Presidents not voted in by their state.

Factual Questions
1

It seems to be a given that a Presidential candidate/sitting President will carry their home state. Has this ever not happened?

2

Yes – the last time for the winning candidate was Woodrow Wilson in 1916, who did not carry New Jersey.

And in 1920, it was a certainty that one of the two leading candidates would not carry his home state, since both the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate came from Ohio.

3

There’s a list right here. Interestingly, if McCain loses Arizona and is added to that list, the first column for him (birth state) will most likely be N/A, since he was not born in any US state.

4

FDR didn’t carry his home COUNTY in any of his elections.

5

Al Gore lost Tennessee in 2000. How soon we forget.

6

The list gets a bit shorter if we eliminate candidates who did not hold public office in their home states at the time they were running. Al Gore had been Clinton’s VP for 8 years when he ran. During that time, Tennessee shifted Republican. Had he still been a senator, he may have lost his seat. Nixon did not hold public office in his “resident” state of New York. He was a partner in a law firm.

7

I disagree with the Albert Arnold inclusion. Born, raised, and educated in DC. Yep, he claimed Tennessee–and if they were cool with it, I’m cool with it–but DC was his true home “state.” Doesn’t change the facts of the situation. I just disagree with the facts.

8

Albert Arnold? Who is Albert Arnold? I don’t see anyone of that name on the list that Captain Carrot cited. What am I missing here?

9

Gore.

Earl, he may have been born and raised in D.C., but he was a congressman and senator representing Tennessee for quite a few years before he became VP.

10

Never mind.

11

Wilson may have been both president of Princeton and governor of NJ, but he was a Virginian by birth and upbringing, and reportedly even met Robert E. Lee as a small child.

Wilson carried Virginia in both 1912 and 1916.

12

Forgetting has nothing to do with it. The question was which presidents did not win their state, not which candidates.

13

The question was both, actually.