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Primaries
caucuses Conventions Electoral College pledged delegates unpledged delegates New Hampshire Primary Iowa Caucuses |
Super Tuesday
swing state general election popular vote electoral college 12th Amendment Lame Duck Inauguration Day |
Franklin D. Roosevelt
New Deal Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society Richard M. Nixon Watergate Scandal Ronald Reagan Trickle Down Economics |
Primaries, Caucuses, and Political Conventions
Presidential primaries and caucuses are held in various states. It is the nominating process that a political party does in order to select who they want to run for president representing their party. Primaries and caucuses are staggered, generally beginning sometime in January or February, and ending about mid-June before the general election in November. State and local governments run the primary elections at the state conventions, while caucuses are private events that are directly run by the political parties themselves. A state's primary election or caucus is usually an indirect election: instead of voters directly selecting a particular person running for president, they determine the number of delegates each party's national convention will receive from their respective state. These delegates then in turn select their party's presidential nominee.
Each state sends a certain number of pledged delegates to the national convention for their party. Each state will usually also send a small number of unpledged delegates who are not bound to vote for a certain candidate at the convention.
Example:
Republicans:
Each county in Missouri will send delegates to their state convention. The Republican Party members in Stoddard County meet at the county courtroom in Bloomfield. While there, a certain number of allotted delegates are chosen to attend the Missouri State Republican Convention where all Republican delegates meet to choose what delegates go to the national convention usually in late summer or early fall. At the state convention Missouri will choose the delegates it wants to represent Missouri at the Republican National Convention. Those delegates will be pledged delegates that know which candidate they are voting for. Some states have unpledged delegates which go with the regular pledged delegates to the convention. Unpledged will decide who they want to nominate at the convention.
Each state sends a certain number of pledged delegates to the national convention for their party. Each state will usually also send a small number of unpledged delegates who are not bound to vote for a certain candidate at the convention.
Example:
Republicans:
Each county in Missouri will send delegates to their state convention. The Republican Party members in Stoddard County meet at the county courtroom in Bloomfield. While there, a certain number of allotted delegates are chosen to attend the Missouri State Republican Convention where all Republican delegates meet to choose what delegates go to the national convention usually in late summer or early fall. At the state convention Missouri will choose the delegates it wants to represent Missouri at the Republican National Convention. Those delegates will be pledged delegates that know which candidate they are voting for. Some states have unpledged delegates which go with the regular pledged delegates to the convention. Unpledged will decide who they want to nominate at the convention.
National Conventions
At the national conventions the delegates from all of the states vote until a candidate from their party has reached the majority of votes. If there are three Republican candidates that want to run for president at the national convention, whomever is the first to receive a majority of the delegate votes will be the one that is selected by that party to run against the other party for the office of presidency. National Conventions are where a political party chooses who will actually represent them in a national election.
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Candidates travel from state to state to their party's conventions where they make speeches and try to convince those in attendance why they should be chosen to represent their party. Typically, a party does not want very many candidates to actually be trying to get votes, it is better to be unified under one candidate or split between two. When there are several, it is hard to get a gauge of where the party stands. Many times, after the first two or three state conventions everyone but the top two or three will drop out realizing they probably do not have a good chance to win the nomination. The New Hampshire primary is the first primary of the election cycle, usually in February of the election year. The Iowa Caucuses are held before the New Hampshire primary, usually late January or early February. A caucus is unlike a primary because at a caucus, it is the states political party leaders that select the candidate, not delegates.
The Tuesday in February or March with the most primaries or caucuses held is called Super Tuesday (this is usually when Missouri has its primary). A lot of times whomever wins on Super Tuesday ends up getting the party's nomination to run for president. |
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National Conventions take place after the state conventions. They are held every four years. At the national conventions, a candidate from each party is chosen to run for president. This is also where a political party will choose their party platform and adopt the rules for party activities for the next election cycle.
Once each political party has selected the candidate with the majority of the party delegates votes, a person is nominated. The person nominated by the Republicans will go against the person nominated by the Democrats in the presidential election which is the second Tuesday in November.
From the time they are nominated until election day, both candidates will debate one another and travel the country making speeches on why they should be chosen as president. Candidates will focus on campaigning in states that tend to middle of the road in politics in order to sway them to vote for them. Example: Mississippi has historically voted overwhelmingly Republican so it would be a waste for Republican presidential candidate to campaign much there since they know they'll win it most likely, instead they'll spend time in Florida campaigning in that state which has gone back and forth over the years voting Republican and Democrat, that is why it is known as a "swing" state.
Electoral CollegeIn November, candidates are voted (called the popular vote) on in the popular election. This is what your folks do when they vote in November, also known as the general election. After the general election, the electoral college goes to work.
The electoral college is what actually chooses the president. Each state sends the number of electors to the electoral college based on the combined number of U.S. representatives and senators it has, so Missouri has 10 (8 U.S. Representatives and 2 US Senators). |
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In the electoral college there are 538 members. A presidential candidate must receive 270 in order to become president. How do electorates from each state determine who they will vote for? Electorates from each state cast their votes depending on the popular vote in that state. For example: In 2020 Donald Trump won the popular vote in the state of Missouri therefore the 10 electorates from Missouri all voted for Donald Trump in the electoral college. It's a winner take all system in all but two states (Maine and Nebraska allow their electorates to vote at least one vote to the popular vote winner and the rest vote according to how their congressional district voted).
