Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed campaign came as a devastating blow to what looked like a whirlwind turnaround for the Democratic party’s presidential aspirations. She was the first candidate since Hubert Humprehy in 1960 to run while not participating in the Democratic primaries. Still, it’s worth noting that in only 107 days, Harris managed to secure 226 electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote. While not a victory, it did prevent a complete Republican blowout in the presidential election. However, Harris is only one in a long line of vice presidents to fail to secure the presidency. Some never even made it onto the electoral college map. Some made it close, but fell just short. Others had to come back later. Here’s a look back at some of those who came before Harris.
Al Gore
The year is 2000. The place? The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The case? Bush v. Gore. Democratic candidate Al Gore has requested that a manual recount occur in the state of Florida, as the popular vote differential between him and his Republican competitor, George W. Bush, is only 317 votes.
While the Florida Supreme Court has granted a recount of 61,000 undervote ballots, the Bush campaign petitions for the case to be re-evaluated by the Supreme Court. Before the undervote recount is even finished, Bush is declared the winner in Florida, this time by a slightly larger margin of 537 votes, but Gore stays the course. Not long after, Bush’s petition proved successful, elevating the ongoing struggle between the two candidates to the SCOTUS. By a single vote, a 5-4 majority ruled that Gore’s requested hand count was unconstitutional, and that Florida was too late in setting out a clear standard for what was and was not a legal vote.
Bush won the White House, and it proved to be the end of the former Vice President’s political aspirations. On December 13, Gore gave a concession speech in one of the rooms of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Just under a month later, he oversaw the certification of his own defeat, waving off improper objections from several representatives during the process, including one from Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr, who went as far as referring to Gore as “Mr. President.”
Gore shut these down, gavel in hand, and proceeded in certifying George W. Bush as the 43rd President of the U.S.
Walter Mondale
Vice President during the Carter Administration, Walter Mondale, affectionately known as Fritz, didn’t settle on retiring quietly after losing the 1980 election to the Reagan-Bush ticket. Instead, Mondale managed to secure the 1984 Democratic nomination following his rallying of superdelegate support, setting his warpath against the incumbent Ronald Reagan.
Interestingly, Mondale securing the nomination was in direct spite of early polling showing that potential candidate John Glenn polled about six percent higher in a hypothetical election then he did. But, Glenn’s inability to overcome the former VP in Iowa, and his underperformance on Super Tuesday effectively snuffed his campaign. During the Democratic National Conference, Glenn received two delegates to Mondale’s 2,191. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado was the closest to Mondale’s finish, with a total of 1,201 delegates.
So, with Mondale firmly on the ballot, the stage was set. The Democrats, nor the pollsters, could have predicted the oncoming landslide. In the same New York Times article that asserted Glenn had a lead over the incumbent Reagan, it was stated that they believed Mondale to be “in a statistical tie with the President in a hypothetical two-way race.”
Mondale was not in a statistical tie. He wasn’t even close. On November 6th, 1984, with no debate unlike that which would come sixteen years later, Mondale lost to Reagan. It was a sweep. Reagan won with the highest electoral vote to this day, finishing with 525 votes to Mondale’s 13. The Republican incumbent carried 49 states. Mondale won only DC and his home state of Minnesota. In the case of the latter, he only won by just over three thousand votes.
Richard… Richard Nixon?
Years before Watergate, and just under a decade before his 1968 victory, Richard Milhous Nixon was serving as Vice President of the U.S. under Dwight Eisenhower. Trouble was, Eisenhower had already served two terms. The Republicans needed a replacement for Eisenhower in 1960 and Nixon was a perfect fit. He faced no competition during the primaries, with Senator Barry Goldwater (later 1964 candidate) refusing to run against him. Unfortunately for Nixon, the Democrats had a not-so-secret weapon: A Kennedy. Specifically, the popular young senator from Massatuches: John F. Kennedy. A significant portion of JFK’s campaign relied on blaming the Eisenhower administration for failures in creating a perceived “missile gap” between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Nixon was well aware there, in fact, was no missile gap, but, as the information was classified, he couldn’t counter Kennedy on it.
Additionally, the economic recession of 1958, perceived as the potential end of the 1950s boom era, was easily tacked onto the Eisenhower record.
Still, going into debate season, the race was reasonably tight. But, the defining moment of the 1960 presidential campaigns was about to arrive: The first ever televised presidential debate. Nixon looked uncomfortable, groggy, and unkempt. His stubble covered face certainly didn’t help.
Kennedy on the other hand appeared smooth, relaxed, and well groomed; such was Nixon’s apparent dishevelment that Esquire Magazine even joked about it during his 68’ campaign. It wasn’t good news. Those listening on radio widely considered Nixon as the winner of the debate, those watching via television heavily favoured Kennedy as the victor. Come election day, the younger politician ended up winning over the nation. Kennedy narrowly secured the popular vote, and firmly won the electoral college, with 303 to Nixon’s 219. The total vote difference between the two was only just over 118,000 total. It was close enough for some to call for a recount. Nixon declined the calls, and lived to fight another day. He would sweep 1968, with a total of 301 electoral votes against his main opponent, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who only received 191 total votes. Another 46 went to third party candidate George Wallace.
The Takeaway
When compared with the stories of these three former Vice’s, it immediately becomes clear that Harris’ campaign wasn’t by any means an outlier in American political history. Often, those who hold office want to give it another go. Some, like Gore, come agonizingly close. Others, such as Mondale, are wiped off the map in a landslide. Yet still, some come back again for a second round, just as Nixon did in ‘68.
What Harris’ political future holds is unknown. Perhaps she’ll try again in 2028, or maybe she’ll just fade away as others have. Irregardless, her campaign will certainly be remembered among her predecessors. Whether that’s for better or for worse is yet to be seen.
