Electoral history of Barack Obama

This is the electoral history of Barack Obama. Obama served as a United States Senator from Illinois (20052008) and the 44th President of the United States (20092017).

Senator Obama on the presidential campaign trail.

A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 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 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, the other being Alan Keyes. Obama won the election, gaining a seat previously held by a Republican.

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, endorsing 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.

Illinois Senate and United States House of Representatives elections (1996–2002)

1996 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%
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%
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%
2002 Illinois Senate 13th district election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama (incumbent) 48,717 100.00%
Total votes 48,717 100.00%

United States Senate election (2004)

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%
Democratic Estella Johnston-Hunt (write-in) 10 0.00%
Total votes 1,242,996 100.00%
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%
Republican Mark Kuhnke (write-in) 2,268 0.04%
Independent Scott Doddy (write-in) 339 0.01%
Independent Donald McArthur-Self (write-in) 134 0.00%
Independent Kathy Campbell (write-in) 129 0.00%
Independent Shaun Bill (write-in) 37 0.00%
Independent Marcus Hester (write-in) 23 0.00%
Total votes 5,142,699 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican

Presidential primaries (2008)

First-instance vote by state and territory
First-instance vote by county

Excluding penalized contests,[1] 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%

2008 United States Presidential Election

Electoral college map of the 2008 election
Obama: 365 votes (28 states + DC + NE-02)
McCain: 173 votes (22 states)
2008 United States presidential election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama / Joe Biden 69,498,516 52.93%
Republican John McCain / Sarah Palin 59,948,323 45.65%
Independent Ralph Nader / Matt Gonzalez 739,034 0.56%
Libertarian Bob Barr / Wayne Allyn Root 523,715 0.40%
Constitution Chuck Baldwin / Darrell Castle 199,750 0.15%
Green Cynthia McKinney / Rosa Clemente 161,797 0.12%
American Independent Alan Keyes / Wiley Drake 47,941 0.04%
N/A Other 242,685 0.18%
Total votes 131,313,820 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican

2012 United States Presidential Election

Electoral college map of the 2012 election
Obama: 332 votes (26 states + DC)
Romney: 206 votes (24 states)
2012 United States presidential election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Barack Obama / Joe Biden (inc.) 65,915,795 51.06%
Republican Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan 60,933,504 47.20%
Libertarian Gary Johnson / Jim Gray 1,275,971 0.99%
Green Jill Stein / Cheri Honkala 469,627 0.36%
Constitution Virgil Goode / James Clymer 122,389 0.09%
Peace and Freedom Roseanne Barr / Cindy Sheehan 67,326 0.05%
Justice Rocky Anderson / Luis J. Rodriguez 43,018 0.03%
American Independent Tom Hoefling / J.D. Ellis 40,628 0.03%
Reform Andre Barnett / Kenneth Cross 956 0.00%
N/A Other 216,196 0.19%
Total votes 129,085,410 100.00%
Democratic hold

References

  1. 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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