The Electoral College meets in their own states on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December. On January 6, Congress meets to count the votes.
The Electoral College meets in their own states on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December. On January 6, Congress meets to count the votes.
Until 1804, each elector in the electoral college got two votes. They voted for president, whomever got the most votes became the president, whomever got the second most votes became vice president. This meant that most of the time the president and vice president were from different political parties. This changed in 1804 with the passage of the 12th Amendment which said that electoral voters must cast votes separately for president and vice president. Today, if there is a tie in electoral votes, it goes to the House of Representatives where each state gets one vote to decide the president.
How did slavery impact the electoral college?
If you remember back to the beginning of the year we talked about how the South was not happy that the North had a larger population than they had. When the Constitution was created the South was able to get the 3/5 Compromise added which stated that while taking the census which determines population, for every 5 slaves, 3 would be counted as part of the voting population (even though they obviously could not vote). This allowed the South to have more representatives in Congress which meant they would have more representation in the electoral college.
After a president and vice president is declared (unofficially in November), the remaining term is a lame duck time for the sitting president. Lame duck means the president's term will be over on inauguration day, but until then he/she is still president. They will usually consider presidential pardons for people in jail during this time. Inauguration Day is on January 20 following the election, about eight weeks. Before 1933, Inauguration day was on March 4, the reason for such a delay was to give the president elect enough time to finish up whatever business he had before he became president. On Inauguration Day, the new president is sworn into office and begins their time as president.
EOC Presidents 1933-1974:
1. Franklin D. Roosevelt - 32nd President of the U.S. Democrat 1933 - 1945 (died in office). Known as the president that expanded the role of the presidency and the government by creating social programs for his New Deal (to get the US out of the Great Depression), such as social security, welfare, unemployment, etc. He is also remembered for his service as president during WWII.
2. Harry S. Truman - 33rd President - Democrat 1945 - 1953. Became president upon the death of FDR. From Missouri. Known for authorizing the dropping of two nuclear bombs on Japan and ending WWII. Integrated the U.S. Army and president during the Korean War.
3. Dwight D. Eisenhower - 34th President - Republican - 1953 to 1961. Former general of all US forces in WWII. First Republican president since 1932. Built the Interstate Highway system in U.S. Ended the Korean War. Balanced the budget, time of prosperity in America. Did not escalate conflict with communists. Not known for being an activist.
3. John F. Kennedy - 35th President - Democrat - 1961 to 1963. Known mostly because he was killed in office. President during height of Cold War. Vigorously opposed spread of communism. Got America involved in Vietnam. Used FBI to become more active in civil rights.
4. Lyndon B. Johnson - 36th President - Democrat - 1963 to 1969 - Became President after Kennedy killed. Known for getting U.S. fully involved in Vietnam War. Time of lots of protests and civil rights unrest. Became a supporter of Civil Rights. Great Society Legislation - Created Medicare and Medicaid which is health insurance for low income Americans and elderly. Provided federal funding for public education. Like Roosevelt he expanded the role of government. Created welfare programs that provided food stamps for low income people.
5. Richard Nixon - 37th President of the U.S. Republican 1969 to 1974. Ended war in Vietnam. Created federal legislation that increased law enforcement funding. Known for his role in covering up the Watergate Scandal in which members of the Republican Party broke into the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. Nixon did not know it was going to happen but he did not cooperate with investigators after the fact when he found out about it. He resigned from office to avoid impeachment.
6. Gerald Ford - 38th President - Republican - 1974 to 1977
7. Jimmy Carter - 39th President - Democrat - 1977 - 1981
7. Jimmy Carter - 39th President - Democrat - 1977 - 1981
8. Ronald Reagan - 40th President - Republican - 1981 to 1989. Former actor. Tough on communism. Known for endorsing Trickle Down Economics. Triple Down Economics is the idea that if rich corporations paid less taxes, they would make more money and would thus pass that money down to their workers in the form of higher paying jobs and benefits.
9. George H. W. Bush - 41st President - Republican - 1989 to 1993.
10. Bill Clinton - 42nd President - Democrat - 1993 to 2001.
11. George W. Bush - 43rd President - Republican - 2001 to 2009.
12. Barack Obama - 44th President - Democrat 2008 - 2017.
13. Donald Trump - 45th President - Republican 2017 to 2021.
14. Joe Biden - 46th President - Democrat 2021 to Present.
10. Bill Clinton - 42nd President - Democrat - 1993 to 2001.
11. George W. Bush - 43rd President - Republican - 2001 to 2009.
12. Barack Obama - 44th President - Democrat 2008 - 2017.
13. Donald Trump - 45th President - Republican 2017 to 2021.
14. Joe Biden - 46th President - Democrat 2021 to Present.