The campaign to elect women to the U.S. presidency began over 130 years ago when Victoria Claflin Woodhull pronounced herself a candidate for U.S. president in the 1872 election, in The New York Herald on April 2, 1870.

          A wealthy and prominent newspaper owner known nationally as the first woman to open a stock brokerage firm on Wall Street, Woodhull received widespread media coverage as the first woman to run for U.S. president.  And she used the influence her candidacy brought to win the right for women to address Congress, becoming the first woman to address Congress on January 11, 1871—speaking on behalf of women’s right to vote.

          On May 10, 1872, Woodhull was nominated for President of the United States by the Equal Rights Party, a coalition of labor organizers, women’s advocates and others, which she founded.  Her heated presidential campaign and complex personality won great public interest and her campaign was followed nationwide.  Whether Woodhull received any votes on election day—Tuesday, November 5, 1872—is difficult to determine, but she undoubtedly set the precedent for women to run for the U.S. presidency.

          Belva Ann Lockwood also ran for U.S. president on the Equal Rights Party ticket, in 1884 and 1888.  A lawyer known nationally as the first woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Lockwood put her name on several state presidential primary ballots and won 4,149 votes from the all-male electorate in 1884—setting the precedent of getting on ballots and winning votes.

          The first woman to run for U.S. president as a major political party candidate was U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith (of Maine), who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964.  Also the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, Smith was nationally known and respected on both sides of the political aisle for her national military policy work during and after World War II.

          Smith refused to accept financial contributions to her presidential campaign, returned contributions sent by supporters, and championed campaign finance reform as a central theme of her presidential campaign.  She campaigned heavily in the early states where she knew she could win the most votes and largely ignored the other states due to her campaign’s financial limitations and her refusal to miss Senate votes in Washington, DC to be on the campaign trail.

          Smith campaigned in five out of the 17 Republican primaries in 1964 and won 224,970 votes or 3.8 percent of the total votes cast for Republican candidates.  She finished fifth out of seven candidates in the first primary in New Hampshire with 2,120 votes or 2.3 percent, skipped the second primary in Wisconsin, and finished second among eight candidates in the third primary in Illinois with 209,521 votes or 25.3 percent, where she waged her most serious campaign.  Thereafter, Smith won votes in Massachusetts, Texas, and Oregon.  However, no votes were recorded for Smith in the Republican primaries in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, Maryland, Florida, California, or South Dakota. 

As these results demonstrate, Smith put herself—and women presidential candidates generally—on the major party presidential primary map.  

          On the one-hundredth anniversary of Woodhull’s historic 1872 campaign, Cong. Shirley Chisholm (New York), Cong. Patsy Mink (Hawaii), and Cong. Bella Abzug (New York) simultaneously became the first Democratic women to run for U.S. president in 1972.  As a powerful team, these three presidential candidates received widespread media coverage when announcing their campaigns.  While Abzug dropped out before the primaries, Mink won a total of over 8,000 votes in at least two primaries and Chisholm went on to shatter historic records for women on the presidential ballots.

          Educated at Columbia University, Chisholm was well-known to TV viewers throughout the county as the first African-American Congresswoman and the first African-American to run for a major party’s presidential nomination who played an active role shaping Viet Nam War policy. 

          Starting with $44,000, Chisholm actively raised money for her presidential campaign and waged a competitive campaign relying heavily on volunteers.  Like Smith, Chisholm focused on states where she had the best chances of winning votes.  She skipped the New Hampshire primary altogether and focused heavily in states with large populations of African-Americans, women’s rights advocates and liberal voters.  

          Chisholm’s strategy paid off exquisitely.  She won the New Jersey Democratic primary with 51,433 votes or 66.9 percent!  She campaigned in 14 out of 21 primaries and won 430,703 votes or 2.7 percent of the total votes cast for Democrats.  She finished third out of five in North Carolina with 61,723 votes or 7.5 percent, fourth out of nine in California with 157,435 votes or 4.4 percent, fourth out of eleven in Tennessee with 18,809 votes or 3.8 percent, fifth out of 12 in Massachusetts with 22,398 votes or 3.6 percent and seventh out of 10 in Florida with 43,989 votes or 3.4 percent.  She won 9,198 votes in Wisconsin without even campaigning in the state and won additional votes in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, and New Mexico.  However, no votes were recorded for Chisholm in New Hampshire, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Rhode Island, or South Dakota.

          Chisholm’s strong primary showing won her 152 delegate votes or five percent of the delegate votes cast at the Democratic National Convention—an unprecedented historic victory for women on the 100th anniversary of the campaign to elect women to the U.S. presidency.  To date, no woman—Democrat, Republican or third party candidate—has even come close to surpassing Chisholm’s record number of votes won in the 1972 presidential primaries.

