Many women have sought to become President of the United States. A number received national attention, either as pioneers in the electoral process, as potential candidates, or as candidates of minor parties with a significant national presence. Others were from minor parties or were fringe candidates who entered major party primaries. Hillary Clinton became the first woman major-party nominee for president when she was nominated by the Democratic party in 2016. In 2024, Kamala Harris became the second woman, first Black woman, and first South Asian person major-party presidential nominee when she earned the requisite number of votes from delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
One woman has won the office of the Vice President: Kamala Harris in 2020.Three women have been nominated to run for the office of Vice President: Kamala Harris by the Democratic party in 2020, Sarah Palin by the Republican party in 2008, and Geraldine Ferraro by the Democratic party in 1984. Another woman, Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, had her name put into nomination for Vice President at the Democratic National Convention in 1972. In addition, Toni Nathan, the 1972 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, became the first woman to win an electoral vote when one Republican elector voted for her instead of for his party’s candidate. It is worth noting that other women throughout history have had their names placed into nomination and/or earned electoral votes for vice president, but they did not receive wide support.
Presidential Candidates
This list includes all women presidential candidates known to CAWP who meet any of the following criteria: achieved major historic firsts; were named in national polls; achieved prominence by holding significant elected or appointed office; appeared on the general election ballot in a majority of states; and/or became eligible for federal matching funds. We welcome additional information sent to the address below to supplement our records.
For a list with additional information about other candidates, see: www.jofreeman.com/politics/womprez03.htm
Victoria Claflin Woodhull (1872) - The first woman to run for United States President, Woodhull was the candidate of the Equal Rights Party. Her opponents were Ulysses S. Grant (R) and Horace Greeley (D). Woodhull, born in Homer, Ohio on September 23, 1838, traveled with her parents practicing spiritualist activities. She fought for women’s rights and founded her own newspaper. She became the first woman to own a Wall Street investment firm. Died 1927.
Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood (1884 and 1888) - Lockwood ran for President under the banner of the Equal Rights Party in 1884, when the major party candidates were Grover Cleveland (D) and James G. Blaine (R), and in 1888, when the election was decided by the electoral college, with Grover Cleveland (D) winning the popular vote and Benjamin Harrison (R) winning the electoral vote and the presidency. Lockwood was born in Royalton, New York in 1830, and educated at Genessee College in Lima, New York and National University, Washington, D.C. She was admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C. in 1873. In 1879 she drafted the law passed by Congress which admitted women to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; she then became the first woman lawyer to practice before the Court. Died 1917.
Margaret Chase Smith (1964) - Smith was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for President by a major party. She received Republican primary votes in New Hampshire, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, and Oregon, among others, and had twenty-seven first ballot votes at the Republican National Convention. She removed herself from contention after the first ballot. Smith was born in Skowhegan, Maine on December 14, 1897, graduated from Skowhegan High School, and was a primary school teacher for two years. In 1940 she was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives to fill the vacancy caused by her husband’s death; she served in the House for four terms. She was easily elected in 1948 to her first term in the U.S. Senate and reelected to the Senate three more times. Died 1995.
Shirley Anita Chisholm (1972) - Chisholm was the first African American woman to seek a major party’s nomination for U.S. President. She campaigned throughout the country and was on the ballot in twelve primaries in what was largely an educational campaign. She received 151.95 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention. Born in Brooklyn, New York on November 30, 1924, she graduated from Brooklyn College and earned a master’s degree at Columbia University. Chisholm served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969 to 1983, the first African American woman to serve in Congress. Prior to her service in Congress, she served in the New York state legislature from 1964 to 1968. She was a school teacher and director of child care centers before going into public service. Chisholm died in 2005.
Patsy Takemoto Mink (1972) - Mink, the first woman of color to serve in the U.S. Congress, ran as an anti-war candidate in the 1972 Oregon Democratic presidential primary, winning two percent of the votes. An attorney, Mink served in the Hawaii territorial and state legislatures before winning a seat in the U.S. House in 1964. She served in Congress from 1965 until 1977, when she left the Congress after losing a U.S. Senate primary race. She served as assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, as president of Americans for Democratic Action, and as a member of the Honolulu City Council before winning a special election and returning to Congress in 1990, where she served until her death in 2002.
