1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries

1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries

January 21 to June 3, 1980
3,315 delegates to the Democratic National Convention 1,105 delegate votes needed to win
x160px x160px Candidate Jimmy Carter Ted Kennedy Home state Georgia Massachusetts Contests won 36 12 Popular vote 10,043,016 7,381,693 Percentage 51.1% 37.6%
300px Results of the 1980 Democratic National Convention
Previous Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter

From January 21 to June 3, 1980, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1980 United States presidential election. Incumbent President Jimmy Carter was again selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses, culminating in the 1980 Democratic National Convention, held from August 11 to August 14, 1980, in New York City.

Carter faced a major primary challenger in Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who won 12 contests and received more than seven million votes nationwide, enough for him to refuse to concede the nomination until the second day of the convention. This remains the last election in which an incumbent president's party nomination was still contested going into the convention.

Primary race

At the time, Iran was experiencing a major uprising that severely damaged its oil infrastructure and greatly weakened its capability to produce oil. In January 1979, shortly after Iran's leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled the country, lead Iranian opposition figure Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from a 14-year exile and with the help of the Iranian people toppled the Shah which in turn led to the installation of a new government form that was hostile towards the United States. The damage that resulted from Khomeini's rise to power would soon be felt throughout many American cities. In the spring and summer of 1979 inflation was on the rise and various parts of the country were experiencing energy shortages. The gas lines last seen just after the Arab/Israeli war of 1973 were back and President Carter was widely blamed.

President Carter's approval ratings were very low—28% according to Gallup, with some other polls giving even lower numbers. In July Carter returned from Camp David and announced a reshuffling of his cabinet on national television, giving a speech whose downcast demeanor resulted in it being widely labelled the "malaise speech." While the speech caused a brief upswing in the president's approval rating, the decision to dismiss several cabinet members was widely seen as a rash act of desperation, causing his approval rating to plummet back into the twenties. Some Democrats felt it worth the risk to mount a challenge to Carter in the primaries. Although Hugh Carey and William Proxmire decided not to run, Senator Edward M. Kennedy finally made his long-expected run at the presidency.

Ted Kennedy had been asked to take his brother Robert’s place at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and had refused. He ran for Senate Majority Whip in 1969, with many thinking that he was going to use this as a platform for the 1972 race. However, then came the notorious Chappaquiddick incident that killed Kennedy's car passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy subsequently refused to run for president in 1972 and 1976. Many of his supporters suspected that Chappaquiddick had destroyed any ability he had to win on a national level. Despite this, in the summer of 1979, Kennedy consulted with his extended family, and that fall, he let it leak out that because of Carter's failings, 1980 might indeed be the year he would try for the nomination. Gallup had him beating the president by over two to one, but Carter remained confident, famously claiming at a June White House gathering of Congressmen that if Kennedy ran against him in the primary, he would "whip his ass."

Kennedy's official announcement was scheduled for early November. A television interview with Roger Mudd of CBS a few days before the announcement went badly, however. Kennedy gave an "incoherent and repetitive" answer to the question of why he was running, and the polls, which showed him leading the President by 58–25 in August now had him ahead 49–39. Meanwhile, U.S. animosity towards the Khomeini régime greatly accelerated after 52 American hostages were taken by a group of Islamist students and militants at the U.S. embassy in Tehran and Carter's approval ratings jumped in the 60-percent range in some polls, due to a "rally ‘round the flag" effect and an appreciation of Carter's calm handling of the crisis. Kennedy was suddenly left far behind. Carter beat Kennedy decisively in Iowa and New Hampshire. Carter decisively defeated Kennedy everywhere except Massachusetts, until impatience began to build with the President's strategy on Iran. When the primaries in New York and Connecticut came around, it was Kennedy who won.

Momentum built for Ted Kennedy after Carter's attempt to rescue the hostages on April 25 ended in disaster and drew further skepticism towards Carter's leadership ability. Nevertheless, Carter was still able to maintain a substantial lead even after Kennedy won the key states of California and New Jersey in June. Despite this, Kennedy refused to drop out, and the 1980 Democratic National Convention was one of the nastiest on record. On the penultimate day, Kennedy conceded the nomination and called for a more liberal party platform in the Dream Shall Never Die speech, considered by many as the best speech of his career, and one of the best political speeches of the 20th Century. On the stage on the final day, Kennedy for the most part ignored Carter.

As of 2020, Kennedy remains the last challenger to defeat an incumbent in any of his/her party's statewide presidential primary contests.

