By National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum
Entering the Race
In the 21st century, a little girl can say that she wants to grow up to be President of the United States. Even though no woman has yet ascended to the highest office, few would contradict the possibility of her achieving that goal. Aspiring to be president is symbolic of a country that believes in equality of opportunity and achievement. And that is why women have been running for president long before women were allowed to vote for the president. Each successive candidate has paved the way for the next, regardless of party or platform. Though these women were the first to announce, the first to campaign, the first to raise money, or the first to win a primary, they will not be the last.
Victoria Claflin Woodhull
Victoria Claflin Woodhull cut a flamboyant figure in 19th-century America. Her varied career included stints as a spiritualist clairvoyant, the first female stockbroker on Wall Street, editor of a radical weekly paper, and professional speaker. She was the first woman to testify before Congress, where she made the argument that the 15th amendment enfranchised women as well as African American men.
"The Coming Woman" - New York Herald newspaper / Library of Congress (1870-04-02)National Women’s History Museum
The first woman to declare herself a presidential candidate, announced her run on April 2, 1870 by sending a notice to the New York Herald. It would be another fifty years before ratification of the 19th Amendment assured the ballot to American women.
Victoria Woodhull Attempts to Vote (1871-11-25)National Women’s History Museum
Woodhull represented the Equal Rights Party. Her platform included issues like an eight-hour workday, graduated income tax, liberal divorce laws, and social welfare programs. Ironically, Woodhull's main disqualification for the presidency was not her gender but her age. Presidents must be 35 years of age and Woodhull would have been only 34.
Woodhull shocked society with more than her presidential ambitions. She espoused principles including women’s equality and liberation. She insisted that women be able to marry, have children, and divorce freely, without the interference of government. She called her philosophy free love and drew large crowds when she spoke.
Belva Ann Lockwood
Belva Lockwood part volunteered and was half drafted as the candidate for the National Women's Equal Rights Party in 1884. The party's female organizers believed that presenting a woman presidential candidate would draw attention to women's issues while encouraging women to become politically active. "It is quite time that we had our own party; our own platform, and our own nominees," adjured Lockwood. "We shall never have equal rights until we take them, nor respect until we command it."
Now let the show go on! / Library of Congress (1884-09-17) by Frederick Burr Opper, 1857-1937, artistNational Women’s History Museum
While some lampooned her campaign, many took her seriously. She campaigned across the country, drawing large--paying--crowds.
Lockwood adroitly pointed out that there was nothing in the Constitution that prevented her from being elected. She was a natural born citizen, over the age of 35, and a resident of the United States. “I cannot vote,” she said, “but I can be voted for.”
Lockwood claimed to have received 4,711 votes in nine states, and declared her candidacy a resounding success. "After all," she said, "equality of rights and privileges is but simple justice." She ran again in 1888, though with less acclaim. She died in 1917 . . . three years before women won the right to vote in presidential elections.
Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Chase Smith represented the state of Maine in Congress for 34 years, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate. She was the first woman elected to the Senate in her own right. She was an independent thinker who refused to vote a party line but always kept her constituents’ interests in mind. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Smith sponsored the Women’s Armed Forces Integration Act, which granted women regular status in the armed forces, opening the military as a career path for women.
Margaret Chase Smith (1964) by Francis MillerLIFE Photo Collection
Smith declared her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in January 1964 saying, “I have few illusions and no money, but I'm staying for the finish." She noted, "When people keep telling you, you can't do a thing, you kind of like to try."
Margaret Chase Smith (1921) by Leonard MccombeLIFE Photo Collection
Smith was an accomplished grass roots campaigner whose personal touch was legendary in Maine. Though she applied the same principles to her national campaign, she lost every primary.
Party nomination celebrations (1964) by John DominisLIFE Photo Collection
With her 27 delegates at the 1964 Republican convention, she became the first woman nominated for president by a major party. She received 227,007 popular votes (3.84%). Barry Goldwater emerged as the party’s candidate, eventually losing to Lyndon B Johnson.
Patsy Takemoto Mink
In 1964, the Hawaiian Democrat became the first woman of color and first Asian American woman elected to Congress. Patsy Takemoto Mink championed women’s issues during her two stints in Congress, including passage of the Women’s Education Equity Act and co-sponsorship of Title IX.
