Some friends and I were talking about the upcoming election and the question came up, has a candidate ever failed to carry their own state and still won the election. And beyond that, other than Gore, which candidates have failed to carry their own states?
Alfred M. Landon of Kansas only won Maine and Vermont in 1936 against FDR.
I know that you are talking about presidential elections but you didn’t specify so I can’t help but point out that John Ashcroft lost his Missouri Senate election to a dead man in 2000. That’s not carrying your own state with a vengeance.
Woodrow Wilson won the election while losing his home state of New Jersey.
Among Winners:
Woodrow Wilson (a native Virginian but a New Jersey resident and New Jersey goverrnor when he ran for President) lost New Jersey in 1916.
Now… this can get tricky, because we can argue over a candidate’s “home” state. Richard Nixon is viewed as a Californian, but I think he was a New York resident when he ran for President in 1968. If so, well, he won the election while losing New York.
Among Losers:
George McGovern lost South Dakota in 1972.
Adlai Stevenson lost Illinois in 1952 & 1956.
Thomas Dewey and Wendell Willkie lost New York in 1940 & 1944 (though, in fairness, their opponent, FDR, was also a New Yorker).
Herbert Hoover lost Iowa (and almost every other state!) in 1932.
Alfred E. Smith lost New York in 1928.
John Davis lost West Virginia in 1924.
James Cox lost Ohio in 1920 (in fairness, Warren Harding was also from Ohio).
In 1912, incumbent William Howard Taft lost Ohio and Teddy Roosevelt lost New York.
In 1904, Alton Parker lost New York (in fairness, his opponent, Teddy Roosevelt, was also a New Yorker).
In 1900, William Jennings Bryan lost Nebraska.
In 1888, Grover Cleveland lost New York.
In 1880, Winfield Hancock lost Pennsylvania to James Garfield.
James K. Polk (TN) in 1844 and Woodrow Wilson (NJ) in 1916 both were the only two elected to office despite losing the states they were primarily associated with.
What’s interesting is that Polk also lost NC, his state of birth, in 1844 and still went on to win.
I didn’t bother to research according to birth.
Wow. I had no idea. So, you’re saying that voters voted for a dead man over John Ashcroft? The voters had no idea how the office would be filled - obviously, they knew their candidate could not exercise it - but they so hated Ashcroft that they voted to in essence leave the office empty and unexercised rather than filled by Ashcroft? Is that what happened?
Because that’s sure what it sounds like from reading your post.
Either I’m missing some sort of undercurrent here or you’re letting your politics cloud your judgement; I didn’t get that tone from David Simmons’ post at all.
That is precisely what happened: During the 2000 elections, the Senate seat was to be filled by either Ashcroft or the term-expiring Governor of the state. The Governor’s plane crashed and killed him, after the time for ballot modification was ended. There was a strong presumption that the (former Lieutenant) Governor would name the (late) Governor’s widow to fill the vacancy if he won – and enough Missourians voted for the late Governor to give him the win, and as expected, the vacancy was filled by naming the widow to serve until the next general election.
You do have to admit, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of our intrepid Attorney General, though: “I’d rather have a dead man representing me than you.” :dubious: