).

He carried one district in Baltimore, three districts in Minnesota (the Iron Range and the Twin Cities), three districts in Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Madison), at least five or six congressional districts in Chicago (Cook County), that decade's version of MO-01 (St. Louis), two districts in Michigan (Detroit), and three districts in Ohio (Akron, Cleveland, and Toledo). McGovern won at least three districts in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), one in New Jersey (Newark or Jersey City), and at least a dozen in New York City, along with one in Buffalo. Finally, he carried eleven of Massachusetts's twelve congressional districts; Massachusetts, of course, was the only state that he won. Nixon won every congressional district in 36 states.

[E-Dawg 🇺🇦🇦🇲]

Nixon in 1972 won the most counties.

I'm bumping this up to finally answer the question in this thread, although neither poster in this thread above me has been active for more than a decade. I recall reading somewhere that McGovern only won 56 congressional districts. In fact, the map below displays the results by congressional district that year:

As one can see, virtually all of McGovern's congressional districts were in urban areas. Out in the West, he carried that decade's version of OR-03 (Portland), that decade's version of CA-06 (Sacramento), that decade's versions of CA-13 (Oakland) and CA-14 (San Francisco), one other district in the Bay Area, and at least four districts in Los Angeles County. McGovern won only two congressional districts in the Old Confederacy-TX-18 (Houston) and TX-20 (San Antonio).

He carried one district in Baltimore, three districts in Minnesota (the Iron Range and the Twin Cities), three districts in Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Madison), at least five or six congressional districts in Chicago (Cook County), that decade's version of MO-01 (St. Louis), two districts in Michigan (Detroit), and three districts in Ohio (Akron, Cleveland, and Toledo). McGovern won at least three districts in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), one in New Jersey (Newark or Jersey City), and at least a dozen in New York City, along with one in Buffalo. Finally, he carried ten of Massachusetts's twelve congressional districts; Massachusetts, of course, was the only state that he won. Nixon won every congressional district in 36 states.

Is there a results by congressinal distrcit map for 1932 or 1936?

[Calthrina950]

Nixon in 1972 won the most counties.

I'm bumping this up to finally answer the question in this thread, although neither poster in this thread above me has been active for more than a decade. I recall reading somewhere that McGovern only won 56 congressional districts. In fact, the map below displays the results by congressional district that year:

As one can see, virtually all of McGovern's congressional districts were in urban areas. Out in the West, he carried that decade's version of OR-03 (Portland), that decade's version of CA-06 (Sacramento), that decade's versions of CA-13 (Oakland) and CA-14 (San Francisco), one other district in the Bay Area, and at least four districts in Los Angeles County. McGovern won only two congressional districts in the Old Confederacy-TX-18 (Houston) and TX-20 (San Antonio).

He carried one district in Baltimore, three districts in Minnesota (the Iron Range and the Twin Cities), three districts in Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Madison), at least five or six congressional districts in Chicago (Cook County), that decade's version of MO-01 (St. Louis), two districts in Michigan (Detroit), and three districts in Ohio (Akron, Cleveland, and Toledo). McGovern won at least three districts in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), one in New Jersey (Newark or Jersey City), and at least a dozen in New York City, along with one in Buffalo. Finally, he carried ten of Massachusetts's twelve congressional districts; Massachusetts, of course, was the only state that he won. Nixon won every congressional district in 36 states.

Is there a results by congressinal distrcit map for 1932 or 1936?

No. The map above was created by Election Maps Co., who used to post here as Fuzzybgfoot. It is on the Wikipedia article for the 1972 election. I think 1952 is the earliest election for which there is a congressional district results map available at Wikipedia.

[Calthrina950]

Building upon my previous post, here is the map of the 1964 election results by congressional district:

Lyndon B. Johnson, as I recall from reading in a CQ Press article that I no longer have access to, won 375 congressional districts. Barry Goldwater won 60 congressional districts. This is a very similar breakdown to that in the 1972 election, although Goldwater obviously won more counties (826) than McGovern (181). Like McGovern, Goldwater carried several districts in Los Angeles County. He also carried three congressional districts in Orange and San Diego Counties (both of which he won). Southern California was very conservative at the time and was more Republican than the national average that year.

Goldwater carried one of two districts in Idaho (Johnson's closest win that year) and NE-03. He only won one of the three congressional districts at the time in his home state of Arizona, encompassing all of Maricopa County. Maricopa County, of course, is what enabled him to narrowly win his home state. The majority of the congressional districts Goldwater carried were in the South, where he made the most significant breakthroughs for a Republican since Reconstruction. Goldwater carried one district in Oklahoma (Tulsa), TN-01 and TN-02 (the ancestral Republican seats) in Tennessee, one district in Kentucky, one district in North Carolina, and four districts in Virginia.

