1992 Republican Party presidential primaries

Primary race overview

Although he briefly weighed forgoing a second term, President George H. W. Bush ultimately sought re-election and entered the 1992 Republican primaries as the incumbent frontrunner.

Bush was challenged for the Republican nomination by Pat Buchanan, a conservative author, commentator, and aides of Presidents Nixon, and Reagan. During early counting in the New Hampshire primary, it appeared that the president might actually lose. However, Buchanan faded by the end of the evening, and Bush won the rest of the primaries. Bush's margins in many of the primaries were not as large as expected, and helped lead to the rise of Ross Perot as an independent candidate.

Republican Louisiana State Representative and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke also ran in a number of primaries, but he did not receive any delegates. Former Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota also made a quixotic bid for support in the Minnesota primary, winning enough votes to entitle him to one delegate, but was later denied his single vote by machinations at the Minnesota Republican Party's 1992 state convention.

New Hampshire primary

As Buchanan's candidacy relied heavily on a strong showing in the New Hampshire primary, President Bush made New Hampshire a focal point in his reelection bid. However, New Hampshire still remained a pivotal base for Buchanan's primary campaign.

Because Bush was widely perceived to have broken his "read my lips" pledge, Buchanan found support in the economically battered and conservative state of New Hampshire. Making Bush's tax-hikes a central theme of his campaign, Buchanan enjoyed healthy grass-roots support despite lagging behind the president in pre-primary polling.

Bush countered the threat posed by Buchanan by touring New Hampshire himself. He memorably told an audience at an Exeter town hall: "Message: I care". Some sources claim that this was the result of Bush mistakenly reading a cue card aloud.

On primary night, President Bush carried New Hampshire with 53% of the vote. Buchanan finished second with 38% of the vote.

The rest of the race

Despite many in the Bush campaign attempting to push Buchanan out of the race, the strong showing made the Buchanan campaign hope for an outpouring of campaign contributions which galvanized the campaign into making efforts to pull out strong showings such as in the Georgia primary.

Despite an impressive showing, Buchanan's campaign never attracted serious opposition to President Bush in most contests. Most of Buchanan's "victories" were larger-than-expected showings that were still considered landslide Bush wins by most of the media. Still, the fact that Buchanan received more than two million votes nationwide prognosticated trouble for Bush in the general election.

Candidates

Nominee

Other candidates

Campaign finance

Declined

• Former Governor Pete du Pont of Delaware

Results

Source

Nationwide

Popular vote result:

• George H. W. Bush (inc.) - 9,199,463 (72.84%)
• Pat Buchanan - 2,899,488 (22.96%)
• Unpledged delegates - 287,383 (2.28%)
• David Duke - 119,115 (0.94%)
• Ross Perot - 56,136 (0.44%)
• Pat Paulsen - 10,984 (0.09%)
• Maurice Horton - 9,637 (0.08%)
• Harold Stassen - 8,099 (0.06%)
• Jack Fellure - 6,296 (0.05%)

Endorsements

George H.W. Bush

• Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (1981–1989)

Pat Buchanan

• Brendan Eich, computer programmer and co-founder/CEO of Mozilla

Notes

References

References

1. (11 March 1992). "Race for the nomination". Chicago Tribune.
2. (2014-11-09). "George W. Bush says dad pondered skipping 2nd term".
3. Barnes, Fred. (2014-11-11). "Book Review: ‘41: A Portrait of My Father’ by George W. Bush". Wall Street Journal.
4. "Patrick J. Buchanan (White House Special Files: Staff Member and Office Files) {{!}} Richard Nixon Museum and Library".
5. Gregg, John P.. (2020-02-02). "A Look Back: The 1992 N.H. Primary".
6. Dowd, Maureen. (16 January 1992). "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: REPUBLICANS; Immersing Himself in Nitty-Gritty, Bush Barnstorms New Hampshire". The New York Times.
7. link. (2012-09-28)
8. "Past New Hampshire Primary Election Results".
9. (January 1987). "STASSEN, HAROLD E.".
10. (January 1987). "BUCHANAN, PATRICK J.".
11. (January 1987). "DUKE, DAVID E.".
12. (January 1987). "FELLURE, LOWELL JACKSON".
13. (1994). "Standing Firm". HarperCollins Publishers.
14. [https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/federalelections92.pdf]
15. (11 March 1992). "Clipped from Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune.
16. "1992 Presidential Primary Calendar".
17. (14 February 1992). "Election calendar at a glance". The Times Leader.
18. (11 February 1992). "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Iowa; HARKIN DOMINATES STATE'S CAUCUSES". The New York Times.
19. "1992 New Hampshire Republican primary results".
20. "1992 South Dakota Republican primary results".
21. (26 February 1992). "Primary notes Delegate numbers set for parties". Argus-Leader.
22. (5 March 1992). "Republican primaries March 3". Hartford Courant.
23. "1992 Georgia Republican primary full results".
24. (8 March 1992). "South Carolina Republican delegate count". Arizona Republic.
25. "1992 South Carolina Republican primary full results".
26. [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=55213 Our Campaigns - US President - R Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1992]
27. [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=55213 Our Campaigns - US President - R Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1992]
28. "1992 CAMPAIGN: Endorsements; Reagan Endorses Bush as 'Best Hope' for Nation".
29. "Filter By Donors: Brendan Eich".
30. [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/02/controversial-mozilla-ceo-made-donations-right-wing-candidates-brendan-eich Mozilla CEO donated to rightwing candidates, records show]