The 1860 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.^[1]

1860 United States presidential election in Kentucky

← 1856 November 6, 1860 1864 →

Nominee John Bell John C. Breckinridge Stephen A. Douglas Party Constitutional Union Southern Democratic Democratic Home state Tennessee Kentucky Illinois Running mate Edward Everett Joseph Lane Herschel V. Johnson Electoral vote 12 0 0 Popular vote 66,058 53,143 25,651 Percentage 45.18% 36.35% 17.54%

County Results Bell   30-40%   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Breckinridge   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%   90-100% Douglas   30-40%   40-50%   50-60%

President before election James Buchanan Democratic Elected President Abraham Lincoln Republican

Kentucky was won by the Constitutional Union nominee Senator John Bell of Tennessee and his running mate Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett. They defeated the Southern Democratic nominee Vice President of the United States and Kentucky native John C. Breckinridge and his running mate Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon as well as Democratic nominee 15th Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and his running mate 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 17.54% of the popular vote.^[1] Bell won the state by a margin of 8.83%.

Despite Republican candidate and former Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln having been born and raised for the first five years of his life in Kentucky, he came in a distant fourth, failing to win 1% of the vote. Even worse, Lincoln failed to win LaRue County, the location of his birth. As of the 2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last election in which Clay County and Owsley County voted for a Democratic candidate.

Lincoln's support came from German-Americans and the mountainous counties.^[2]