Electoral history of Barack Obama

Barack Obama on the presidential campaign trail in 2007 during his first presidential campaign.
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Barack Obama


44th President of the United States










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This is the electoral history of Barack Obama. Obama served as the 44th president of the United States (2009–2017) and as a United States senator from Illinois (2005–2008).

A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 1997 representing the 13th district, which covered much of the Chicago South Side. In 2000, Obama ran an unsuccessful campaign for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives against four-term incumbent Bobby Rush. In 2004, Obama campaigned for the U.S. Senate, participating in the first Senate election in which both major party candidates were African American, with Alan Keyes running as the Republican candidate. Obama won the election, gaining a seat previously represented by Republican Peter Fitzgerald.

In 2008, Obama entered the Democratic primaries for the U.S. presidential election. Numerous candidates entered initially, but over time the field narrowed down to Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton from New York. The contest was highly competitive between the two, with neither being able to reach a majority of delegates without the addition of unpledged delegates. Eventually, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama for the nomination, prompting his victory. He went on to face Senator John McCain from Arizona as the Republican nominee, defeating him with 365 electoral votes to McCain's 173.

Obama sought re-election for a second term in 2012, running virtually unopposed in the Democratic primaries. His opponent in the general election was former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. Obama won 332 electoral votes, defeating Romney who gained 206. After this election, he became the first president since Ronald Reagan to receive a majority of the popular vote twice.[a]

Illinois Senate elections (1997–2002)

1997

1997 Illinois Senate 13th district election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama 48,592 82.16%
Harold Washington David Whitehead 7,461 12.62%
Republican Rosette Caldwell Peyton 3,091 5.23%
Total votes 59,144 100.00%
Democratic hold

1998

1998 Illinois Senate 13th district election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama (incumbent) 45,486 89.17%
Republican Yesse B. Yehudah 5,526 10.83%
Total votes 51,012 100.00%
Democratic hold

2002

2002 Illinois Senate 13th district election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama (incumbent) 48,717 100.00%
Total votes 48,717 100.00%
Democratic hold

United States House of Representatives election (2000)

Primary election

2000 Illinois's 1st congressional district election, Democratic primary
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Bobby Rush (incumbent) 59,599 61.03%
Democratic Barack Obama 29,649 30.36%
Democratic Donne Trotter 6,915 7.08%
Democratic George Roby 1,501 1.54%
Total votes 97,664 100.00%

United States Senate election (2004)

Primary election

2004 United States Senate Democratic primary in Illinois
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama 655,923 52.77%
Democratic Dan Hynes 294,717 23.71%
Democratic Blair Hull 134,453 10.82%
Democratic Maria Pappas 74,987 6.03%
Democratic Gery Chico 53,433 4.30%
Democratic Nancy Skinner 16,098 1.30%
Democratic Joyce Washington 13,375 1.08%
Write-in 10 0.00%
Total votes 1,242,996 100.00%

General election

County results of the 2004 senatorial election
2004 United States Senate election in Illinois
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama 3,598,277 69.97%
Republican Alan Keyes 1,391,030 27.05%
Independent Albert J. Franzen 81,186 1.58%
Libertarian Jerry Kohn 69,276 1.35%
Write-in 2,930 0.05%
Total votes 5,142,699 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican

Presidential primary (2008)

Popular vote

First-instance vote by state and territory
  Barack Obama (33)
  Hillary Clinton (23)
First-instance vote by county
  Barack Obama
  Hillary Clinton
  John Edwards
  Tie
  No results

Excluding penalized contests,[b] only primary and caucuses votes:

2008 Democratic presidential primaries
Candidate Votes %
Barack Obama 16,706,853 49.04%
Hillary Clinton 16,239,821 47.67%
John Edwards 742,010 2.18%
Bill Richardson 89,054 0.26%
Uncommitted 82,660 0.24%
Dennis Kucinich 68,482 0.20%
Joe Biden 64,041 0.19%
Mike Gravel 27,662 0.08%
Christopher Dodd 25,300 0.07%
Others 22,556 0.07%
Total votes 34,068,439 100.00%

Including penalized contests:

2008 Democratic presidential primaries
Candidate Votes %
Hillary Clinton 18,225,175 48.03%
Barack Obama 17,988,182 47.41%
John Edwards 1,006,275 2.65%
Uncommitted 299,610 2.79%
Bill Richardson 106,073 0.28%
Dennis Kucinich 103,994 0.27%
Joe Biden 81,641 0.22%
Scattering 44,348 0.12%
Mike Gravel 40,251 0.11%
Christopher Dodd 35,281 0.09%
Total votes 37,980,830 100.00%

Delegate counts

2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries
Candidate Delegates
Pledged delegates Superdelegates Total delegates
Barack Obama 1,795 361 2,156
Hillary Clinton 1,637 285 1,922
John Edwards 4 2 6
Total 3,436 648 4,084
Needed to win 2,118

2008 Democratic National Convention (Presidential tally)

  • Barack Obama - chosen by acclamation

Unfinished roll call (13 states, D.C. Guam, American Samoa and Democrats Abroad):

Other results

2008 New Hampshire Democratic vice presidential primary
Candidate Votes %
Raymond Stebbins 50,485 46.93%
William Bryk 22,965 21.35%
John Edwards 10,553 9.81%
Barack Obama 6,402 5.95%
Bill Richardson 5,525 5.14%
Hillary Clinton 3,419 3.18%
Joe Biden 1,512 1.41%
Al Gore 966 0.90%
Dennis Kucinich 762 0.71%
Bill Clinton 388 0.36%
John McCain 293 0.27%
Christopher Dodd 224 0.21%
Ron Paul 176 0.16%
Jack Barnes, Jr. 95 0.09%
Mike Gravel 91 0.09%
Joe Lieberman 67 0.06%
Mitt Romney 66 0.06%
Mike Huckabee 63 0.06%
Rudy Giuliani 46 0.04%
Darrel Hunter 20 0.02%
Total votes 104,118 100.00%

Presidential elections (2008–2012)

2008

Electoral College map of the 2008 presidential election
2008 United States presidential election
CandidateRunning matePartyPopular voteElectoral vote
Votes%Votes%
Barack ObamaJoe BidenDemocratic69,498,51652.9136567.84
John McCainSarah PalinRepublican59,948,32345.6417332.16
Ralph NaderMatt GonzalezIndependent739,0340.56
Bob BarrWayne Allyn RootLibertarian523,7150.40
Chuck BaldwinDarrell CastleConstitution199,7500.15
Cynthia McKinneyRosa ClementeGreen161,7970.12
Others290,6260.22
Total131,361,761100.00538100.00

2012

Electoral College map of the 2012 presidential election
2012 United States presidential election
CandidateRunning matePartyPopular voteElectoral vote
Votes%Votes%
Barack Obama (inc.)Joe Biden (inc.)Democratic65,915,79551.0633261.71
Mitt RomneyPaul RyanRepublican60,933,50447.2020638.29
Gary JohnsonJim GrayLibertarian1,275,9710.99
Jill SteinCheri HonkalaGreen469,6270.36
Others490,5130.38
Total129,085,410100.00538100.00

See also

Notes

  1. ^ George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush won majorities of the popular vote once each, while Bill Clinton never won a majority in the popular vote.
  2. ^ Florida and Michigan violated Democratic National Committee rules by moving their primaries before February 5, 2008, resulting in a nullification of their primaries, until the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to restore half their delegates.
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