Congresswoman Patsy Mink (1964) by Ralph CraneLIFE Photo Collection
Mink’s foray into presidential politics came in 1971 at the request of Oregon liberals who recruited her to run in their state’s primary. Her vocal opposition to the Vietnam War was intended to pressure front-runner George McGovern to make the war an issue in the platform. Mink received more than 5,000 votes in the Oregon primary as well as a few hundred in Maryland and Wisconsin. She did not actively seek the nomination at the 1972 Convention.
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress and a founding member of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Women’s Caucus. Representing the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, Chisholm was known as "Fighting Shirley" for her passionate advocacy for her poor and minority constituents. She was the first African American person to run for a major party presidential nomination.
Chisholm served in the New York State Legislature prior to her 1968 election to Congress. Her 1972 quest for the Democratic Presidential nomination was largely symbolic, undertaken to demonstrate the party’s failure to adequately represent the interests of women, African Americans, and the working class.
Shirley Chisholm: Declares Presidential Bid, January 25, 1972
New York Department of Records
YoutTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3JCX3WxBik
Chisholm appeared on the primary ballots in 12 states. She received 152 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention held in Miami, Florida, which ultimately selected George McGovern as the nominee. While never in real contention, her strategy of bringing a bloc of voters to the convention has influenced campaign strategies to the present.
Ellen McCormack
Ellen McCormack was a self-identified Long Island housewife who decided to run for President just three years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision on abortion. "I'm in this to defend the unborn child," she told the New York Magazine in 1976. "I believe in the right to life of every being from the first moment of existence until the last moment of death."
McCormack appeared on the primary ballot in eighteen states. While she did not win any primaries, her vote total of 238,027 was higher than that for several male Democratic candidates including Frank Church and Hubert Humphrey. She had 22 delegates at the Democratic National Convention that nominated Jimmy Carter.
McCormack's Pro-Life Action Committee focused on securing federal election matching funds to finance a series of hard-hitting commercials. "One hundred million TV viewers will see our pro-life message," proclaimed a fund-raising appeal." She was the first female candidate to receive matching funds.
Ellen McCormack - 1976 Campaign Commercial
Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN3h6auFSJw
Demonstration protesting anti-abortion candidate Ellen McCormack at the Democratic National Convention / Library of Congress (1976-07-14) by Warren K. Leffler, photographerNational Women’s History Museum
After the election, she led the formation of the Right to Life Party, where she worked for a constitutional amendment to reverse Roe v. Wade. McCormack ran again for President in 1980, appearing on the ballot in three states.
Sonia Johnson
Sonia Johnson was a fifth-generation Mormon who became active in the campaign to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1977, Johnson co-founded Mormons for ERA. Her activism led to her excommunication from the LDS Church and influenced her decision to run for President.
President Carter Signing ERA Extension / U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (1978-10-20) by White House Staff PhotographerOriginal Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Passage of the ERA stalled after Indiana became the 35th state to ratify it in 1977. In 1979, Congress extended the ratification deadline to 1982. The passage of the second deadline with no more ratifications motivated Johnson’s 1984 presidential campaign. Nominated by two minor parties for President in 1984--the U.S. Citizens Party and the Peace and Freedom Party--she was the first third-party candidate to qualify for primary matching funds. She received 72,161 votes, or 0.08%.
Patricia Schroeder
Patricia “Pat” Schroeder represented the Denver area in Congress for 24 years. First elected in 1972, the liberal Democrat ran on an anti-Vietnam War platform. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Schroeder sought to curb defense spending to reign in Cold War expenditures. Throughout her career she consistently advocated for women’s rights, supporting the ERA, cofounding the Congressional Women’s Caucus, and sponsoring the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Colorado Democrat Senator Gary Hart / Nancy Wong (1984) by Nancy Wong, photographerOriginal Source: Wikimedia
Schroeder chaired Senator Gary Hart’s Democratic presidential campaign in 1987. The campaign fell apart after revelations of Hart’s extramarital affair emerged. Schroeder briefly entered the race, but withdrew after it became apparent that she lacked the resources to mount a serious challenge in the short window of time before the convention.
Schroeder’s withdrawal speech is best remembered for its intense emotion. Schroeder needed to secure delegates in addition to the popular vote. As a late entrant, building the delegate infrastructure proved prohibitively expensive.
