Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1976

Democratic Presidential Primaries, 1976

January 27 to June 8, 1976



Nominee	Jimmy Carter	Jerry Brown	George Wallace
Party	Democratic	Democratic	Democratic
Home state	Georgia	California	Alabama
States carried	27	3	3
Popular vote	6,971,770	2,449,374	2,236,186
Percentage	40.16%	13.98%	12.75%


Nominee	Mo Udall	Henry M. Jackson	Frank Church
Party	Democratic	Democratic	Democratic
Home state	Arizona	Washington	Idaho
States carried	3	4	5
Popular vote	1,611,754	1,134,375	830,818
Percentage	9.16%	6.32%	4.77%


Nominee	Robert Byrd	Hubert Humphrey
Party	Democratic	Democratic
Home state	West Virginia	Minnesota
States carried	1	2
Popular vote	340,309	61,992
Percentage	2.14%	0.39%

Grey denotes a state that did not hold a primary.

Democratic presidential candidate before election

George McGovern

Democratic presidential candidate-elect

Jimmy Carter

The 1976 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Jimmy Carter was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1976 Democratic National Convention held from July 12 to July 15, 1976 in New York City.

Primary race 1
Nominee 2
- Withdrew during convention 2.1
- Withdrew during primaries 2.2
- Withdrew before primaries 2.3
- Declined to run 2.4
Primaries 3
- Statewide contest by winner 3.1
- Total popular vote 3.2
Democratic National Convention 4
- Vice-Presidential nomination 4.1
See also 5
References 6

Primary race

The Watergate scandal, resignation of Richard Nixon, American withdrawal from Vietnam. and recession of 1974-75 dominated domestic issues in the runup to the presidential election of 1976. President Gerald Ford had squandered his early popularity with an unconditional pardon of Nixon and his perceived mishandling of the recession, and by late 1975 had slumped badly in national polls.

Due to the absence of any clear front-runner for the nomination and a political climate that seemed tilted heavily in their party's favor, a record number of Democrats competed for their party's presidential nomination in 1976. Most of these candidates would drop out early in the race.

The 1976 campaign featured a record number of state primaries and caucuses, and it was the first presidential campaign in which the primary system was dominant. However, most of the Democratic candidates failed to realize the significance of the increased number of primaries, or the importance of creating momentum by winning the early contests. The one candidate who did see the opportunities in the new nominating system was Jimmy Carter, a former Henry "Scoop" Jackson in Pennsylvania, thus forcing Jackson to quit the race. In the Wisconsin primary Carter scored an impressive come-from-behind victory over Arizona Congressman Morris Udall, thus eliminating Udall as a serious contender. As Carter closed in on the nomination, an "ABC" (Anybody But Carter) movement started among Northern and Western liberal Democrats who worried that Carter's Southern upbringing would make him too conservative for the Democratic Party. The leaders of the "ABC" movement - Idaho Senator Frank Church and California Governor Jerry Brown - both announced their candidacies for the Democratic nomination and defeated Carter in several late primaries. However, their campaigns both started too late to prevent Carter from gathering the remaining delegates he needed to capture the nomination.

Nominee

Former Georgia

Primaries

Scoop Jackson raised his national profile by speaking out on Soviet-U.S. relations and Middle East policy regularly, and was considered a front-runner for the nomination when he announced the start of his campaign in February 1975. Jackson received substantial financial support from Jewish-Americans who admired his pro-Israel views, but Jackson's support of the Vietnam War resulted in hostility from the left wing of the Democratic Party.

Jackson chose to run on social issues, emphasizing law and order and his opposition to busing. Jackson was also hoping for support from labor, but the possibility that Hubert Humphrey might enter the race caused unions to offer only lukewarm support.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Jackson made the fateful decision not to compete in the early Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, which Carter won after liberals split their votes among four other candidates. Though Jackson won the Massachusetts and New York primaries, he dropped out on May 1 after losing the critical Pennsylvania primary to Carter by 12 points and running out of money.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Statewide contest by winner

Results by state:^[9]

