# What other Presidential candidates have lost their own states?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [October 31, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433 "2012-10-31T14:14:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/1 "2012-10-31T14:14:57Z")
I don’t know if this would be better in general questions, but since it is about elections I put it here. Currently candidate Romney is trailing President Obama in MA by around 20 points. This was surprising to me; they must really dislike him up there… Anyway, what other presidential candidates have not carried their home states and by what margins?
Apologies for any misspellings, I am doing this on my phone.
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### Author:  [@Phatlewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatlewt)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/2 "2012-10-31T14:20:54Z")
[wikipedia knows](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_major-party_United_States_presidential_candidates_who_lost_their_home_state)
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### Author:  [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/3 "2012-10-31T14:21:28Z")
Al Gore lost Tennessee. It was close (about 4%) and obviously would have been enough to win the election.
Or that.
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### Author:  [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/4 "2012-10-31T14:25:48Z")
Al Gore failed to carry Tennessee in 2000, and George McGovern failed to carry South Dakota in 1972. And if you want to get technical, Ross Perot obviously “lost” Texas in his two runs, and John Anderson “lost” Illinois in 1980.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/5 "2012-10-31T16:06:05Z")
FDR lost his home county every election.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/6 "2012-10-31T17:51:46Z")
Mitt Romney is likely to lose Michigan, too.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/7 "2012-10-31T17:53:29Z")
So only James Polk lost his resident and birth state and won the thing. How odd that he managed that.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/8 "2012-10-31T18:11:25Z")
Odd - wikipedia lists Nixon’s home state as New York for the 1976 election page.
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### Author:  [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/9 "2012-10-31T18:28:38Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> Odd - wikipedia lists Nixon’s home state as New York for the 1976 election page.
And that was the year that he ran for State Dog-catcher, too.
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### Author:  [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/10 "2012-10-31T18:31:32Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> Odd - wikipedia lists Nixon’s home state as New York for the 1976 election page.
Good catch. In 1976 Nixon lived in political purgatory/oblivion, didn’t he? 😉
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### Author:  [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/11 "2012-10-31T18:52:55Z")
> [@CJJ](#):
>
> And if you want to get technical, Ross Perot obviously “lost” Texas in his two runs, and John Anderson “lost” Illinois in 1980.
Well, if we’re going down that road, the Communist, Libertarian, Green, Socialist Worker, and Prohibition candidates have a long history of losing their home state too!
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/12 "2012-10-31T19:08:30Z")
Although Bush the Greater was technically a resident of Texas (his voting address was a hotel room in Houston in both 1988 and 1992, IIRC), he won Maine, the state where he lived most of the time when outside of Washington D.C., in 1988, but lost it four years later.
Here’s another question (can’t find a Wiki page for it) - what major-party campaigns have lost the state of their Vice Presidential nominees? Off the top of my head I can think of Geraldine Ferraro (Reagan took New York in 1984) and Lloyd Bentsen (Bush took Texas in 1988), but there must be others.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/13 "2012-10-31T19:12:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Here’s another question (can’t find a Wiki page for it) - what major-party campaigns have lost the state of their Vice Presidential nominees? Off the top of my head I can think of Geraldine Ferraro (Reagan took New York in 1984) and Lloyd Bentsen (Bush took Texas in 1988), but there must be others.
Kerry/Edwards in '04. Dole/Kemp in '96.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/14 "2012-10-31T19:23:09Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#):
>
> Good catch. In 1976 Nixon lived in political purgatory/oblivion, didn’t he? 😉
Heh - whoops! 1968.
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### Author:  [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/15 "2012-10-31T19:25:13Z")
> [@Jas09](#):
>
> Al Gore lost Tennessee. It was close (about 4%) and obviously would have been enough to win the election.
>
> Or that.
What happened to Al Gore is what will happen to Mitt Romney. It’s hard to be conservative enough to win a southern statewide election and yet liberal enough to win the Democratic nomination. AG moved leftward from when he was senator from TN. The reverse is true of Republicans and MR.
What would be odder would be if a current statewide elected official lost his home state.
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### Author:  [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-presidential-candidates-have-lost-their-own-states/639433/16 "2012-10-31T19:32:45Z")
Romney has three or four “home” states, right? I only care about him winning one of them: New Hampshire.