Ellen McCormack (1976, 1980) - McCormack entered 20 state primaries for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976 as an anti-abortion candidate, winning 22 convention votes. She became the first woman to qualify for federal campaign matching funds and qualified for Secret Service protection. In 1980, she ran for president again as the candidate of the Right to Life Party, winning more than 30,000 votes from three states.
Sonia Johnson (1984) - Johnson ran on the ticket of the Citizens Party, receiving federal matching funds and winning more than 70,000 votes.
Patricia S. Schroeder (1988) - Schroeder, a Democrat, made headlines when she took preliminary steps toward making a serious run for the presidency, but dropped out before the primaries because she could not raise the necessary funds. Born in Portland, Oregon on July 30, 1940, Schroeder graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. She attended Harvard Law School and received a J.D. in 1964. She began her law practice in Colorado as a field attorney with the National Labor Relations Board for two years and later entered private practice. In 1972, she entered her first political contest to challenge an incumbent in Colorado’s first congressional district. She won a close election and went on to serve twenty-four years in the U. S. House of Representatives. An anti-Vietnam war protestor, she secured an appointment to the Armed Services Committee in her first term. Schroeder served as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, which she helped to found. After leaving Congress, she became president of the Association of American Publishers, the trade association for book publishers.
Lenora Fulani (1988, 1992) - New Alliance Party. Ran for U.S. President twice and qualified for federal matching funds.
Elizabeth Hanford Dole (2000) - In January 1999, Elizabeth Hanford Dole resigned her position as president of the American Red Cross, a position she had held since 1991, to consider a run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency. She dropped out of the race in October, 1999. During the 1996 presidential campaign, Dole took a leave of absence from the Red Cross to campaign with her husband, Senator Robert Dole. She has held two cabinet posts: Secretary of Transportation (1983-87) and Secretary of Labor (1989-91). An attorney, Dole served as White House aide in the Johnson and Reagan administrations and was appointed by President Nixon to the Federal Trade Commission. She left her Reagan administration cabinet post to work for the presidential campaign of her husband. She was later appointed as Secretary of Labor by President Bush. She was elected as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina in 2002.
Carol Moseley Braun (2004) - Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL) was among ten Democrats seeking the 2004 presidential nomination. Braun was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 16, 1947. She graduated from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1968 and received her law degree from the University of Chicago in 1972. An attorney and a one-term U.S. Senator (1992-1998) she was the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. Appointed in 1999 by President Bill Clinton, Braun served as U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand. Earlier in her political career, she had served as Illinois state representative and assistant majority leader (1978-1988) and Cook County recorder of deeds (1988-1992).
Cynthia McKinney (2008) was the Green Party nominee for U.S. President in 2008. She appeared with running mate Rosa Clemente on the general election ballots in 30 states and the District of Columbia. They won 0.12% of the popular vote. Prior to her bid for the presidency, McKinney served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representating Georgia (1993-2003, 2005-2007). Before her tenure in Congress, McKinney worked as a high school teacher and a university professor.
Michele Bachmann (2012) – Bachmann was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president; she won the Ames straw poll in August 2011, but withdrew from the race after a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucuses. Bachmann represented a six-county Minnesota district in the U.S. House from 2007-2015, where she was a founder of the Tea Party Caucus. She became the first Republican woman from Minnesota elected to Congress in 2006 after serving in the State Senate from 2000-2006. She is a graduate of Winona State University, the O.W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University, and the College of William and Mary. She worked for the Internal Revenue Service as a tax attorney until leaving to become a stay-at-home parent. Before seeking public office, Bachmann was a pro-life activist and founded a charter school, breaking from the school when local officials insisted that it remain non-sectarian rather than heavily Christian-oriented in order to keep its charter. She ran for the Stillwater school board, but lost.