          And, together, the powerful team of Abzug, Mink and Chisholm—combined with powerful supporters like NOW—showed us that many women should compete in every presidential contest every election year, just as we see with male candidates.

          Democratic Cong. Geraldine Ferraro (New York) became the first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major political party ticket in the general election in 1984.  A former district attorney who served three terms in Congress, Ferraro was selected for the VP slot by Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale (who won 6,811, 214 votes in the 1984 primaries).  She was nominated at the Democratic National Convention and campaigned as Mondale’s running mate throughout the general election that fall, which included a nationally televised debate with then Vice President George Bush, Sr.  The historic Mondale/Ferraro ticket drew enthusiastic support throughout the nation, yet Ferraro’s popularity was not enough to unseat the well regarded incumbent President Ronald Reagan.

          Democratic Cong. Patricia Schroeder (Colorado) was briefly thrust into the national spotlight as a possible presidential candidate in 1988.  A Harvard-educated lawyer who won a seat on the powerful House Armed Services Committee, Schroeder was a pilot who shattered many barriers for women in Congress.  Supporters urged her to run for president after Sen. Gary Hart's (D-Colorado) presidential campaign, which she chaired at the time, collapsed in scandal.  Many supporters nationwide were thrilled about the possibility of a Schroeder presidential campaign, but  Schroeder declined to enter the presidential primaries because she estimated it was too late in the race to begin rallying the needed political support fast enough to defeat the seven Democrats who had already been campaigning for months and had a big head start.  

          Republican Elizabeth Dole’s (North Carolina) 2000 presidential campaign was widely perceived as the first serious challenge by a woman for a major party’s nomination for U.S. president.  The Harvard- and Oxford-educated former cabinet secretary for the U.S. departments of transportation and labor won the hearts of many supporters during her husband Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign.  For her own presidential campaign, Elizabeth Dole began fundraising early, campaigned aggressively on important national defense issues, generated enthusiastic media coverage, and won the hearts of men and women—Republicans and Democrats alike—nationwide.  Yet like Schroeder, she dropped out of the race before the presidential primary elections began—using her momentum and increased political capital to win a U.S. Senate seat soon thereafter in 2002.  Nonetheless, Elizabeth Dole’s presidential campaign inspired confidence in a generation of Americans ready for women’s presidential campaigns to end in victory.  

        Democrat Carol Moseley Braun (Illinois) ran for president in 2004 and got on more presidential primary ballots than any other major candidate in U.S. history.  Former U.S. Senator and Ambassador to New Zealand, Braun ran as the only woman in a Democratic primary with nine men.  Hopefully, she spared the 21st Century from ever having to witness a presidential race without a woman candidate.  Braun graduated from the University of Illinois, earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, and became an Assistant U.S. Attorney.  A member of the Illinois House of Representatives for 10 years, Braun served as assistant majority leader.  She served as Recorder of Deeds for Cook County before winning her 1992 campaign to become the first African-American woman ever to serve in the U.S. Senate and the first woman to serve on the powerful Senate finance committee.  Braun won a number of key fights before leaving the Senate.

          Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York) ran for president in 2008, winning 18 million votes for president.  She won the popular vote, but fell short of winning the majority of democratic delegates at the Democratic National Convention.  While Hillary did not win the Democratic nomination for president, she provided important leadership for women in presidential politics and put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.  We salute her!  Help retire her presidential campaign debt.  The wife of former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton is the only former First Lady to be elected to public office.  She was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000 and easily won re-election in 2006.  A graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School, Senator Clinton serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, responsible for helping to shape the national Democratic agenda in the U.S. Senate.  For more information, see the Center for American Women and Politics presidential campaign summary.

          In September 2008, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin (Alaska) became the first won the Republican woman and the second major-party candidate in history to win the vice presidential nomination.  Sen. John McCain nominated Gov. Palin to be his running mate shortly before the Republic National Convention.  A mom and a pilot, who hunts and fishes in Alaska's great outdoors, Palin added vitality and youth to the Republican ticket.  She also attracted women voters--including former Hillary supporters frustrated by the outcome of the Democratic presidential primary election.  The former Mayor of Wasilla, Palin later served as Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission.  After defeating an incumbent Republican, she won the Alaska governorship in 2006--the first woman and youngest person ever to serve in that position.  Despite a number of ethical questions that arose on the presidential campaign trail, she had a reputation as Governor of Alaska for being tough on corruption and a strong advocate for her clean-government platform.  For more information, see the Center for American Women and Politics vice presidential campaign summary.