List of United States presidential candidates by number of primary votes

In United States presidential politics, voters within both the Democratic and Republican parties select their candidates for the presidential election through a series of primary elections. For this list, any candidate that received at least 250,000 total votes in an election year's primary contests will be included. Only elections conducted since nationwide primaries were instituted in 1972 are shown.

History

The first state to hold a primary was Florida in 1901. In 1905, Wisconsin was the first state to hold a direct open primary. Five years later, in 1910, Oregon was the first state to hold a primary that bound its state's delegates to the convention based on election results. Between 1932 and 1968, twelve states held primaries consistently, while the remaining states chose which candidate received their delegates through state party bosses. In 1972, both parties held a primary or caucus in every state for the first time. However, Republican Richard Nixon was the incumbent president and was seeking re-election. As such, the Republican primary was uneventful that year, with Nixon winning every state easily. On the Democratic side, six candidates battled for the nomination. George McGovern of South Dakota won the first nationwide primary. Today, the first state to hold a caucus during primary season is Iowa, typically in early February. Shortly after that is the first primary, held in New Hampshire.

List
  Became their party's nominee
  Became President
RankCandidatePartyHome StateVotes ReceivedYearSource
1Joe BidenDemocraticDelaware19,076,0522020[1]
2Donald TrumpRepublicanFlorida18,159,7522020[2]
3Hillary ClintonDemocraticNew York17,857,5012008[3]
4Barack ObamaDemocraticIllinois17,584,6922008[3]
5Hillary ClintonDemocraticNew York16,917,8532016[4]
6Donald TrumpRepublicanNew York14,015,9932016[5]
7Bernie SandersDemocraticVermont13,210,5502016[4]
8George W. BushRepublicanTexas12,089,5642000[6]
9Al GoreDemocraticTennessee10,642,1052000[7]
10Bill ClintonDemocraticArkansas10,482,4111992[8]
11Mitt RomneyRepublicanMassachusetts10,048,1342012[9]
12John KerryDemocraticMassachusetts10,045,8912004[10]
13Jimmy CarterDemocraticGeorgia10,043,0161980[11]
14Michael DukakisDemocraticMassachusetts9,898,7501988[12]
15Bill ClintonDemocraticArkansas9,706,8021996[13]
16Bernie SandersDemocraticVermont9,679,2132020[1]
17John McCainRepublicanArizona9,615,5332008[14]
18George H. W. BushRepublicanTexas9,199,4631992[15]
19Bob DoleRepublicanKansas9,024,7421996[16]
20George H. W. BushRepublicanTexas8,258,5121988[17]
21Barack ObamaDemocraticIllinois8,044,6592012[18]
22George W. BushRepublicanTexas7,853,8632004[19]
23Ted CruzRepublicanTexas7,822,1002016[5]
24Ronald ReaganRepublicanCalifornia7,709,7931980[20]
25Ted KennedyDemocraticMassachusetts7,381,6931980[11]
26Walter MondaleDemocraticMinnesota6,952,9121984[21]
27Jesse JacksonDemocraticSouth Carolina6,788,9911988[12]
28Gary HartDemocraticColorado6,504,8421984[21]
29Ronald ReaganRepublicanCalifornia6,484,9871984[22]
30Jimmy CarterDemocraticGeorgia6,235,6091976[23]
31John McCainRepublicanArizona6,070,0502000[6]
32Gerald FordRepublicanMichigan5,529,8991976[24]
33Richard NixonRepublicanCalifornia5,378,7041972[25]
34Ronald ReaganRepublicanCalifornia4,760,2221976[24]
