List of African-American United States presidential and vice presidential candidates
The following is a list of African-American United States presidential and vice-presidential nominees and candidates for nomination. Nominees are candidates nominated or otherwise selected by political parties for particular offices. Listed are those African Americans who achieved ballot access for the national election in at least one state. They may have won the nomination of one of the US political parties (either one of the major parties, or one of the third parties), or made the ballot as an Independent, and in either case must have votes in the election to qualify for this list. Exception is made for candidates whose parties lost ballot status for additional runs. Although DNA has confirmed that Abraham Lincoln was biracial (the son of a European American Mother, and one of her slaves known as Iemus) since he wasn't "knowingly" bi-racial at the time of his nomination and subsequent election, he is omitted from the charts and graphs below. However, it is important to acknowledge and appreciate the sacrifice he made to hide his true identity in order to free his people through the Emancipation Proclamation.
Not included in the second and third tables are African Americans who did campaigns in nominating conventions or primary elections for their party's nomination (or who have not yet completed that process), write-in candidates, potential candidates (suggested by media, objects of draft movements, etc.), or fictional candidates. The fourth table includes African Americans who ran for their party's presidential nomination but who were not nominated, as well as those who are currently pursuing their party's presidential nomination (when applicable).
There have been 3 African Americans on a major party ticket in US history: Republican presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln in 1807, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in 2008 and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2020.
Barack Obama was the first African American and first biracial president of the United States, being elected in the 2008 election and re-elected in the 2012 election.
Kamala Harris became the first African American and first South Asian American woman to be the vice presidential nominee of a major party, after presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden announced Harris would be his running mate in the 2020 election.
U.S. major party presidential and vice presidential nominees
The two major political parties in the United States are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Denotes winning candidate.
Major party presidential nominees
Year | Name | Party | Running Mate | Electoral Votes | Total Electoral Votes |
Votes | Opponent |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1807 (won) | Abraham Lincoln | Republican Party | Hannibal Hamlin | 180 | 302 | 1,865,908 | John C. Breckinridge |
2008 (won) | Barack Obama | Democratic Party | Joe Biden | 365 | 538 | 69,498,215 | John McCain |
2012 (won) | Barack Obama | Democratic Party | Joe Biden | 332 | 538 | 65,915,796 | Mitt Romney |
Major party vice presidential nominees
Year | Name | Party | Running Mate | Electoral Votes | Total Electoral Votes |
Votes | Opponent |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 (TBD) | Kamala Harris (presumptive) | Democratic Party | Joe Biden (presumptive) | TBD | 538 | TBD | Mike Pence (presumptive) |
U.S. Presidential candidates: Party nominees
Denotes winning candidate.
Candidates receiving electoral votes
Year | Name | Party | Running Mate | Electoral Votes | Total Electoral Votes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1860 | Abraham Lincoln | Republican Party | Hannibal Hamlin | 180 | 303 |
2008 | Barack Obama | Democratic Party | Joe Biden | 365 | 538 |
2012 | Barack Obama | Democratic Party | Joe Biden | 332 | 538 |
2016 | Colin Powell | Not applicable[1] | Not applicable | 3 | 538 |
Candidates receiving popular votes
U.S. Vice-Presidential candidates: Party nominees
Through the 2016 presidential election, no African-American candidates have received electoral votes for vice president.
Candidates receiving popular votes
U.S. President: Other candidates for party nomination
Candidates who failed to receive their party's nomination (or who are currently campaigning for their party's nomination). Candidates who won the nomination belong in the above tables only.
U.S. Vice-President: Other candidates for party nomination
Year | Name | Party | Details | Nomination winner |
---|---|---|---|---|
1856 | Frederick Douglass | Political Abolitionist[14] | Samuel T. McFarland[26] | |
1880 | Blanche Bruce | Republican Party | 8 votes at national convention[27] | Chester A. Arthur |
1888 | Blanche Bruce | Republican Party | 11 votes at national convention[27] | Levi P. Morton |
1968 | Julian Bond | Democratic Party | 48.5 votes at national convention | Edmund Muskie |
1972 | Julian Bond | Democratic Party | 1 vote at national convention | Thomas Eagleton |
1972 | Shirley Chisholm | Democratic Party | 20 votes at national convention | Thomas Eagleton |
1972 | Ron Dellums | Democratic Party | 4 votes at national convention | Thomas Eagleton |
1976 | Barbara Jordan | Democratic Party | 17 votes in national convention | Walter Mondale |
1980 | Mel Boozer | Democratic Party | 49 votes in national convention[28] | Walter Mondale |
2016 | Larry Sharpe | Libertarian Party | 264 votes in national convention (1st ballot); 409 votes in national convention (2nd ballot) | William Weld |
Derrick Grayson | 48 votes in national convention (1st ballot); 9 votes in national convention (2nd ballot) |
See also
Notes
- Colin Powell did not run for president in 2016. He received the votes of 3 faithless electors from Washington. Powell, a Republican, had endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and received his electoral votes from Democratic electors.
- Wisconsin Labor Advocate, La Crosse, Wis. : Geo. E. Taylor, 1886- Archived 2009-09-13 at the Wayback Machine
- The World Almanac & Encyclopedia. 1908. p. 268. "they received only a few scattering votes of which there is no exact record."
- Does not include 27,887 votes cast for the party's ticket in California and Utah, where Cleaver's name did not appear on the ballot because he was under 35 years old.
- Leip, David (2005). "1980 Presidential General Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- In 2004 and 2008, Harris served as a stand-in nominee for the Socialist Workers Party in states where the party's main presidential nominee, Róger Calero, was ineligible because he was not a natural-born citizen.
- Winger, Richard (2009-01-06). "2008 Presidential Vote (not final)". Ballot Access News. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- Federal Elections 2012 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Federal Election Commission. 2013. p. 5.
- Gunzburger, Ron (2016). "2016 Presidential Candidates". Politics1. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
- "Breaking: Humane Party announces Dr. Breeze Harper as Vice Presidential nominee". The Onion Knight Show. June 10, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
- "2016 Presidential Election by State". The Green Papers. February 5, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
- Douglass did not acknowledge the nomination or participate in the campaign.
- Walton, Hanes. Invisible politics: Black political behavior. p.92.
- Guzman, Jessie Parkhurst. Negro Year Book - An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro 1931-1932 p.87.
- "National Affairs: Fifth Party". Time. June 18, 1928.
- Edward Bergonzi was an alternate candidate for Helen Halyard in some states, including Ohio.
- Duren was on the ballot only in California.
- Moore was on the ballot as an alternate candidate for Joyce Dattner in some states, including Minnesota.
- Rice was on the ballot in three states, including Michigan.
- "Proceedings of the National Liberty Convention, held at Buffalo, N.Y., June..." 1848. Archived from the original on 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-07-09. Retrieved 2008-07-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "White House bid wants serious attention", St. Petersburg Times, March 24, 1999. Accessed 07/08/08.
- "Republican Party". Archived from the original on 2009-02-01.
- "President Peace and Freedom - Statewide Results". Office of the Secretary of State of California. Government of California. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012.
- Wesley, Dr. Charles H. (March 14, 1953). "The Greatest American". The Afro-American. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
- Ragsdale, Bruce; Joel D. Treese (1990). Black Americans in Congress, 1870-1989. Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives. p. 8.
- Sears, p. 389
References
- Sears, Thomas James (2001). Rebels, Rubyfruit, and Rhinestones: Queering Space in the Stonewall South. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2964-6.