1940: Harry S. Truman v. Lloyd Stark v. Maurice Milligan

[RBH]

The candidates:

Senator Harry S. Truman of Independence (Jackson County) [in blue]
Governor Lloyd Stark of Louisiana (Pike County) [in red]
Prosecutor Maurice Milligan of Richmond (Ray County) [in green]

Stark and Milligan were both responsible for the fall of the Pendergast Machine. Truman got a late endorsement from some St. Louis City figures that helped him win the election.



Truman - 268354 (41%)
Stark - 260221 (40%)
Milligan - 127378 (19%)

The 1934 map (Truman in blue, Cochran in red, Milligan in green):

[MarkWarner08]

I remember reading about this race in John McCullough's bio of Harry Truman. It seems 'ole boss Tom Pendergast bailed out Truman. Who knew a  minor politician who was a puppet of a corrupt boss would eventually become a top 10 U.S President?

[RBH]

Granted, here are the 1934 results without St. Louis City and Jackson County:

Truman - 135,579 (33%)
Milligan - 132,049 (33%)
Cochran - 130,467 (32%)
Cleveland - 7019 (2%)

St. Louis City went to Cochran big time.

Cochran - 104265 (91%)
Milligan - 6670 (6%)
Truman - 3742 (3%)
Cleveland - 514 (0%)

Jackson County results:

Truman - 137529 (93%)
Milligan - 8912 (6%)
Cochran - 1525 (1%)
Cleveland - 162 (0%)

I'd say that Pendergast was just better at stuffing ballot boxes than the St. Louis people.