Candidates

Nominee

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign	Popular vote	Contests won	Running mate
Jimmy Carter	Carter		39th President of the United States (1977–1981) Incumbent	100px Georgia	114x114px (Campaign)	10,043,016 (51.13%)	36 IA, ME, NH, VT, AL, FL, GA, PR, IL, KS, WI, LA, TX, IN, NC, TN, NE, MD, OK, AR ID, KY, NV, MT, OH, WV, MO, OR, WA	Walter Mondale

Withdrew during primaries or convention

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign Withdrawal date	Popular Vote	Contests Won
Ted Kennedy	98x98px		U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1962-2009)	Massachusetts	114x114px (Campaign) Withdrew at convention	7,381,693 (37.58%)	12 AZ, MA, CT, NY, PA, ND DC, CA, NJ, NM, RI, SD VT, AK, MI

Also withdrew during primaries

• Jerry Brown, Governor of California
• Cliff Finch, Governor of Mississippi

Results

Date	State/territory	Calculated delegates	Type	Popular vote or equivalent				Estimated delegates
				Jimmy Carter x110px	Edward Kennedy x110px	Jerry Brown x110px	Other	Jimmy Carter campaign	Ted Kennedy campaign	Jerry Brown campaign	Other
		P						P	P	P	P
Jan 21	Iowa	0	Caucus	(59.16%)	(31.23%)	(0.00%)	(9.61%)	30	15	0	0
Feb 10	Maine	0	Caucus	14,528 (43.59%)	13,384 (40.16%)	4,621 (13.87%)	793 (2.38%)	12 and 1,017 SDE	10 and 847 SDE	0 and 263 SDE	0 and 52 SDE
Feb 26	New Hampshire	23	Primary	52,692 (47.08%)	41,745 (37.30%)	10,743 (9.60%)	6,750 (6.03%)	10	9	0	0
March 4	Massachusetts	112	Primary	260,391	590,404	31,488	25,031	34	78	0	0
March 4	Vermont	13	Primary	29,015	10,135		553	10	3	0	0
March 11	Alabama	47	Primary	194,680	31,624		12,418	47	0	0	0
March 11	Delaware	16	Caucus	104	40	0	28	10	4	0	3
March 11	Florida	98	Primary	665,683	256,564	53,422	123,400	71	27	0	0
March 11	Georgia	63	Primary	338,772	32,315	7,255	6,438	63	0	0	0
March 11	Oklahoma	42	Caucus	4,440	575	19	879	42	0	0	0
March 11	Washington	59	Caucus	2,898	1,295	25	1,023	33	15	0	12
March 15	Wyoming	12	Caucus	135	48	0	26	9	3	0	0
March 16	Puerto Rico	40	Primary	449,681	418,068	1,660	826	21	19	0	0
March 18	Illinois	181	Primary	780,787	359,875	39,168	21,237	124	57	0	0
March 23	Virginia	64	Caucus	1,633	154	1	150	64	0	0	0
March 25	Connecticut	54	Primary	87,207	98,662	5,386	19,020	25	29	0	0
March 25	New York	286	Primary	406,305	582,757	0	0	117	169	0	0
April 1	Kansas	38	Primary	109,807	61,318	9,434	13,359	24	14	0	0
April 1	Wisconsin	77	Primary	353,662	189,520	74,496	11,941	50	27	0	0
April 5	Louisiana	51	Primary	199,956	80,797	16,774	61,214	36	15	0	0
April 12	Arizona	28	Caucus	7,592	9,738	0	0	12	16	0	0
April 12	South Carolina	38	Caucus	7,305	579	0	3,486	25	0	0	13
April 22	Pennsylvania	189	Primary	732,332	736,954	37,669	93,865	94	95	0	0
April 22	Missouri	77	Caucus	415	55	0	75	77	0	0	0
April 26	Michigan	142	Caucus	0	0	23,043	55,381	0	0	42	100
May 3	Texas	152	Primary	770,390	314,129	35,585	257,252	87	36	0	29
May 6	Colorado	39	Caucus	417	295	0	288	16	12	0	11
May 6	District of Columbia	14	Primary	23,697	39,561	0	892	5	9	0	0
May 6	Indiana	81	Primary	400,849	193,290	0	0	55	26	0	0
May 6	North Carolina	70	Primary	516,778	130,684	21,420	68,380	56	14	0	0
May 6	Tennessee	57	Primary	221,658	53,258	5,612	14,152	46	11	0	0
May 13	Maryland	60	Primary	226,528	181,091	14,313	55,158	33	27	0	0
May 13	Nebraska	25	Primary	72,100	57,826	5,478	18,449	14	11	0	0
May 20	Oregon	39	Primary	208,693	114,651	0	44,978	25	14	0	0
May 27	Arkansas	33	Primary	269,375	78,542	0	100,373	21	6	0	6
May 27	Idaho	17	Primary	31,383	11,087	2,078	5,934	13	4	0	0
May 27	Kentucky	50	Primary	160,819	55,167	0	24,345	37	13	0	0
May 27	Nevada	13	Primary	25,159	19,296	0	22,493	5	4	0	4
June 3	California	303	Primary	1,266,216	1,507,142	135,962	454,538	138	165	0	0
June 3	Montana	19	Primary	67,033	47,991	0	15,579	11	8	0	0
June 3	New Jersey	114	Primary	212,387	315,109	0	33,412	46	68	0	0
June 3	New Mexico	20	Primary	66,621	73,721	0	19,023	9	11	0	0
June 3	Ohio	164	Primary	605,744	523,874	0	56,792	88	76	0	0
June 3	Rhode Island	23	Primary	9,907	26,177	310	1,931	6	17	0	0
June 3	South Dakota	19	Primary	31,251	33,418	0	4,094	9	10	0	0
June 3	West Virginia	37	Primary	197,687	120,247	0	0	23	14	0	0
Date	State/territory	P	Type	Carter	Kennedy	Brown	Other	P	P	P	P
		Calculated delegates		Popular vote or equivalent				Carter delegates	Kennedy delegates	Brown delegates	Other delegates

