The Election of 2016

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Also on This Site The History of the Presidential Election

This election was another in which the winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency. Instead, the race was decided in the Electoral College.

The race featured a stark choice between the Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton (who was also First Lady to President Bill Clinton), and the Republican nominee, businessman and television celebrity Donald Trump.

Trump had run for President a few times before but had bowed out of the race before the thick of the primary campaign. Clinton had run for President in 2008, losing narrowly to the eventual winner, Barack Obama.

Trump made quite a name for himself by defeating other seasoned campaigners and was quite an unconventional candidate, having never held elective office and conducting his campaign in many ways not seen before. His campaign won the support of many who felt disenfranchised by the system.

Clinton herself had to fend off a furious primary challenge by Vermont’s Bernie Sanders. As in 2008, Clinton was the front-runner for the Democratic Party nomination but found herself having to campaign long and hard just to win the nomination. This time, she prevailed, thanks to the support of most of the party's superdelegates.

The two nominees clashed in three well publicized television debates and traded charges throughout the campaign. Both nominees endured their share of controversies and scandals, but both nominees endured until the end, when the votes were counted and a winner was declared.

Trump had cast himself as an agent of change. He campaigned on the theme, and he cast his general election opponent, Clinton, as a symbol of the kind of Washington “Old Guard” that he was determined to avoid emulating.

In the end, Clinton received more popular votes than Trump did. But where the American presidential election is won, in the Electoral College, Trump got more votes than Clinton in enough states to get to the necessary number of 270 (out of 538) and won the election. In fact, Trump's total was 306.