Which States Do Presidents Come From? (Not Minnesota, Yet)
(This report is the first in Smart Politics’ ‘Pathway to the White House’ Series).
Although Governor Tim Pawlenty is reportedly set to launch a federal political action committee to formally support GOP candidates across the nation, and while half of Minnesotans are already of the view that Pawlenty will be the next Republican Party presidential nominee, the Gopher State is still a long way from hosting a victory celebration for its not-as-yet-announced presidential candidate on the night of November 6, 2012.
While Minnesota has produced two major political party nominees for the presidency in recent history (Democrats Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and Walter Mondale in 1984), the Gopher State has not seen one of its own win the White House to date.
Of course, Minnesota is not alone in this regard. The nation’s 43 presidents (counting Grover Cleveland once) have come from just 18 states, with 28 presidents coming from just six states: Ohio, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Texas.
· Ohio leads the way with seven presidents: William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren Harding. Strangely, four of the nation’s eight presidents who have died in office were from the Buckeye State (Harrison, Garfield, McKinley, and Harding).
· New York has produced the second largest number of presidents at six: Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Teddy Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt.
· Virginia has groomed five presidents, although none in the last 160+ years: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Tyler.
· Four presidents have come from Massachusetts, with three each from Tennessee and Texas.
Although the Upper Midwest has only produced one president (Herbert Hoover, from Iowa) the Greater Midwest has produced 13. In addition to Hoover and the seven presidents from Ohio, two have come from Illinois (Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama), one from Indiana (Benjamin Harrison), one from Michigan (Gerald Ford), and one from Missouri (Harry S. Truman).
There can be some debate as to what constitutes a ‘home state’ – 15 presidents were born in one state, but launched their principal (political) career and took up residence in another state (including Obama, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush). (Smart Politics utilizes the latter criterion for this analysis).
Home States of United States Presidents
|
State
|
#
|
Presidents
|
|
Ohio
|
7
|
W. Harrison*, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley, Taft, Harding
|
|
New York
|
6
|
Van Buren, Fillmore, Arthur*, Cleveland*, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt
|
|
Virginia
|
5
|
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Tyler
|
|
Massachusetts
|
4
|
J. Adams, J.Q. Adams, Coolidge*, Kennedy
|
|
Tennessee
|
3
|
Jackson*, Polk*, A. Johnson*
|
|
Texas
|
3
|
L. Johnson, George H.W. Bush*, George W. Bush*
|
|
California
|
2
|
Nixon, Reagan*
|
|
Illinois
|
2
|
Lincoln*, Obama*
|
|
Pennsylvania
|
2
|
Buchanan, Eisenhower
|
|
Arkansas
|
1
|
Clinton
|
|
Georgia
|
1
|
Carter
|
|
Indiana
|
1
|
B. Harrison*
|
|
Iowa
|
1
|
Hoover
|
|
Louisiana
|
1
|
Taylor*
|
|
Michigan
|
1
|
Ford
|
|
Missouri
|
1
|
Truman
|
|
New Hampshire
|
1
|
Pierce
|
|
New Jersey
|
1
|
Wilson*
|
* Denotes president who was born in another state. Data compiled by Smart Politics.
And as for the losers?
There have been 68 unsuccessful nominees who have carried the popular vote in at least one state in presidential elections.
· Fifteen unsuccessful nominees have come from New York, with five from Massachusetts, and four each from Kentucky and Tennessee.
· Twelve nominees were Presidents who failed to win another term: John Adams (1800), John Quincy Adams (1828), Martin Van Buren (1840), Millard Fillmore (as a Know Nothing in 1856), Grover Cleveland (1888), Benjamin Harrison (1892), Teddy Roosevelt (as a Progressive in 1912), William Taft (1912), Herbert Hoover (1932), Gerald Ford (1976), Jimmy Carter (1980), and George H.W. Bush (1992).
· An additional four unsuccessful nominees would later go on to become President: Thomas Jefferson (1796), Andrew Jackson (1824), William H. Harrison (1836), and Richard Nixon (1960).
Upper Midwestern presidential nominees in particular have had poor showings in presidential elections. Only Iowa (Herbert Hoover) can lay claim to a president as one of its own, out of six different Upper Midwestern presidential nominees to date.
In addition to Hoover’s loss to FDR in 1932, Humphrey’s loss to Nixon in 1968, and Mondale’s defeat to Reagan in 1984, other unsuccessful nominees from the region include Populist James Weaver from Iowa in 1892 (who carried four states), Progressive Robert LaFollette from Wisconsin in 1924 (who carried one state), and Democrat George McGovern from South Dakota in 1972.
In these six defeats, the Upper Midwestern presidential nominees have been completely crushed by their opponents – winning just 10.0 percent of the electoral votes in these elections (315 of 3,120 votes). Even after eliminating the third party candidacies of Weaver and LaFollette from the mix, Hoover, Humphrey, McGovern, and Mondale won just 13.1 percent of the electoral votes in their four defeats (280 of 2,145 votes).
