2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries

selection of the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 2008

The Democratic Party presidential primaries of 2008 was an American political event. In various states, various Democratic candidates asked people and delegates to vote for them in primaries and caucuses. Candidates won delegates based on a percentage of votes (in primaries). There were 4,233 delegates. A candidate would have to get 2,110 delegates to win the nomination. The two front-runners of the campaign were New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Although Clinton led in the beginning, Obama soon gained the lead. Obama went on to become the first African-American presidential candidate in American history.

2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries

← 2004 January 3 – June 3, 2008 2012 →
 
Candidate Barack Obama Hillary Clinton
Home state Illinois New York
Delegate count 2,272.5 1,978
Contests won 33 23
Popular vote 17,535,458 17,493,836<
Percentage 48.0%

First place by first-instance vote

Popular vote margins
(popular vote winners and delegate winners differ in five contests: NH, NV, MO, TX, and GU)

Previous Democratic nominee

John Kerry

Democratic nominee

Barack Obama