Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson privately hoped for a third term , but party leaders were unwilling to re-nominate the unpopular incumbent . Former President Theodore Roosevelt had been the front-runner for the Republican nomination , but he died in 1919 without leaving an obvious heir to his progressive legacy . With both Wilson and Roosevelt out of the running , the major parties turned to little-known dark horse candidates from the state of Ohio , a swing state with a large number of electoral votes . Cox won the 1920 Democratic National Convention on the 44th ballot , defeating William Gibbs McAdoo , A. Mitchell Palmer , and several other candidates . Harding emerged as a compromise candidate between the conservative and progressive wings of the party , and he clinched his nomination on the tenth ballot of the 1920 Republican National Convention
1920 Democratic National Convention
1920 Democratic National Convention
1920 United States presidential election