		Jimmy Carter	Jerry Brown	George Wallace	Mo Udall	Scoop Jackson	Frank Church	Lloyd Bentsen	Robert Byrd	Sargent Shriver	Fred Harris	Ellen McCormack	Milton Shapp	Birch Bayh	Uncommitted
January 19	Iowa	27.57%	-	-	5.99%	1.10%	-	-	-	3.30%	9.89%	-	-	13.19%	37.16%
February 24	New Hampshire	28.37%	-	1.29%	22.71%	2.25%	-	-	-	8.19%	10.76%	1.22%	-	15.19%	-
March 2	Massachusetts	13.85%	-	16.73%	17.73%	22.34%	-	0.05%	-	7.24%	7.57%	3.50%	2.95%	4.75%	1.33%
March 2	Vermont	42.19%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	27.64%	12.64%	8.59%	-	-	-
March 9	Florida	34.52%	-	30.52%	2.09%	23.91%	0.38%	-	0.39%	0.55%	0.42%	0.58%	2.48%	0.67%	2.89%
March 16	Illinois	48.09%	-	27.58%	-	-	-	-	-	16.31%	7.54%	-	-	-	-
March 23	North Carolina	53.64%	-	34.75%	2.32%	4.26%	-	0.28%	-	-	0.98%	-	-	-	3.78%
April 6	Wisconsin	36.63%	-	12.49%	35.62%	6.43%	-	-	-	-	1.11%	3.64%	-	-	0.97%
April 27	Pennsylvania	36.95%	-	11.25%	18.71%	24.57%	-	-	-	-	0.94%	2.80%	2.38%	1.11%	-
May 1	Texas	47.65%	-	17.53%	-	-	-	22.20%	-	1.85%	2.03%	0.37%	-	-	8.38%
May 4	Georgia	83.44%	-	11.46%	1.94%	0.67%	0.49%	0.06%	0.72%	0.27%	0.14%	0.13%	0.04%	0.16%	-
May 4	Indiana	67.95%	-	15.16%	-	11.73%	-	-	-	-	-	5.16%	-	-	-
May 4	Washington, D.C.	31.60%	-	-	21.02%	-	-	-	-	-	1.39%	-	-	-	-
May 11	Connecticut	33.16%	-	-	30.86%	17.75%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12.90%
May 11	Nebraska	37.62%	-	3.18%	2.68%	1.51%	38.45%	-	-	0.22%	0.46%	3.45%	-	0.23%	-
May 11	West Virginia	-	-	10.99%	-	-	-	-	89.01%	-	-	-	-	-	-
May 18	Maryland	37.08%	48.45%	4.09%	5.54%	2.36%	-	-	-	-	1.16%	1.34%	-	-	-
May 18	Michigan	43.40%	-	6.94%	43.06%	1.46%	-	-	-	0.81%	0.58%	1.08%	-	-	2.24%
May 25	Arkansas	62.63%	-	16.54%	7.53%	1.90%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11.39%
May 25	Idaho	11.85%	1.95%	1.50%	1.32%	0.65%	78.72%	-	-	-	0.43%	-	-	-	1.30%
May 25	Kentucky	59.38%	-	16.84%	10.87%	2.68%	-	-	-	-	-	5.58%	-	-	3.91%
May 25	Nevada	23.35%	52.73%	3.31%	2.97%	2.52%	9.01%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6.12%
May 25	Oregon	26.65%	24.69%	1.34%	2.72%	1.23%	33.61%	-	-	-	0.31%	0.87%	-	0.17%	-
May 25	Tennessee	77.60%	0.47%	10.92%	3.72%	1.70%	2.40%	-	-	-	0.49%	0.53%	0.15%	-	1.84%
June 1	Arizona Caucus	10.39%	-	6.97%	71.39%	5.50%	1.60%	-	-	-	-	1.20%	-	-	2.95%
June 1	Montana	24.64%	-	3.44%	6.28%	2.67%	59.39%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3.58%
June 1	Rhode Island	30.22%	-	0.84%	4.21%	1.25%	27.21%	-	-	-	-	4.09%	0.22%	0.41%	31.54%
June 1	South Dakota	41.22%	-	2.41%	33.25%	0.95%	-	-	-	-	0.98%	7.77%	-	-	13.42%
June 1	Washington Caucus	-	-	-	6.22%	78.60%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12.25%
June 8	California	20.44%	59.04%	3.00%	5.03%	1.13%	7.35%	-	-	-	0.50%	0.86%	-	0.34%	2.31%
June 8	New Jersey	58.38%	-	8.64%	-	8.82%	13.59%	-	-	-	-	6.03%	-	-	-
June 8	Ohio	52.29%	-	5.64%	21.19%	3.12%	13.92%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Legend:		1st place (popular vote)		2nd place (popular vote)		3rd place (popular vote)		Candidate has withdrawn		Candidate had not yet Joined

