Shirley Chisholm first African American congresswoman and presidential candidate
The Dallas Examiner In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became well-known throughout the county as the first African American congresswoman. She later known as the first African American to run for a major party’s presidential [...] The post Shirley Chisholm first African American congresswoman and presidential candidate appeared first on Dallas Examiner.
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In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became well-known throughout the county as the first African American congresswoman. She later known as the first African American to run for a major party’s presidential nomination who played an active role shaping Viet Nam War policy.
In 1972 – on the 100th anniversary of the historic 1872 campaign in which Victoria Woodhull became woman to run for president – Congresswomen Chisholm, New York; Patsy Mink, Hawaii; and Bella Abzug, New York, simultaneously became the first Democratic women to run for U.S. president. As a powerful team, these three presidential candidates received widespread media coverage when announcing their campaigns. While Abzug dropped out before the primaries, Mink won a total of over 8,000 votes in at least two primaries and Chisholm went on to shatter historic records for women on the presidential ballots.
Chisholm started with $44,000 and actively raised additional money for her presidential campaign and waged a competitive campaign relying heavily on volunteers. Like Smith, Chisholm focused on states where she had the best chances of winning votes. She skipped the New Hampshire primary and focused heavily on states with large populations of African Americans, women’s rights advocates and liberal voters.
Her strategy paid off. She won the New Jersey Democratic primary with 51,433 votes or 66.9%.
She campaigned in 14 out of 21 primaries and won 430,703 votes or 2.7% of the total votes cast for Democrats. She finished 3rd out of 5 in North Carolina with 61,723 votes or 7.5%, 4th out of 9 in California with 157,435 votes or 4.4%, 4th out of 11 in Tennessee with 18,809 votes or 3.8%, 5th out of 12 in Massachusetts with 22,398 votes or 3.6% and 7th out of 10 in Florida with 43,989 votes or 3.4%.
She won 9,198 votes in Wisconsin without even campaigning in the state and won additional votes in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon and New Mexico. However, no votes were recorded for Chisholm in New Hampshire, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Rhode Island or South Dakota.
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