No Cabinet Secretary Has Been Nominated for President Since Hoover in 1928 Presidential nominees by highest previous office held
Hillary Clinton’s long-awaited announcement that she is indeed running for president represents more than just the possibility that she could become the first woman president, or even the first former first lady to move back into the White House by general election. Should Clinton win the Democratic nomination next year, she’d be the first former Cabinet secretary in 88 years to become a major party’s official choice for president.
In 1928, Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover won the Republican nomination and swept to victory over New York Gov. Al Smith. But things didn’t go too well for Hoover once in office (that whole Great Depression thing, you know), and since then, neither major party has nominated a current or former cabinet member. While a few former Cabinet secretaries have mounted campaigns (such as former Treasury Secretary John Connally in 1980, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig in 1988 and former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson in 2008), they’ve not gotten very far.
No Cabinet Secretary Has Been Nominated for President Since Hoover in 1928  | Presidential nominees by highest previous office held  | TOTAL # OF  | BY YEAR OF NOMINATION  | NOMINEES  | 1800  | 1840  | 1880  | 1920  | 1960  | 2000  | Incumbent pres ident  | 31  | Obama  | Governor  | 22  | Romney  | Senator  | 19  | McCain Obama  | Cabinet secretary  | 14  | Hoover  | Vice pres ident  | Gore  | Representative  | 10  | Anderson  | Other  | 6  | Nader  | General  | 6  | Eisenhower  | Ambassador/ minister  | 6  | Davis  | Former pres ident  | T Roosevelt  | Note: All major-party candidates and significant third- party candidates since 1796 were categorized based on the highest office  | if any, they had ever held at the time of their nom ination. Two vice pres idents (one current, one former) were nominated in  | 1968; they two Ca abinet secretaries were in 1824 and 1832; two gove mors were in 187 6 and 1948; three senators were in 1836;  | and two senators were in 2008  | Source: Pew Research Center research  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 