2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries

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Candidate Barack Obama Uncommitted John Wolfe Jr. Home state Illinois N/A Tennessee Delegate count 3,514 72 23 Contests won 56[a] 0 0 Popular vote 8,044,659[1] 434,204[1] 116,639[1] Percentage 90.1% 4.9% 1.3%

Barack Obama

Previous Democratic nominee Barack Obama Democratic nominee Barack Obama

2012 U.S. presidential election
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This article is part of a series about Barack Obama
Pre-presidency Early life and career Illinois State Senator 2004 DNC keynote address U.S. Senator from Illinois 2004 election sponsored bills 44th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inaugurations Trips international Policies Economy Energy Foreign policy Arctic Europe East Asia Middle East South Asia Obama Doctrine Pardons Marine Native Social Space Appointments Cabinet Judiciary Sotomayor Kagan Garland Supreme Court candidates First term First 100 days Recovery Act Russia nuclear treaty Affordable Care Act Dodd–Frank Iraq withdrawal Killing of Osama bin Laden 2011 debt-ceiling crisis Libya intervention Afghanistan withdrawal Benghazi attack Second term 2013 debt-ceiling crisis Anti-ISIL campaign Iraq Syria Iran nuclear deal Cuban thaw Sanctions against Russia Selma 50th anniversary speech Paris Agreement Presidential campaigns 2008 primaries convention debates election 2012 primaries convention debates election Post-presidency Planned presidential library Obama Foundation One America Appeal Publications Dreams from My Father The Audacity of Hope A Promised Land Personal Family Public image Honors Others Nobel Peace Prize Tan suit controversy
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From January 3 to June 5, 2012, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2012 United States presidential election. President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2012, after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2012 Democratic National Convention on September 5, 2012, in Charlotte, North Carolina.^[2]

The first contest for the Democratic Party's nomination for President since 1996 that an incumbent President was a candidate, President Obama and his running mate Vice President Joe Biden went on to win the general election against the Republican ticket of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan.

Primary race overview

The general expectation was that, with President Barack Obama having the advantage of incumbency and being the only viable candidate running, the race would be merely pro forma. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders reportedly considered challenging Obama in the primaries but decided not to run after then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked him out of it.^[3]

Several of the lesser-known candidates made efforts to raise visibility. Some Occupy movement activists made an attempt to take over the Iowa caucuses,^[4] and got about 2% of the vote for Uncommitted. With nine minor candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire, there was a debate at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on December 19, 2011,^[5] in which seven candidates participated. Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry bought time on television in order to show graphic commercials denouncing abortion.^[6]

Three candidates – other than Obama – who had been on the ballot in New Hampshire were also on the ballot in Missouri. One such candidate, Randall Terry, attempted to air graphic TV commercials during Super Bowl XLIV, but was met with resistance from various TV stations^[7][8] in some locations. The Democratic National Committee also tried to stop the ads by claiming that Terry was not a legitimate Democratic candidate even though he was legally on the ballot.^[9]

A number of partisans of Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, challenging the legitimacy of Obama's birthright citizenship, attempted to have the President's name removed from the Georgia primary ballot. A state administrative judge upheld a subpoena, which was ignored by the President and his staff.^[10] In February 2012, the activists' legal challenge was rejected by a Georgia state law judge and by the Secretary of State of Georgia, and Obama remained listed on the primary ballot.^[11][12]

On May 8, 2012, Keith Russell Judd, an inmate serving a 17.5-year sentence, won 41% of the primary vote in West Virginia against incumbent Barack Obama, a higher percentage of the vote in one state than any other primary opponent of Obama had hitherto achieved in 2012.^[13][14] Shortly thereafter, attorney John Wolfe, Jr. won 42% of the primary vote in Arkansas after widespread speculation that Wolfe could possibly pull off an upset of the state.^[15]

Challengers to President Obama only qualified for the ballot in eight states – New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alaska – while a ninth (Ohio) was going to have Randall Terry on the ballot, but removed his name before the ballots were printed. Randall Terry also attempted to contest the Kansas caucus, but was denied a spot on the caucus ballot after the state's Democratic Party determined that he didn't meet the requirements.^[16]

Darcy Richardson suspended his bid for the nomination on April 28, 2012. He still appeared on the ballot in Texas and was an eligible write-in candidate in California after suspending his campaign.^[17]

Four states canceled their respective Democratic primaries altogether, citing Obama being the only candidate to qualify on their respective ballot: Connecticut,^[18] Delaware,^[19] New York,^[20] and Virginia.^[21]

Despite the limited opposition and ultimately receiving 100% of the pledged delegates, Obama's total percentage of the national popular primary vote was the lowest of any incumbent since the contested 1992 election when George H. W. Bush was challenged by Pat Buchanan.

Even without any clear candidate opposition, Obama faced a considerable amount of resistance in several southern states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky. None of the three had been contested by the same anti-Obama candidate, yet ran significant margins, to the point some speculated he would lose these contests.

Performance of losing candidates

Obama was on the ballot in all states, where he ran mostly unopposed. In addition to Obama, the following table lists those candidates that attained ballot status in at least one state,^[22] as well as those states that listed "Uncommitted"^[23] or "No Preference"^[24] as an option:

Second-place by state

Counties carried

Candidates

Nominee