The United States presidential election of 1880 was a contest between James A. Garfield, Republican from Ohio, and Winfield Scott Hancock, Democrat from Pennsylvania, in which the Republican Garfield prevailed. At the Republican convention, supporters of Ulysses S. Grant, James G. Blaine, and John Sherman deadlocked for thirty-six rounds of voting before settling on Garfield as the nominee. At the Democratic convention, Hancock fended off challenges by Thomas F. Bayard, Samuel J. Randall, and Henry B. Payne for his party's nomination, while James B. Weaver and Neal Dow picked up their small parties' endorsements with little dissent. The voter turnout rate was one of the highest in the nation's history. In the end, the popular vote totals of the two main candidates were separated by fewer than 2,000 votes, the smallest victory in the popular vote ever recorded. In the electoral college, however, Garfield's victory was decisive; he won nearly all of the populous Northern states to achieve a majority of 214 electoral votes to 155 for Hancock. Hancock's sweep of the Southern states was not enough for victory, but it cemented his party's dominance of the region for generations.
