WOMEN PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES …

         WOMEN PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
                                                   A Selected List

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.
Two women have been nominated to run for the office of Vice President: Sarah Palin by the Republican party in 2008
and Geraldine Ferraro by the Democratic party in 1984. (See page 3 for information on vice presidential candidates.)
Another, 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.
This fact sheet includes all 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


Presidential Candidates
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.
                               PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES (continued)
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 151.25 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).

Hillary Rodham Clinton (2008) - Clinton is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president. She was elected
to the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000 and re-elected in 2006. She serves on the Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Senate


©   COPYRIGHT 2008. Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)                                                     08/08
                                  PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES (continued)
Armed Services Committee. She also chairs the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, responsible for
communicating with the public about key issues before Congress. A graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School,
she 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. The
wife of former President Bill Clinton, she is the only First Lady of the United States ever elected to public office.


Vice Presidential Candidates
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.
Geraldine Anne Ferraro (1984) - Ferraro was the first -- and to date, only -- 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. In 1992 and again in 1998, she lost bitterly contested primaries to challenge
Alfonse D'Amato for the U.S. Senate seat. She also served as co-host on the CNN public affairs program Crossfire and
was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. She became president of G&L Strategies, a
management consulting firm, and then executive vice president and head of the public affairs practice of The Global
Consulting Group.

Winona LaDuke (1996, 2000) - LaDuke was the running mate of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.

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. 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.




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.

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©   COPYRIGHT 2008. Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP)                                                             08/08