# Presidents not voted in by their state.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 27, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848 "2008-10-27T21:05:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/1 "2008-10-27T21:05:16Z")
It seems to be a given that a Presidential candidate/sitting President will carry their home state. Has this ever not happened?
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/2 "2008-10-27T21:08:27Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/3 "2008-10-27T21:16:56Z")
There’s a list right [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_major-party_United_States_presidential_candidates_who_lost_their_home_state). 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.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/4 "2008-10-27T23:10:56Z")
FDR didn’t carry his home COUNTY in any of his elections.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/5 "2008-10-28T00:38:45Z")
Al Gore lost Tennessee in 2000. How soon we forget.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/6 "2008-10-28T01:16:20Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/7 "2008-10-28T02:12:13Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/8 "2008-10-28T05:26:44Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#):
>
> 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.
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?
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### Author:  [@tsm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsm)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/9 "2008-10-28T05:57:47Z")
> [@stuyguy](#):
>
> 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?
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.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/10 "2008-10-28T11:39:27Z")
Never mind.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/11 "2008-10-28T13:26:31Z")
Wilson may have been both president of Princeton and governor of NJ, but he was a Virginian by birth and upbringing, and [reportedly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson) even met Robert E. Lee as a small child.
Wilson carried Virginia in both 1912 and 1916.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/12 "2008-10-28T21:10:37Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Al Gore lost Tennessee in 2000. How soon we forget.
Forgetting has nothing to do with it. The question was which presidents did not win their state, not which candidates.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidents-not-voted-in-by-their-state/469848/13 "2008-10-28T22:34:27Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Forgetting has nothing to do with it. The question was which presidents did not win their state, not which candidates.
The question was both, actually.