Columbians in US presidential elections

Quite a few Columbia alumni and attendees have made appearances in US presidential elections. Despite this, no graduate of a Columbia school has ever been elected to the White House.

1789

Under the awkward system then in place, electors from each state each had two votes. They each cast their first vote for George Washington, but their second votes were cast for a smattering of other candidates. John Adams, capturing most, went on to become VP. But John Jay KC 1764 received nine electoral votes of his own.

1796

John Jay ran again in this contest, garnering five electoral votes.

1800

John Jay was once again a candidate, receiving yet one electoral vote.

1812

DeWitt Clinton CC 1786, then Mayor of New York, was nominee of both the Federalist Party and a dissident faction of Democrats known as the "Clinton Republicans". The election took place as the War of 1812 raged, and Clinton chose a strategy that could only have worked just prior to the invention of mass communications: he campaigned against the war in the Northeast, and for its "more vigorous prosecution" in the South and West. The gamble did not pay off, and his opponent James Madison stayed in office.

1816

Daniel D. Tompkins CC 1795 (who lent his name to Tompkins Square Park) was on the Democratic ticket as running mate to James Monroe. The duo won, and Tompkins became the US' sixth vice president.

1820

In this last effectively unopposed election in American history, Monroe and Tompkins had a cakewalk to victory. Somehow, DeWitt Clinton made it on the ballot, and received about 2,000 popular votes, though no electoral ones.

1876

Stewart Woodford CC 1854 was on the VP ballot, receiving some 70 votes at the Republican National Convention. He was beat for the veep slot handily, despite his membership in St. Anthony Hall.

1888

William Walter Phelps Law 1863 was a Republican VP nominee, but lost by a substantial number of delegates.

1900

Law school dropout Theodore Roosevelt secures the veep spot as William McKinley's running mate.

1904

Roosevelt, who had been elevated to the presidency by McKinley's assassination, held on to his incumbent presidency.

1908

Charles Evans Hughes Law 1884, then Governor of New York, was a serious Republican presidential candidate, but was beaten by eventual nominee (and president) Taft.

1912

Nicholas Murray Butler CC MA PhD, then University President, was the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party, running with Taft. Teddy Roosevelt ran again as a third party candidate on the Progressive ticket. The split of the Republican Big Tent allowed Woodrow Wilson to claim victory.

2008

Barack Obama CC 1983 is the Democratic Party nominee and first ever African-American nominated by a major party. Mike Gravel GS was a long-shot candidate for the party's nomination.

Wayne Allyn Root CC 1983 is the vice presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party.

Republican nominee John McCain did not attend Columbia, but addressed the 2006 Class Day festivities. His daughter Meghan McCain is CC 2007.