"I could not figure out how to run," she said. "I could not find any way that we could really run the kind of campaign I wanted to run if we were targeting delegates and still trying to talk to people, which is what keeps me going as a human being. It's hard to do the grass roots thing and the delegate thing simultaneously. I want to find a way to break through that process, but at this moment I don't see it, today."
Lenora B. Fulani
Lenora Fulani ran for the presidency in 1988 and 1992 for the New Alliance Party. In 1988 Fulani became the first woman and first African American to appear on the ballot in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. She won 225,000 votes, or 0.2% of the November 1988 total. NAP encouraged political independence rather than party line support for either major party.“I think it’s important to recognize that when people keep voting and the same things happen, that turns them off to politics, to power, to anything. They want nothing to do with it.”
Lenora Fulani of the New Alliance Party
1992 Interview on the News Hour regarding her second presidential run.
Video source is : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpeYCvPQPn4
Carol Moseley-Braun
Carol Mosely-Braun was the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, serving one term from 1992 to 1999. Braun, who had held local offices in Chicago, was motivated to run by the spectacle of the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas and the treatment of his accuser Anita Hill.
Senator Barbara Mikulski standing with women senatorial candidates / Library of Congress (1992-07) by Laura Patterson, photographerNational Women’s History Museum
“The angrier I got at the way the Senate was carrying on, the more I became convinced that it absolutely needed a healthy dose of democracy," she observed. "It wasn’t enough to have millionaire white males over the age of 50 representing all the people in the country.”
Women senators seated around a coffee table / Library of Congress (1997-01) by Maureen Keating, photographerOriginal Source: Library of Congress
Mosely-Braun lost her 1998 bid for re–election to the Senate to Republican Peter Fitzgerald, an Illinois state senator. She declared a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000 and again in 2004. Lack of funds and traction in the polls had caused her to drop out of both races early.
Elizabeth Hanford Dole
Elizabeth Hanford Dole came to Washington, DC in 1965 after graduating from Harvard’s Law School. She accepted a position in the department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the Johnson administration. After Richard Nixon’s election, Dole changed her party affiliation and became executive director of the President’s Committee for Consumer Interests. She spent the next several decades in government and public service.
President Bush conducts a full Cabinet Meeting in the Cabinet Room / National Archives and Records Administration (1989-09-05) by Susan Biddle, photographerOriginal Source: Wikimedia.org in cooperation with National Archives and Records Administration
Dole served in back-to-back Republican administrations. First as President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Transportation and then as George H.W. Bush's Secretary of Labor.
Letter, Clara Barton to Dr. Wayland (1882) by Clara BartonNational Women’s History Museum
Dole left the White House in 1991 to become the president of the American Red Cross. She was the first woman to hold that position since its founding by Clara Barton.
Dole, Bob & Elizabeth (1999-11-12) by Marion CurtisLIFE Photo Collection
Dole announced her own intention to run for the Republican nomination in 1999. She left the race after seven months, unable to match George W. Bush’s fundraising. Dole went on to successfully run for the North Carolina Senate seat vacated by Jesse Helms, where she served one term from 2003 to 2009.
Michele Bachmann
Republican Michele Bachmann represented Minnesota’s 6th congressional district from 2007 to 2014. Bachmann developed a reputation for conservative views on social issues and favoring limited government. She was a founding member of the Tea Party Caucus in 2010 and quickly rose to national prominence as a critic of the Obama administration.
Michele Bachmann, official Congress portrait / Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives by UnknownNational Women’s History Museum
Bachmann announced her intention in 2011 to capture the Republican presidential nomination. She briefly enjoyed front runner status after winning the Iowa Straw Poll in August 2011. By the time of the Iowa Caucus a few months later, she had dropped to sixth place. Bachmann left the race soon after. She was re-elected to a third Congressional term in 2012 and retired after completing her term in 2014.
Jill Stein
Jill Stein ran as the Green Party candidate for president in 2012, 2016, and 2024. Stein, a physician and environmental-health advocate, ran on a progressive platform.
The major planks in her 2016 “Power to the People” platform included green energy by 2030, reform of the financial system, a path to citizenship for immigrants, guaranteed jobs, as well as universal payer health insurance and free higher education. Stein's 2016 campaign attracted disaffected Bernie Sanders supporters who identified her as a more progressive alternative to the Democratic nominee. During her 2024 campaign, Stein stated that she wants to "offer a choice for the people outside the failed two-party system."