Jill Stein (2008, 2016) - Stein was a Green Party nominee for U.S. President in 2012 and in 2016; in both cases she qualified for federal matching funds. In 2012, Stein received 0.36% of votes in the general election, and in 2016, she received 1.1% of votes in the general election. Stein is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Medical School and was a practicing physician for 25 years. She previously served as an elected member of Lexington Town Meeting, a local office, and was an unsuccessful candidate for Massachusetts governor in 2002 and 2010 as a member of the Green-Rainbow Party. She also ran unsuccessfully for Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2004 and for Massachusetts secretary of state in 2006.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (2008, 2016) - A graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School, Hillary Clinton served on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee considering the impeachment of Richard Nixon. After moving to Arkansas, she ran a legal aid clinic for the poor and was appointed by President Carter to the board of the United States Legal Services Corporation. She led a task force to improve education in Arkansas and served on national boards for the Children's Defense Fund, the Child Care Action Campaign, and the Children's Television Workshop. Continuing her legal career as a partner in a law firm, she led the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. She was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000 and re-elected in 2006. The wife of former President Bill Clinton, she is the only First Lady of the United States ever elected to public office. Clinton was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, losing to Senator Barack Obama. President Obama appointed Clinton to serve as U.S. Secretary of State, a position she held from 2009-2013. In April 2015, she announced her candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. In July 2016 Clinton became the first woman to be a major party's nominee for president. Despite winning the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, Clinton lost the Electoral College and conceded the general election on November 9, 2016.
Carly Fiorina (2016) - Fiorina is a graduate of Stanford University, the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the MIT Sloan School of Management. In 1999, Fiorina became Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 business. After resigning her position at HP, Fiorina served in a number of advisory and policy-making positions for national and state governments and led a number of charities and nonprofits. She was an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. In 2010, she won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in California, but lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. Fiorina is the chair and CEO of Carly Fiorina Enterprises. On May 4, 2015, she announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the only woman running for the Republican nomination. She withdrew from the race after poor showings in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
Tulsi Gabbard (2020) - Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013. She is the first Hindu member and one of the first female combat veterans to serve in Congress. She previously served on the Honolulu City Council from 2011-2012. She also served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2002-2004. When she was first elected to the Hawaii House in 2002, at the age of 21, she was the youngest legislator ever elected in Hawaii's history and the youngest woman ever elected to a U.S. state legislature.
Kirsten Gillibrand (2020) - Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was appointed to the U.S Senate in January 2009 and won re-election in 2010, 2012, and 2018. Before being elected to the Senate, Gillibrand represented New York’s 20th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009. Prior to her congressional career, Gillibrand worked as an attorney in both the private and public sectors, including time spent as a special counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals (Second Circuit).
Kamala Harris (2020, 2024) - Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) has served as the nation’s first woman, first Black, and first South Asian vice president since January 2021. She represented California in the U.S. Senate from January 2017 to January 2021, where she became the first South Asian woman and only the second Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. Harris was district attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. She was California's attorney general from 2011 to 2017, serving as the first Black woman to be elected statewide in California. Harris was a candidate for president in the 2020 Democratic primary; she left the race before the first primary contest. In 2024, she launched her candidacy in July 2024 when President and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid. Biden immediately endorsed Harris for the Democratic nomination. She earned the requisite delegate votes necessary to secure the Democratic nomination on August 6, 2024.
Elizabeth Warren (2020) - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. Before being elected to the Senate, Warren served as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), was instrumental in the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and served as a law professor for more than 30 years, including nearly 20 years as the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Marianne Williamson (2020, 2024) - Williamson is an author, lecturer, entrepreneur and activist. She is the founder of Project Angel Food, a volunteer food delivery program that serves homebound people with AIDS and other life challenging illnesses. She is also the co-founder of The Peace Alliance, a nonprofit grassroots education and advocacy organization supporting peacebuilding projects. Williamson announced her bid for the Democratic nomination for president in January 2019, but she ended her campaign on January 10, 2020 prior to any primary contests. In 2014, she unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in California.
Amy Klobuchar (2020) - Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has served in the U.S. Senate since 2006. She was the first woman to be elected to the Senate from Minnesota. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School, Klobuchar was a corporate lawyer before running for public office. Klobuchar was first elected as Hennepin County Attorney in 1998, making her responsible for all criminal prosecution in Minnesota's most populous county, and she was reelected in 2002.
Jo Jorgensen (2020) is a Libertarian Party nominee for U.S. President in 2020. She appeared on general election ballots in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia. Jorgensen received her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology in 2002 and has been a lecturer in Psychology since 2006. Prior to that, she worked in marketing and business consulting. Jorgensen was the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential nominee in 1996 and the Libertarian Party's candidate for South Carolina's 4th congressional district in 1992.