Statewide contest by winner

Results by state

		Jimmy Carter	Ted Kennedy	Jerry Brown	Lyndon LaRouche	Cliff Finch	Richard Kay	Unpledged	Others
January 21	Iowa caucuses	59.16%	31.23%	-	-	-	-	9.61%	-
February 10	Maine caucuses	43.6%	40.2%	13.9%	-	-	-	2.4%	-
February 26	New Hampshire	47.08%	37.30%	9.60%	2.08%	-	0.51%	-	3.45%
March 4	Massachusetts	28.70%	65.07%	3.47%	-	-	-	2.17%	0.59%
March 4	Vermont *	73.08%	25.53%	0.90%	0.02%	-	-	-	0.48%
March 11	Alabama	81.59%	13.22%	4.01%	-	-	-	0.70%	0.49%
March 11	Florida	60.69%	23.20%	4.87%	-	-	1.75%	9.50%	-
March 11	Georgia	88.04%	8.40%	1.89%	0.13%	0.36%	0.22%	0.96%	-
March 16	Puerto Rico	51.67%	48.04%	0.19%	-	-	-	-	0.10%
March 18	Illinois	65.01%	29.96%	3.26%	1.60%	-	-	-	0.17
March 25	Connecticut	41.47%	46.92%	2.56%	2.67%	-	-	6.37%	-
March 25	New York	406,305 41.08%	582,757 58.92%	-	-	-	-	-	-
April 1	Kansas	56.63%	31.62%	4.87%	-	0.32%	-	-	0.81%
April 1	Wisconsin	56.17%	30.10%	11.83%	1.10%	0.29%	-	0.43%	0.08%
April 5	Louisiana	55.74%	22.52%	4.68%	-	3.11%	0.94%	11.60%	1.42%
April 22	Pennsylvania	45.40%	45.68%	2.34%	-	-	-	5.82%	0.78%
April 22	Vermont caucuses	32%	45%	-	-	-	-	23%	-
April 26	Michigan caucuses	46.68%	48.08%	-	-	-	-	5.24%	-
May 3	Texas	55.93%	22.81%	2.58%	-	-	-	18.68%	-
May 6	Washington D.C.	36.94%	61.67%	-	1.39%	-	-	-	-
May 6	Indiana	67.68%	32.32%	-	-	-	-	-	-
May 6	North Carolina	70.09%	17.73%	2.91%	-	-	-	9.28%	-
May 6	Tennessee	75.22%	18.07%	1.90%	0.31%	0.56%	-	3.91%	0.01%
May 13	Nebraska	46.87%	37.58%	3.56%	0.76%	-	-	10.42%	0.81%
May 13	Maryland	47.48%	37.96%	3.00%	0.92%	1.03%	-	9.62%	-
May 20	Oregon	56.83%	31.22%	9.37%	-	-	-	-	2.57%
May 20	Michigan caucuses **	-	-	29.38%	11.41%	-	-	46.40%	12.81%
May 27	Arkansas	60.09%	17.52%	-	-	4.34%	-	18.05%	-
May 27	Idaho	62.17%	21.96%	4.12%	-	-	-	11.76%	-
May 27	Kentucky	66.92%	22.96%	-	-	1.05%	1.09%	8.00%	-
May 27	Nevada	37.58%	28.82%	-	-	-	-	33.60%	-
June 3	California	37.64%	44.80%	4.04%	2.13%	-	-	11.38%	-
June 3	Montana	51.46%	36.65%	-	-	-	-	11.89%	-
June 3	New Jersey	37.87%	56.18%	-	-	-	-	3.48%	2.48%
June 3	New Mexico	41.80%	46.26%	-	3.01%	2.82%	-	6.11%	-
June 3	Ohio	51.06%	44.16%	-	2.97%	-	1.81%	-	-
June 3	Rhode Island	25.85%	68.30%	0.81%	3.03%	-	-	2.01%	-
June 3	South Dakota	45.45%	48.60%	-	-	-	-	5.95%	-
June 3	West Virginia	62.18%	37.82%	-	-	-	-	-	-

