Lincoln received a majority in the Electoral College, with all his Electoral College votes coming from Northern states. He prevailed in 18 states, won 180 electoral votes, and received 39.7% of the popular vote. Douglas won the second-highest popular vote total, but won only the state of Missouri; he was the only candidate in the 1860 election to win electoral votes in both free and slave states. Breckinridge won 11 states, finishing third in the popular vote, while Bell finished fourth in the popular vote and won the electoral votes of the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. In the
last presidential election in which it appointed its presidential electors at the
discretion of the state legislature rather than by popular vote (and was the only state to do so), the presidential electors of
South Carolina cast their ballots for Breckinridge. The 1860 election was the first of six consecutive Republican presidential victories.