Nikki Haley (2024) most recently served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 to December 2018. Prior to being appointed UN Ambassador by President Donald Trump, Haley served as South Carolina's first woman governor from 2011 to 2017. Haley, who is Indian-American, is also the first and only Asian American woman to serve as a U.S. governor. She served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.
Vice Presidential Candidates
This list includes all women vice presidential candidates known to CAWP who meet any of the following criteria: achieved historic firsts; received more than 1% of the popular vote; and/or received more than 100 votes at a major-party presidential nominating convention. We welcome additional information sent to the address below to supplement our records.
Marietta Stow (1884) - Stow ran for vice president under the banner of the Equal Rights Party and as running mate to Belva Lockwood in 1884. She is the first woman to run for vice president in the United States.
Lena Springs (1924) - Springs was the first woman to have her name placed into nomination for vice president at a United States major-party political convention. She chaired the credentials committee at the 1924 Democratic National Convention and received several votes for the vice presidential nomination.
Charlotta Spears Bass (1952) - Bass was the first Black woman nominee for vice president in the United States. She ran on the Progressive Party ticket, which received less than one percent of the popular vote in the 1952 presidential election.
Frances “Sissy” Farenthold (1972) - Gloria Steinem, author and feminist activist, put Farenthold’s name into nomination for the office of Vice President at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. A former Texas state legislator and gubernatorial candidate, Farenthold finished second in the balloting for the vice presidential nomination, receiving 400 votes.
Toni Nathan (1972) - Nathan, a Libertarian, made history as the first woman to receive an electoral vote for vice president when a Virginia Republican elector voted for President Nixon, but declined to vote for Vice President and former Maryland Governor Spiro T. Agnew and instead voted for Toni Nathan of Lane County, Oregon.
LaDonna Harris (1980) - Harris appears to be the first Native American woman nominee for vice president in the United States. She ran on the Citizens Party ticket, which received less than one percent of the popular vote in the 1980 presidential election.
Geraldine Anne Ferraro (1984) - Ferraro was the first woman vice presidential nominee of a major U.S. party. Shortly before the Democratic National Convention in July of 1984, Ferraro was named by Walter F. Mondale as his choice for the vice-presidency. The ticket received 13 electoral votes. Born on August 26, 1935, in Newburgh, New York, she attended Marymount Manhattan College and Fordham University Law School. She was an assistant district attorney in Queens, New York. She won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978 and was subsequently elected to two more terms.
Emma Wong Mar (1984) - Wong appears to be the first Asian American woman nominee for vice president in the United States. She ran on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket as running mate to Sonia Johnson. Together they received less than one percent of the popular vote in the 1984 presidential election.
Winona LaDuke (1996, 2000) - LaDuke was the running mate of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in both 1996 and 2000. With Nader, she received 2.7% of the popular vote in 2000, a larger percentage than any other third-party woman candidate for vice president.
Sarah Palin (2008) – Palin is the second woman vice presidential nominee from a major U.S. party and the first Republican woman nominee for the vice presidency. Shortly before the Republican National Convention in September of 2008, Palin was named by Senator John McCain as his choice for the vice presidency. Together they won 173 electoral votes. Born on February 11, 1964, Palin was selected while serving her first term as the governor of Alaska. She served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska city council and was elected mayor in 1996. Palin ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2002 before winning election as governor in 2006 by first defeating the incumbent governor in the Republican primary, then a former Democratic governor in the general election.
Kamala Harris (2020) – Harris is the third woman vice presidential nominee from a major U.S. party and the first multiracial woman, first South Asian woman, and first Black woman nominee for the vice presidency. She won election on 11/3/2020. Former Vice President Joe Biden selected Harris as his running mate prior to the Democratic National Convention in August 2020. Born on October 20, 1964, Harris was selected after running for president in the 2020 Democratic primary; she left the race before the first primary contest. Harris was District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. She was California's Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, serving as the first Black woman to be elected statewide in California. In 2016, Harris was became the first woman of color elected to the Senate from California, as well as the first South Asian woman and only the second Black woman in the U.S. Senate.
Sources: JoFreeman.com; National Constitution Center; Federal Election Commission; Women as Politicians, “Congressional Biographies,” University of Maryland; “Not One of the Boys” a discussion guide, written by Katherine E. Kleeman, Center for American Women and Politics.