He won five of South Carolina's six congressional districts; seven of Georgia's ten congressional districts; all eight of Alabama's congressional districts; all five of Mississippi's congressional districts; and five of Louisiana's eight congressional districts. He also won six of Florida's thirteen congressional districts. Finally, Goldwater carried four congressional districts in Illinois, all of them in the then arch-conservative and arch-Republican Chicago suburbs. Johnson won every single congressional district in the Northeast, from Maryland to Maine. Goldwater did not win a single congressional district in 34 states, being shut out of almost as many states as McGovern was. 1964 and 1972 truly were partisan opposites of each other.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Not sure Reagan ‘84 is the answer, but I do know he was the only one to win the majority of CDs in each state including Minnesota. Nixon ‘72 only won one CD in Massachusetts.

[Calthrina950]

Not sure Reagan ‘84 is the answer, but I do know he was the only one to win the majority of CDs in each state including Minnesota. Nixon ‘72 only won one CD in Massachusetts.

It probably wasn't Reagan, as Mondale won some congressional districts that McGovern didn't and performed better in urban areas. I'll look at the 1984 CDs map later and see if I can determine approximately how many Mondale carried.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Not sure Reagan ‘84 is the answer, but I do know he was the only one to win the majority of CDs in each state including Minnesota. Nixon ‘72 only won one CD in Massachusetts.

It probably wasn't Reagan, as Mondale won some congressional districts that McGovern didn't and performed better in urban areas. I'll look at the 1984 CDs map later and see if I can determine approximately how many Mondale carried.

Now I’m wondering if maybe Roosevelt ‘36 is the answer….only lost two small states. His only narrow win was another small state. Only three more states were even in single digits. Landon did win more counties than Mondale though.

[Calthrina950]

Here's the 1984 congressional districts map from Wikipedia:

Walter Mondale, as I suspected, won more congressional districts than either Barry Goldwater or George McGovern. This isn't surprising, since Mondale received a higher percentage of the popular vote than either of the other two, despite winning fewer electoral votes than they did. By my count, Mondale carried 66 congressional districts. Ronald Reagan won 369. As noted above, Reagan is the only presidential candidate to have won a majority of congressional districts in every state; Johnson did not win any districts in either Alabama or Mississippi, and Nixon only carried one district in Massachusetts.

Mondale carried one district in Washington (Seattle); that decade's version of OR-03 (also carried by McGovern); three districts in the San Francisco Bay Area (two of which had been won by McGovern); and five districts in Los Angeles County, along with one district in San Diego County. He carried CO-01 (Denver), which McGovern had lost, and three districts in Texas (the two McGovern had won, along with one district in South Texas). Mondale carried one district in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee each, states where McGovern had been shut out.

He carried KY-07 in Eastern Kentucky and WV-03 in West Virginia (both of which had been lost by McGovern), three districts in Ohio (like McGovern), two districts in Indiana (Gary and Indianapolis), two districts in Missouri (St. Louis and Kansas City), four districts in Illinois (all in Cook County), one district in Iowa, three districts in Wisconsin (the same three carried by McGovern), three districts in Minnesota (the same three carried by McGovern), two districts in Michigan (Detroit, carried also by McGovern), six districts in Pennsylvania (including three or four in and around Pittsburgh that McGovern had lost), three districts in Maryland (Baltimore and D.C. suburbs), one district in New Jersey (Newark or Jersey City, carried also by McGovern), a dozen or so districts in New York City, one district in Buffalo (won also by McGovern), and three districts in Massachusetts.

[Calthrina950]

Not sure Reagan ‘84 is the answer, but I do know he was the only one to win the majority of CDs in each state including Minnesota. Nixon ‘72 only won one CD in Massachusetts.

It probably wasn't Reagan, as Mondale won some congressional districts that McGovern didn't and performed better in urban areas. I'll look at the 1984 CDs map later and see if I can determine approximately how many Mondale carried.

Now I’m wondering if maybe Roosevelt ‘36 is the answer….only lost two small states. His only narrow win was another small state. Only three more states were even in single digits. Landon did win more counties than Mondale though.

It probably was Roosevelt 1936, but no one has created a map depicting the results by congressional district for that year's election. If I had to guess, looking at that year's county map and comparing it to the CD map, Landon probably carried two districts in his home state of Kansas, at least five in ancestrally Republican Northern Illinois, at least one in Indiana, at least three or four in Michigan, one in Ohio, one in Kentucky, the two ancestral districts in East Tennessee, seven in Pennsylvania, at least seventeen in New York (Landon won the vast majority of counties in the state, as did Hoover, Wilkie, and Dewey), the at-large district of Vermont, one in New Hampshire, all three districts in Maine, three or four in Massachusetts, and at least two in New Jersey. That would give us approximately 50 congressional districts, fewer than carried by Goldwater, McGovern, or Mondale.

[brucejoel99]

I mean, Washington technically won all of the congressional districts that he was able to contest, insofar as the 6 (out of 13 & then 15) states that were already conducting popular votes by the 1788/89 & 1792 presidential elections are concerned.

[Calthrina950]

I mean, Washington technically won all of the congressional districts that he was able to contest, insofar as the 6 (out of 13 & then 15) states that were already conducting popular votes by the 1788/89 & 1792 presidential elections are concerned.

It's probably best to consider elections only since the beginning of the modern nationwide popular vote in 1824.