Total popular vote

Total popular vote in primaries^[10]

Jimmy Carter - 6,971,770 (40.16%)
Jerry Brown - 2,449,374 (13.98%)
George Wallace - 2,236,186 (12.75%)
Mo Udall - 1,611,754 (9.16%)
Henry M. Jackson - 1,134,375 (6.32%)
Frank Church - 830,818 (4.77%)
Unpledged - 412,915 (2.37%)
Lloyd Bentsen - 347,078 (1.99%)
Robert Byrd - 340,309 (1.95%)
Sargent Shriver - 332,919 (1.91%)
Fred R. Harris - 265,947 (1.52%)
Ellen McCormack - 243,727 (1.40%)
Milton Shapp - 88,254 (0.50%)
Birch Bayh - 86,438 (0.49%)
Hubert Humphrey - 61,992 (0.35%)
Others - 32,380 (0.18%)
Ted Kennedy - 19,805 (0.12%)
Walter Fauntroy - 10,149 (0.05%)
Walter Washington - 5,161 (0.03%)
Terry Sanford - 404 (0.00%)

Democratic National Convention

The 1976 Democratic National Convention was held in New York City. By the time the convention opened Carter already had more than enough delegates to win the nomination, and so the major emphasis at the convention was to create an appearance of party unity, which had been lacking in the 1968 and 1972 Democratic Conventions. Carter easily won the nomination on the first ballot; he then chose Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota, a liberal and a protege of Hubert Humphrey, as his running mate.

The tally at the convention was:^[11]

Jimmy Carter - 2,239 (74.48%)
Mo Udall - 330 (10.98%)
Jerry Brown - 301 (10.01%)
George Wallace - 57 (1.90%)
Ellen McCormack - 22 (0.73%)
Frank Church - 19 (0.63%)
Hubert Humphrey - 10 (0.33%)
Henry M. Jackson - 10 (0.33%)
Fred R. Harris - 9 (0.30%)
Milton Shapp - 2 (0.07%)
Robert Byrd, Cesar Chavez, Leon Jaworski, Barbara Jordan, Ted Kennedy, Jennings Randolph, Fred Stover - each 1 vote (0.03%)

Vice-Presidential nomination

Senator Walter F. Mondale of Minnesota
Senator Edmund S. Muskie of Maine
Senator Frank Church of Idaho
Senator John Glenn of Ohio
Senator Adlai Stevenson III of Illinois
Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington
Congressman Peter W. Rodino of New Jersey
Congressman Ron Dellums of California
Congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Texas

By June, Carter had the nomination sufficiently locked up and could take time to interview potential vice-presidential candidates.

The pundits predicted that Henry M. Jackson, and Adlai Stevenson III would be interviewed at the convention in New York. Rodino revealed he had no interest in the position, and of all the other potential candidates, Carter found Mondale the most compatible. As a result, Carter selected Mondale as his running mate.

African American leadership within the Democratic Party had sought to potentially place Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Congressmen Ron Dellums, or Congresswoman Barbara Jordan on the ticket with Carter. However, Jordan took herself out of consideration, and Carter did not have any interest in the other candidates put forward.

The vice presidential tally, in part, was:

Walter Mondale 2837
House Speaker Carl Albert 36
Ronald Dellums 20
Fritz Efaw 12
Barbara Jordan 17
Others 53

References

^ Jules Witcover, No Way to Pick A President: How Money and Hired Guns Have Debased American Elections, 2001, p.166
^ George C. Edwards, John Howard Kessel, Bert A. Rockman, Researching the presidency: vital questions, new approaches, 1993, p.60
^ http://www.thegreenpapers.com/PCom/?20040129-0
^ http://www.thegreenpapers.com/PCom/?20080201-0
^ ^a ^b Oldham, Kit (August 19, 2003). """Jackson, Henry M. "Scoop. HistoryLink.org.
^ ^a ^b David Wilma and Kit Oldham (November 7, 2003). "State voters elect Dixy Lee Ray as first woman governor of Washington, re-elect Senator Henry Jackson and House incumbents, and prefer Ford to Carter on November 2, 1976.". HistoryLink.org.
^ ^a ^b Salam, Reihan (May 27, 2003). "Double Scoop". The New Republic Online.
^ ^a ^b "Jimmy Carter's Big Breakthrough". Time Magazine. May 10, 1976.
^ Elections
^ Our Campaigns - US President - D Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1976
^ Our Campaigns - US President - D Convention Race - Jul 12, 1976