Stein received 469,015 votes in the 2012 general election, placing her fourth among candidates. She received .36% of the votes cast.
Video - Green Party of the United States
Campaign Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLolvORGslQ
Carly Fiorina
Carly Fiorina entered a crowded Republican primary race for the 2016 election. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO positioned herself as an experienced leader of a Fortune 50 company who could reform a broken economy. Her issues included smaller government, an end to crony capitalism, and upholding conservative principles. Her strong performances in the first two presidential primary debates marked her as a serious contender.
Carly Fiorina Quotation (2016-05-02) by Carly Fiorina, presidential candidateOriginal Source: Facebook - Carly Fiorina, business person
Fiorina suspended her campaign in February 2016 after finishing seventh in the New Hampshire primary. She briefly affiliated with candidate Ted Cruz who he named her as his preferred Vice Presidential running mate in April 2016. He exited the race in May 2016.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the only former First Lady to hold public office, serve as a member of a presidential cabinet, or run for the presidential nomination. She became the first woman to serve as a major party's nominee for president after winning the 2016 Democratic nomination. She first ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, becoming the first woman to win a major party presidential primary. She captured 21 states before conceding to Barack Obama in June 2008. "Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it," she said in her concession speech. "And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time."
President W. Clinton Inaugural Parade with Family / National Archives and Records Administration (1997-01-20)Original Source: National Archives and Records Administration
After graduating from Yale Law School, Hillary Rodham married Arkansas native Bill Clinton in 1975. While her husband entered Arkansas politics, she joined a private legal practice. He was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1978, but she continued to work as an attorney while also serving on several boards and commissions. Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States in 1992 and Hillary Rodham Clinton became First Lady. Rodham Clinton was highly engaged in the administration's public policy efforts, the most publicly engaged First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt.
Hillary Rodham Clinton Official Portrait / U.S. Senate Historical Office by Photographer UnknownOriginal Source: History, Art & Archives - United States House of Representatives
Following Bill Clinton’s presidential term, Hillary Clinton campaigned for and won the open New York Senate seat in 2000. Clinton was re-elected in 2006. In 2007 she declared her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. She lost to Illinois Senator Barack Obama who went onto win the general election. Obama appointed Clinton Secretary of State, a position she held for his first term.
Hillary Clinton Campaign Rally / Gage Skidmore (2016-03-21) by Gage Skidmore, photographerOriginal Source: Flickr
On April 12, 2015, Clinton announced her second run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton secured the nomination at the July 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, becoming the first woman in history to represent a major party in a U.S. presidential election. Though she won the popular vote 48% to 47%, she lost the presidential race to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, in the Electoral College.
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard ran for the Democratic nomination for President in 2020, though her bid was ultimately unsuccessful. The former representative from Hawai'i's 2nd Congressional District was the first woman combat veteran and Samoan woman to run for President of the United States.
Gabbard's platform leaned on her experience in the military. She worked to stand out from fellow Democratic peers on her foreign policy initiatives, criticizing wasteful wars while also stating that she would continue to take on the threat of terrorism around the world.
Kirsten Gillibrand
In the crowded field for the Democratic nomination in 2020, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced her candidacy in March 2019. Staying in the race only 6 months, Gillibrand pledged to not take corporate PAC funds alongside other Democratic candidates.
Gillibrand Twitter Post by Kirsten GillibrandNational Women’s History Museum
With a record as an attorney and terms in both the House and the Senate with more moderate views, Gillibrand leaned into her positions on women's rights and tackling money in politics as part of her 2020 platform. She posted this quote on Twitter as part of her campaign in 2019.
Elizabeth Warren
When she entered the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination, Senator Elizabeth Warren was a serious contender against the leaders in the race, Senator Bernie Sanders and President Joe Biden. Though she ultimately suspended her campaign, she came in third in the primaries.
Warren's campaign platform was more progressive than many of those in the field. She advocated for Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and a federal minimum wage of $15. Her experience as an educator and as a Senator from Massachusetts informed her politics.