35Mitt RomneyRepublicanMassachusetts4,567,1272008[14]
36John KasichRepublicanOhio4,290,4482016[5]
37Mike HuckabeeRepublicanArkansas4,147,9612008[14]
38Hubert HumphreyDemocraticMinnesota4,121,3721972[26]
39Jerry BrownDemocraticCalifornia4,071,2321992[8]
40George McGovernDemocraticSouth Dakota4,053,4511972[26]
41Rick SantorumRepublicanPennsylvania3,938,5272012[9]
42George WallaceDemocraticAlabama3,755,4241972[26]
43Paul TsongasDemocraticMassachusetts3,696,0101992[8]
44Marco RubioRepublicanFlorida3,515,5762016[5]
45Jesse JacksonDemocraticIllinois3,282,4311984[21]
46John EdwardsDemocraticNorth Carolina3,207,0482004[10]
47Al GoreDemocraticTennessee3,185,8061988[12]
48Pat BuchananRepublicanVirginia3,184,9431996[16]
49George H. W. BushRepublicanTexas3,070,0331980[20]
50Pat BuchananRepublicanVirginia2,899,4881992[15]
51Elizabeth WarrenDemocraticMassachusetts2,831,4722020[1]
52Bill BradleyDemocraticNew Jersey2,804,9452000[7]
53Newt GingrichRepublicanGeorgia2,737,4422012[9]
54Michael BloombergDemocraticNew York2,488,7342020[1]
55Jerry BrownDemocraticCalifornia2,449,3741976[23]
56Bob DoleRepublicanKansas2,333,3751988[17]
57Ron PaulRepublicanTexas2,099,4412012[9]
58George WallaceDemocraticAlabama1,955,3881976[23]
59Edmund MuskieDemocraticMaine1,840,2171972[26]
60Steve ForbesRepublicanNew York1,751,1871996[16]
61Mo UdallDemocraticArizona1,611,7541976[23]
62John AndersonRepublicanIllinois1,572,1741980[20]
63Dick GephardtDemocraticMissouri1,399,0411988[12]
64Ron PaulRepublicanTexas1,145,1382008[14]
65Henry JacksonDemocraticWashington1,134,3751976[23]
66Pat RobertsonRepublicanVirginia1,097,4461988[17]
67Paul SimonDemocraticIllinois1,082,9601988[12]
68Alan KeyesRepublicanMaryland995,5552000[6]
69John EdwardsDemocraticNorth Carolina994,0292008[3]
70Howard DeanDemocraticVermont937,0152004[10]
71Pete ButtigiegDemocraticIndiana924,2372020[1]
72Ben CarsonRepublicanFlorida857,0392016[5]
73Frank ChurchDemocraticIdaho830,8181976[23]
74Dennis KucinichDemocraticOhio643,0672004[10]
75John GlennDemocraticOhio617,9091984[21]
76Lyndon LaRoucheDemocraticVirginia596,4221996[13]
77Rudy GiulianiRepublicanNew York592,3912008[14]
78Jerry BrownDemocraticCalifornia575,2961980[11]
79Wesley ClarkDemocraticArkansas572,2072004[10]
80Eugene McCarthyDemocraticMinnesota553,9901972[26]
81Amy KlobucharDemocraticMinnesota529,7132020[1]
82Henry JacksonDemocraticWashington505,1981972[26]
83Lamar AlexanderRepublicanTennessee495,5901996[16]
84Alan KeyesRepublicanMaryland471,7161996[16]
85Bill WeldRepublicanMassachusetts453,9592020[2]
86Shirley ChisholmDemocraticNew York430,7031972[26]
87Gary HartDemocraticColorado415,7161988[12]
88Al SharptonDemocraticNew York383,6832004[10]
89Robert ByrdDemocraticWest Virginia340,3091976[23]
90George McGovernDemocraticSouth Dakota334,8011984[21]
91Terry SanfordDemocraticNorth Carolina331,4151972[26]
92Jack KempRepublicanNew York331,3331988[17]
93Bob KerreyDemocraticNebraska318,4571992[8]
94John AshbrookRepublicanOhio311,5431972[25]
95Lyndon LaRoucheDemocraticVirginia306,7722000[7]
96Sargent ShriverDemocraticMaryland304,3991976[23]
97Fred ThompsonRepublicanTennessee287,5812008[14]
98Jeb BushRepublicanFlorida286,6942016[5]
99Tom HarkinDemocraticIowa280,3401992[8]
100Tulsi GabbardDemocraticHawaii273,9402020[1]
101Tom SteyerDemocraticCalifornia259,7922020[1]

See also

References
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