2016 United States presidential election in Alaska Party's nominee for the 2016 election and appeared on the ballot in Alaska, garnering 5.88% of the vote, making Alaska again his third strongest state after New Mexico and North Dakota. The incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, a Democrat and former U.S. Senator from Illinois, was first elected president in the 2008 election, running with former Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. Defeating the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, with 52.9% of the popular vote and 68% of the electoral vote, Obama succeeded two-term Republican President George W. Bush, the former Governor of Texas. Obama and
Speeches of Barack Obama including President Barack Obama and John Lewis, the only speaker from the original rally to remain living. Obama spoke on the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches, lauded unsung heroes and everyday Americans that stood up for justice. According to leading George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, the speech "falls into the category of speeches that every child should read in school" and is cited by the Washington Post as the Obama speech which will hold up best for posterity. After the Charleston church shooting, during which state senator Clementa C. Pinckney and eight other victims were gunned