U.S. presidential election, 1976

Red states supported Carter; blue states supported Ford.

Introduction

The 1976 presidential election followed the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal.

Democratic nomination

• Democratic candidates
  • Birch Bayh - Senator from Indiana
  • Lloyd Bentsen - Senator from Texas
  • Jerry Brown - Governor of California
  • Jimmy Carter - Former Governor of Georgia
  • Frank Church - Senator from Idaho
  • Fred R. Harris - Former Senator from Oklahoma
  • Henry Scoop Jackson - Senator from Washington
  • Ellen McCormack - New York
  • Robert Byrd - Senator from West Virginia, "favorite son" candidate
  • Terry Sanford - Former Governor of North Carolina
  • Milton Shapp - Governor of Pennsylvania
  • R. Sargent Shriver - Organizer and first director of the Peace Corps
  • Mo Udall - Representative from Arizona
  • George Wallace - Governor of Alabama

During a primary season with a long list of candidates, Carter rose from being unknown nationally to become the frontrunner, with Udall coming second in a number of close primaries. Carter won primaries first in his native Georgia, then in Alabama and Indiana, and quickly had a national campaign suitable of defeating challenges from Jackson and Church, and a late challenge from Jerry Brown.

Republican nomination

• Republican candidates
  • Gerald Ford - Incumbent President
  • Ronald Reagan - Former Governor from California

Incumbent president Ford, appointed to the vice presidency after the resignation of Spiro Agnew and then elevated to the presidency by the resignation of Richard M. Nixon, was the only U.S. President never to have been elected president or vice president. A centrist, he faced an uprising from the well-organized conservative faction of the party led by Reagan. In a tightly-fought two-way race, Reagan was unable to overcome fears that he was inexperienced and out of the mainstream, and the incumbent Ford won. He picked Kansas Senator Bob Dole as his vice-presidential candidate.

General election

Ford and Carter in debate.

Jimmy Carter ran as an honest outsider and reformer, which many voters found attractive in the wake of the Watergate scandal. President Ford, although personally unconnected with Watergate, was seen by many as too close to the discredited Richard Nixon administration, especially after Ford granted Nixon a presidential pardon.

Carter led consistently in the polls as Ford was never able to shake voter dissatisfaction following Watergate. Ford was seen as the winner of the first debate, looking more presidential, but during the second debate Ford made an important blunder when he repeatedly insisted that Eastern Europe was not occupied by the communists. In the end, Ford eliminated most of Carter's lead in a dramatic surge, but Carter still narrowly won the election. Carter was the first Democrat since Adlai Stevenson in 1956 to carry the states of the Deep South, and the first since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to carry an unquestionable majority of southern states; in fact, he carried all but Virginia. It would be 16 more years before any Southern state (minus Georgia) endorsed a Democrat for president when Bill Clinton, a fellow Southerner, ran for president in 1992.

A rogue Republican elector from Washington State gave Ronald Reagan one electoral vote.

The election was held on November 2, 1976.

See also: President of the United States, U.S. presidential election, 1976, History of the United States (1964-1980)