1984 Democratic Party presidential primaries 1924) that the Democratic Party nominated a private citizen for President (i.e., not serving in an official government role at the time of the nomination and election). Mondale was the last private citizen to be nominated for President by the Democratic Party until former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. Except former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia in 1976, all the other four of the private-citizen Democratic nominees mentioned (Davis, Stevenson, Carter, Mondale and Clinton) lost their general elections. (Republican private-citizen nominees include former Vice President Richard Nixon in 1968, former Governor Ronald Reagan of California in 1980, former
Jimmy Carter judicial appointment controversies Jimmy Carter judicial appointment controversies During President Jimmy Carter's presidency, he nominated four people for four different federal appellate judgeships who were not processed by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee before Carter's presidency ended. None of the four nominees were renominated by Carter's successor, President Ronald Reagan. Three of the nominees who were not processed (Eugene Nickerson, Nicholas Bua and Howard F. Sachs) were nominated after July 1, 1980, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. All four seats eventually were filled by appointees of President Ronald Reagan. The four nominees were blocked