Ulysses S. Grant Republican Ulysses S. Grant Republican The 1872 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 5, 1872.

Rhode Island was won by the Republican nominees, incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois and his running mate Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts.

Grant and Wilson defeated the Liberal Republican and Democratic nominees, former Congressman Horace Greeley of New York and his running mate former Senator and Governor Benjamin Gratz Brown of Missouri by a margin of 43.88%.

With 71.94% of the popular vote, Rhode Island would be Grant's third strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote after Vermont and South Carolina.

[1] It remains the best Republican performance in Rhode Island's history and the second-best by any candidate since the formation of the Democratic party in 1828 after Lyndon B. Johnson’s 80.87% in 1964.