In the Presidential election , Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey defeated Republican President William Howard Taft and former president and Progressive Party nominee Theodore Roosevelt . Socialist union leader Eugene Debs , running his fourth campaign , took six percent of the vote . At the 1912 Democratic National Convention , Wilson took the nomination on the 46th ballot , defeating Speaker Champ Clark and several other candidates . Roosevelt left the Republican Party after an unsuccessful challenge to Taft at the 1912 Republican National Convention . Though Wilson carried just over 40 % of the popular vote , he dominated the electoral college and won a greater share of the electoral vote than any candidate since Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 . Wilson 's election made him the first Democratic president since Grover Cleveland left office in 1897 . Roosevelt 's candidacy finished second in the popular vote and the electoral college , the only time a third party candidate accomplished either feat
1912 Democratic National Convention
1912 Democratic National Convention
1912 United States elections