Tempe Arizona Town Hall by Elizabeth WarrenNational Women’s History Museum
During her campaign, Elizabeth Warren set the tradition of "Pinkie Promises." If she met a young girl, she would introduce herself and say, " My name is Elizabeth, and I’m running for president because that’s what girls do." She'd seal the interaction with a pinkie promise
Amy Klobuchar
Senator Amy Klobuchar has represented Minnesota in the US Capitol since 2007, but in 2019, she also announced her bid to represent all Americans as president in the 2020 Democratic primaries. She positioned herself as a more moderate option compared to her competitors.
Amy Klobuchar (2019-02-10) by By Lorie Shaull - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76503157National Women’s History Museum
"I stand before you as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of Minnesota..." Klobuchar announced her candidacy on a snow day in February, leaning into her Midwest origins.
Jo Jorgenson
The first woman to be nominated by the Libertarian party as their presidential nominee, professor and politician Jo Jorgenson ended up winning just over 1% of the national vote in November 2020, coming in third overall.
Jo Jorgensen by By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Jo Jorgensen, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94941782National Women’s History Museum
Jorgenson also ran on the Libertarian ticket in 1996 as the Vice Presidential candidate. In both races, Jorgenson continued to criticize big government and advocated for the Libertarian platform.
Nikki Haley
Former South Carolina governor and U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley joined the race for the 2024 Republican nomination in 2023. Haley's conservative platform included federal abortion regulations and a hardline stance against "enemies of the United States."
Nikki Haley for President logo by By Nikki Haley 2024 presidential campaign - [1] (direct link), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128731459National Women’s History Museum
Haley was the fifth Republican woman to run, the first woman of color to seek this nomination, and the first woman to win a Republican presidential primary. She won the Republican primary in both Washington, DC, and Vermont in March 2024 before suspending her campaign on March 12th.
Marianne Williamson
Spiritual advisor and author Marianne Williamson entered the 2020 and 2024 races as the hopeful Democratic nominee. Her memorable performances in the 2020 debates and her more progressive platform stood out among a crowded field, though she ultimately suspended her campaigns.
Marianne Williamson by By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America - Marianne Williamson, CC BY-SA 2.0National Women’s History Museum
During both campaigns, Williamson was one of the only candidates in the field talking about paying reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans as a step towards racial healing in the United States.
Kamala Harris
In 2019, Senator Kamala Harris launched her campaign for President of the United States for the 2020 race. Her commitment to fighting injustice and capabilities for leadership and governance made then President-Elect Joseph R. Biden chose Harris as his running mate.
Kamala Harris Howard Commencement Ceremony by By Office of Senator Kamala Harris - https://twitter.com/SenKamalaHarris/status/863395417811296256, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65363683National Women’s History Museum
A graduate of Howard University and the University of California Hastings College of the Law, Harris started her career as an attorney. In 2010, Harris was elected as the first African American and first woman to serve as California's Attorney General.
In 2016, she was elected as a Senator for California, becoming only the second African American woman to ever be elected to the Senate in U.S. history. When speaking to The Washington Post in 2019, Harris spoke about how politicians should not have to fit into boxes because of the color of their skin or their background, saying, "My point was: I am who I am. I'm good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I'm fine with it." While in office, she ran for president in the 2020 race, an unsuccessful bid that ultimately led to her selection as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate.
Kamala Harris by DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Kevin TanenbaumNational Women’s History Museum
On January 20, 2021, Kamala D. Harris became the first woman, the first African American woman, the first Indian-American, the first person of Asian-American descent, and the first graduate of an HBCU to be sworn in as the Vice President of the United States of America.
In July 2024, President Joe R. Biden announced he was not seeking reelection, and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris as his pick for the next Democratic nominee. Harris quickly garnered the support of the Democratic party and was confirmed as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in August 2024.
Kamala Harris by By Gage Skidmore https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/53914502127National Women’s History Museum
If elected, Harris would be the first woman and first person of Asian descent to be President of the United States, and only the second African American to hold the role.
Voting for the Future
Many women have run for president, and many more will. As each woman has gone a little bit further than the last in securing funding, campaign recognition, or primary votes, she has built a foundation for the next. Their strategic campaign initiatives-even when they knew that they would not win-highlighted issues of importance. They changed politics. They changed the relationship of government to the people, demanding that government be more responsive and inclusive. Someday a woman will be elected, and though she will be the first, she will not be the last.
National Women's History Museum
www.womenshistory.org
Elizabeth L. Maurer
Director of Program
Ashley Callaway
Image Research and Curatorial Intern