United States presidential election, 1976

Democratic Party

Convention
Primaries

Nominee:	Jimmy Carter

VP Nominee:	Walter Mondale

Candidates:	Birch Bayh Lloyd Bentsen Jerry Brown Robert Byrd Hugh Carey Frank Church Fred R. Harris Hubert Humphrey Henry M. Jackson Leon Jaworski Barbara Jordan Eugene McCarthy Ellen McCormack Walter Mondale Jennings Randolph Terry Sanford Milton Shapp campaign Sargent Shriver Adlai Stevenson III Mo Udall George Wallace

Republican Party

Convention
Primaries

Nominee:	Gerald Ford

VP Nominee:	Bob Dole

Candidates:	James L. Buckley Ronald Reagan Harold Stassen

Third party and independent candidates

American Party

Nominee:	Thomas J. Anderson

American Independent Party

Nominee:	Lester Maddox

Communist Party

Nominee:	Gus Hall

VP nominee:	Jarvis Tyner

Libertarian Party

Nominee:	Roger MacBride

VP nominee:	David Bergland

People's Party

Nominee:	Margaret Wright

VP nominee:	Benjamin Spock

Prohibition Party

Nominee:	Ben Bubar

VP nominee:	Earl Dodge

Socialist Workers Party

Nominee:	Peter Camejo

VP nominee:	Willie Mae Reid

U.S. Labor Party

Nominee:	Lyndon LaRouche

Other 1976 elections: House
Senate
Gubernatorial

United States presidential primaries

Election timelines	2004 2008 2012

National polling	Democratic Party 2008 Republican Party 2008 2012

State polling	Democratic Party 2008 Republican Party 2008 2012

Fundraising	2008 2012

Debates	Democratic Party 2008 Republican Party 2008 2012

Straw polls	Ames Texas Conservative Political Action Conference

Major events	Iowa caucuses New Hampshire primary South Carolina primary Super Tuesday

Caucuses and primaries	Democratic Party 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 Republican Party 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

Results breakdown	Democratic Party 2008 Republican Party 2008 2012

National conventions	Democratic Party 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 Republican Party 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

Reforms	California Democratic Party v. Jones Graduated Random Presidential Primary System Delaware Plan Rotating Regional Primary System Interregional Primary Plan National Primary

Jimmy Carter

39th President of the United States (1977–81) Governor of Georgia (1971–75)

Presidency	Presidency Inauguration Camp David Accords Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty Torrijos-Carter Treaties National Energy Policy Iran hostage crisis Operation Eagle Claw Moral Equivalent of War speech 1979 energy crisis Carter Doctrine Diplomatic Relations with China 1980 Summer Olympics boycott Resolute desk SALT Department of Energy Department of Education Department of Health and Human Services State of the Union Addresses (1978 1979 1980) Cabinet Federal judicial appointments controversies Executive Order 12148 Executive Order 12170 Rabbit incident Goldwater v. Carter

Life and activities	Carter Center Presidential Library and Museum Habitat for Humanity Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project The Elders Carter–Menil Human Rights Prize Jimmy Carter National Historic Site Nairobi Agreement, 1999 USS Jimmy Carter UFO incident

Elections	Georgia gubernatorial election, 1966 1970 Democratic presidential primaries, 1976 1980 Democratic National Convention, 1972 1976 1980 United States presidential election, 1976 1980

Books	(Complete list) Our Endangered Values (2006) Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006, reaction and commentary) We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land (2009) White House Diary (2010)

Honors	(Complete list) Nobel Peace Prize Presidential Medal of Freedom Freedom of the City Silver Buffalo Award Philadelphia Liberty Medal United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights Hoover Medal Christopher Award Grammy Award

Legacy	Man from Plains (2007 documentary)

Family	Rosalynn Carter (wife) Jack Carter (son) Amy Carter (daughter) James Earl Carter, Sr. (father) Lillian Gordy Carter (mother) Gloria Carter Spann (sister) Ruth Carter Stapleton (sister) Billy Carter (brother) Jason Carter (grandson) James Carter IV (grandson) Emily Dolvin (aunt) Hugh Carter (first cousin)

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Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1976