Legend:		1st place (popular vote)		2nd place (popular vote)		3rd place (popular vote)

^*  Vermont delegates selected via caucus process beginning April 22
^** Michigan delegates selected via caucus process beginning April 26

Popular vote

Primaries total popular vote

• Jimmy Carter (inc.) - 10,043,016 (51.13%)
• Ted Kennedy - 7,381,693 (37.58%)
• Unpledged - 1,288,423 (6.56%)
• Jerry Brown - 575,296 (2.93%)
• Lyndon LaRouche - 177,784 (0.91%)
• Others - 79,352 (0.40%)
• Richard B Kay - 48,061 - (0.25%)
• Cliff Finch - 48,032 (0.25%)
• Bob Maddox - 4,002 (0.02%)
• Donald J Reaux - 2,255 (0.01%)

Endorsements

Jimmy Carter
Governor Edward J. King of Massachusetts Mayor William Donald Schaefer of Baltimore Senator John Glenn of Ohio Treasurer Gertrude Donahey of Ohio Secretary of State Anthony J. Celebrezze, Jr., of Ohio State Senate president Oliver Ocasek of Ohio State Representative Mary O. Boyle of Ohio

Ted Kennedy

Former Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon of Puerto Rico City Treasurer Cecil A. Partee of Chicago State Representative Frank Giglio of Illinois Alderman Edward Vrdolyak of Chicago's 10th Ward Alderman Wilson Frost of Chicago's 34th Ward Alderman Eugene Sawyer of Chicago's 6th Ward Representative Paul Simon of Illinois Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 617 president Phil Hare Mayor Jane Byrne of Chicago Representative Chris Dodd of Connecticut Representative Toby Moffett of Connecticut Representative William R. Ratchford of Connecticut Representative William R. Cotter of Connecticut Author Norman Mailer of New York Former Governor Patrick Lucey of Wisconsin Mayor William J. Green III of Philadelphia Representative Eugene Atkinson of Pennsylvania Representative Barbara Mikulski of Maryland Actor Warren Beatty J. B. Pritzker, high school student and member of the Pritzker family Representative Louis Stokes of Ohio Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chairman Tim Hagan Former Mayor Jerry Springer of Cincinnati Former Governor Michael DiSalle of Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio

Convention

Main article: 1980 Democratic National Convention

Presidential tally

• Jimmy Carter (inc.) - 2,123 (64.04%)
• Ted Kennedy - 1,151 (34.72%)
• William Proxmire - 10 (0.30%)
• Koryne Kaneski Horbal - 5 (0.15%)
• Scott M. Matheson - 5 (0.15%)
• Ron Dellums - 3 (0.09%)
• Robert Byrd - 2 (0.06%)
• John Culver - 2 (0.06%)
• Kent Hance - 2 (0.06%)
• Jennings Randolph - 2 (0.06%)
• Warren Spannaus - 2 (0.06%)
• Alice Tripp - 2 (0.06%)
• Jerry Brown - 1 (0.03%)
• Dale Bumpers - 1 (0.03%)
• Hugh L. Carey - 1 (0.03%)
• Walter Mondale - 1 (0.03%)
• Edmund Muskie - 1 (0.03%)
• Thomas J. Steed - 1 (0.03%)

In the vice-presidential roll call, Mondale was re-nominated with 2,428.7 votes to 723.3 not voting and 179 scattering.

See also

• Republican Party presidential primaries, 1980
• Jimmy Carter rabbit incident