Electoral history of Barack Obama Electoral history of Barack Obama Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States (2009–2017) and as a United States Senator from Illinois (2005–2008). Illinois Senate, 13th district, 1996 Illinois Senate, 13th district, 1998 US House, Illinois's 1st district, 2000 (Democratic primary), 2000 Illinois Senate, 13th district, 2002 Democratic primary for the United States Senate from Illinois, 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004 2008 Democratic presidential primaries Excluding penalized contests, only primary and caucuses votes: Including penalized contests: 2008 Democratic delegate counts: Pledged delegates Including superdelegates 2008 Democratic National Convention (Presidential tally) Unfinished roll call (13
Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign nominated on a major party ticket. On November 4, 2008, Obama defeated the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, making him the President-elect and the first African American elected President. He was the third sitting U.S. Senator, after Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy, to be elected president. Upon the vote of the Electoral College on December 15, 2008, and the subsequent certification thereof by a Joint Session of the United States Congress on January 8, 2009, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States and Joe Biden Vice President of the United States, with 365 of