The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency, as well as being only the third sitting United States senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, Biden became the first senator running mate of a senator elected president since Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960 election.
This article contains lists of official candidates associated with the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2008 United States presidential election.
The following is a timeline of major events leading up to and immediately following the United States presidential election of 2008. The election was the 56th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008, but its significant events and background date back to about 2002. The Democratic Party nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, defeated the Republican Party's nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona.
From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Republican Party chose their nominee for president in the 2008 United States presidential election. Senator John McCain of Arizona was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 2008 Republican National Convention held from Monday, September 1, through Thursday, September 4, 2008, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. President George W. Bush was ineligible to be elected to a third term due to the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.
This article is a collection of statewide public opinion polls that have been conducted relating to the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, typically using standard statistical methodology.
This article contains the results of the 2008 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses.
The 2008 South Carolina Republican presidential primary was held on January 19, with 24 delegates at stake. The Republican National Committee took half of South Carolina's 47 delegates away from them because the state committee moved its Republican primary before February 5. It was held on the same day as the Nevada Republican caucuses, 2008.
The 2008 Florida Republican presidential primary was held on January 29, 2008, with 57 delegates at stake on a winner-take-all basis. The Republican National Committee removed half of Florida's delegates because the state committee moved its Republican primary before February 5. Arizona Senator John McCain was the winner of the primary. Third-place finisher Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race the following day.
The 2008 Oklahoma Republican presidential primary was held on February 5, with 41 delegates at stake. It was a closed primary, meaning only registered Republicans could vote in the election. The primary was on Super Tuesday on the same day as twenty-three other states. John McCain won Oklahoma's primary with 37% of the vote, although Mike Huckabee picked up some delegate votes as well by receiving 33% of the vote.
The 2008 Louisiana Republican presidential caucuses were held on January 22 and the primary on February 9, 2008.
The 2008 United States presidential election in California took place on November 4, 2008, in California as part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 55 electors, the most out of any of the 50 states, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
New York held its state presidential primary on February 5, 2008. There were 101 delegates up for grabs for the candidates. The delegates were awarded on a winner-take-all basis, which means the winner, Arizona Senator John McCain, received all 101 delegates for the 2008 Republican National Convention.
The 2008 West Virginia Republican presidential caucuses took place on February 5, 2008 to select 18 delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention. An additional nine delegates were selected in a primary election on May 13, 2008, for a total of 27 delegates to the national convention. Mike Huckabee won the caucuses, and John McCain later won the primary.
The 2008 District of Columbia Democratic presidential primary took place on February 12, 2008, nicknamed the "Potomac Primary" because Maryland and Virginia, which border the Potomac River, also held Democratic primaries that day. Fifteen delegates were up for grabs in the District of Columbia Democratic Primary, including 10 delegates from the District of Columbia's municipal subdivisions. An additional five delegates were awarded to the at-large winner, Barack Obama. These 15 delegates represented the District of Columbia at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. A total of 24 unpledged delegates, known as superdelegates, also attended the convention and cast their votes as well.
The Potomac primary, also called Chesapeake Tuesday, the Beltway primary, and the Crabcake primary, is the confluence of three Democratic presidential primaries and three Republican presidential primaries that takes place after Super Tuesday in the states of Maryland and Virginia as well as in the District of Columbia.
The 2008 Washington Republican presidential caucuses were held on Saturday February 9 and the primary on February 19, 2008 to compete 40 total delegates, of which 18 tied to the caucuses, 19 tied to the primary, and 3 unpledged RNC member delegates.
The 2008 District of Columbia Republican presidential primary took place on February 12, 2008. Virginia and Maryland both held primaries on the same day, so the day's elections were collectively called "the Potomac primary". John McCain decisively won the primary, securing the votes of all 16 DC delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention.
The 2008 Maryland Republican presidential primary took place on February 12, 2008. The state sent 37 delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Three delegates were awarded to the winner of each of the state's eight congressional districts; the remainder of the state's delegates were at-large. John McCain won the primary election.
In 2008, Virginia, for the first time since 1964, cast its electoral college presidential votes for a Democrat, Barack Obama. It also elected a United States Senator, members of the United States House of Representatives, and local officers such as county board and school board members.
The Virginia House of Delegates election of 2015 was held on Tuesday, November 3. All 100 seats of the Virginia House of Delegates were on the ballot. While Republicans maintained an enormous edge against Democrats in the chamber, their net loss of one seat cost them their previously-held veto-proof majority against Governor Terry McAuliffe.
