In the presidential election , Republican Senator Warren G. Harding from Ohio defeated Democratic Governor James M. Cox of Ohio . Harding won a landslide victory , taking every state outside the South and dominating the popular vote . Harding won the Republican nomination on the tenth ballot , defeating former Army Chief of Staff Leonard Wood , Illinois Governor Frank Lowden , California Senator Hiram Johnson , and several other candidates . Cox won the Democratic nomination on the 44th ballot over former Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo , Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer , New York Governor Al Smith , and several other candidates . Future president Calvin Coolidge won the Republican nomination for vice president , while fellow future president Franklin D. Roosevelt won the Democratic nomination for vice president . Harding was the first sitting Senator to be elected president
Democratic nomination
1920 Democratic National Convention
1920 United States elections