2008 United States elections
The 2008 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, during the war on terror and the onset of the Great Recession. It was considered a Democratic wave election, with Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois defeating Senator John McCain of Arizona by a wide margin, and the Democrats bolstering their majorities in both chambers of Congress, thereby marking the first time since 1992 in which the Democrats won Congress and the presidency in one election.
| ← 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 → Presidential election year | |
| Election day | November 4 |
|---|---|
| Incumbent president | George W. Bush (Republican) |
| Next Congress | 111th |
| Presidential election | |
| Partisan control | Democratic gain |
| Popular vote margin | Democratic +7.2% |
| Electoral vote | |
| Barack Obama (D) | 365 |
| John McCain (R) | 173 |
| 2008 presidential election results map. Blue denotes states/districts won by Democrat Barack Obama, and Red denotes those won by Republican John McCain. Numbers indicate electoral votes won by each candidate. | |
| Senate elections | |
| Overall control | Democratic hold |
| Seats contested | 35 of 100 seats (33 seats of Class II + 2 special elections) |
| Net seat change | Democratic +8 |
| 2008 Senate election results map Democratic hold Republican hold Democratic gain | |
| House elections | |
| Overall control | Democratic hold |
| Seats contested | All 435 voting seats |
| Popular vote margin | Democratic +10.6% |
| Net seat change | Democratic +21 |
| 2008 House election results map Democratic hold Republican hold Democratic gain Republican gain | |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| Seats contested | 13 (11 states, 2 territories) |
| Net seat change | Democratic +1 |
| 2008 Gubernatorial election results map Democratic hold Republican hold Democratic gain New Progressive gain Nonpartisan | |
Obama won his party's presidential nomination after defeating Senator Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries. With Republican President George W. Bush term-limited, Senator John McCain of Arizona won the Republican nomination in the 2008 Republican primaries. Obama won the general election with 52.9 percent of the popular vote and 365 of the 538 electoral votes.
Democrats picked up net gains of eight Senate seats and 21 seats in the House of Representatives on the back of Obama's coattail effect. They also won a net gain of one gubernatorial seat. The 2006 elections and 2008 elections represented the first time since 1936 that Democrats or any party made substantial gains in Congress in two consecutive elections. This would be the last election until 2020 in which the Democrats won the presidency and unified control of Congress.
This was the first presidential election year since 1964 when the Democratic Party won the White House and had coattails in the Senate and House of Representatives. The major theme during the campaign was the American public's general desire for change and reform from both Washington and the policies of President Bush. The economy and other domestic policies were also dominant issues, especially during the last months of the campaign after the onset of the 2007–2008 financial crisis.