Unsuccessful Presidential Nominees by State
|
State
|
#
|
Nominees
|
|
New York
|
15
|
Clinton, King, Van Buren, Fillmore, Seymour, Greeley, Tilden, Cleveland, Parker, T. Roosevelt, Hughes, Smith, Wilke, Dewey (x2)
|
|
Massachusetts
|
5
|
J. Adams*, J.Q. Adams*, Webster, Dukakis, Kerry
|
|
Kentucky
|
4
|
Clay (x3), Breckenridge
|
|
Tennessee
|
4
|
Jackson, White, Bell, Gore
|
|
Illinois
|
3
|
Douglas, Stevenson (x2)
|
|
Nebraska
|
3
|
Bryan (x3)
|
|
Ohio
|
3
|
W. Harrison, Taft, Cox
|
|
South Carolina
|
3
|
Pickney (x2), Thurmond
|
|
Arizona
|
2
|
Goldwater, McCain
|
|
California
|
2
|
Frémont, Nixon
|
|
Georgia
|
2
|
Carter
|
|
Iowa
|
2
|
Weaver, Hoover
|
|
Kansas
|
2
|
Landon, Dole
|
|
Michigan
|
2
|
Cass, Ford
|
|
Minnesota
|
2
|
Humphrey, Mondale
|
|
New Jersey
|
2
|
Scott, McClellan
|
|
Virginia
|
2
|
Jefferson, Floyd
|
|
Alabama
|
1
|
Wallace
|
|
Indiana
|
1
|
B. Harrison
|
|
Maine
|
1
|
Blaine
|
|
Maryland
|
1
|
Wirt
|
|
North Carolina
|
1
|
Mangum
|
|
Pennsylvania
|
1
|
Hancock
|
|
South Dakota
|
1
|
McGovern
|
|
Texas
|
1
|
George H.W. Bush
|
|
West Virginia
|
1
|
Davis
|
|
Wisconsin
|
1
|
LaFollette
|
Note: Table includes all unsuccessful presidential nominees who won the popular vote of at least one state. * Not counted in this tally are a) the two presidential elections of 1789 and 1792 in which George Washington essentially ran unopposed, with Adams winning the second most votes to become vice-president in each election, and b) the election of 1820, in which James Monroe ran unopposed, with John Quincy Adams receiving one electoral vote. Data compiled by Smart Politics.
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Get your facts straight: VIRGINIA, not Ohio, leads the nation as the birthplace of the most presidents, with 8, and counting:
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson.
the first 7 Presidents were born in England………..
You, sir, are a dumbass. No US Presidents were born in England. They were all born in the colonies, which later became the United States.
The United States of America did not become a country until 1776. Colonies are the ownership of their perspective founding countries. I guess that if the United States have any colonies, the person born to that colony is not a citizen of the United States, but of the colony. This is bad logic. Please let the thinkers think.
There were however, presidents that were born in territories, rather than one of the states.
Which begs the question could someone born and raised in Puerto Rico, become President? I mean they are American citizens.
They were born as Brittish subjects in the 13 original colonies.
This article is not measuring the birth states of presidents but rather the states from which the president launched his political career.
Eisenhower was BORN IN TEXAS AND RAISED IN KANSAS YOU COMMIE!
As defined above in the report, the definition of ‘home state’ utilized here is where the president ‘launched their principal (political) career.’
What does Taylor have to do with Louisiana? He was raised in Kentucky and is buried there.
Zachary Taylor lived in Baton Rouge for a quarter-century prior to his election to the White House.
How come there is no Florida presidents?
McCain was born in Panama; Hoover was a Californian by residence at the time of the ’28 and 1932 elections, though he launched his (main) political career in DC as Commerce Secretary rather than either IA or CA. On a broader note, ‘state of birth’ and ‘state of residence (at time of election)’ are empirical terms, whereas ‘home state’ is obtusely nebulous, indeed.
2. The current occupant (’45’) could be considered a quote-unquote Floridian, though not by birth or legal residence.
Why isn’t Margaret Chase Smith on there? She ran for presidency and she’s from Maine.
Sen. Smith was an unsuccessful candidate for the GOP nomination, not a nominee. (The table lists nominees).
Please review. No.president was born in Tennessee. The three you.listed were born in North Carolina, not Tennessee…
Agreed – that is why those presidents have an asterisk next to their name to denote they were born in another state. They rose to political prominence in Tennessee.
Horace Greeley was born in Amherst NH andDaniel Webster from Franklin NH
Eisenhower was not from PA. He was born in Denton, TX and lived in Kansas.
So he was from Kansas born in Texas.
Let me clarify, President Eseinhower was born in Denison, TX and grew up in Abilene, KS. His Kansas home is where he considered his hometown to be.
His Presidential Library is there nextdoor to his boyhood home, which is part of the Museum.
Bro this is an .edu site it is supposed to be reliable please get your facts straight, even if you can’t be straight.