George McGovern Jimmy Carter From January 27 to June 8, 1976, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1976 United States presidential election.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of 1972, Democrats nominated centrist Georgia governor Jimmy Carter to reclaim the Solid South and win back northern working-class voters.
In 1972, Senator George McGovern seized the Democratic nomination through an early campaign and superior organization, aided by his inside knowledge of the reforms under a commission he chaired.
McGovern, widely seen as an extremely liberal candidate, lost the general election in an historic landslide to incumbent Richard Nixon, carrying only the state of Massachusetts.
The scandal and the subsequent attempt to cover it up eventually forced President Nixon to resign from office under political pressure and the threat of impeachment.
The post-Watergate political environment also led to a tightening of campaign finance regulations, the creation of the Church Committee to investigate abuses by federal intelligence agencies, and a general opposition to Washington and establishment politicians.
Senator Scoop Jackson raised his national profile by speaking out on Soviet Union–United States relations and Middle East policy regularly, and was considered a front-runner for the nomination when he announced the start of his campaign in February 1975.
[citation needed] However, most of the Democratic candidates failed to realize the significance of the increased number of primaries, or the importance of creating momentum by winning the early contests.
Jimmy Carter startled many political experts by finishing second in the Iowa caucuses, behind only "uncommitted" delegates largely elected on the backs of minor candidates and Humphrey supporters.
In Illinois, the Democratic presidential candidates were overshadowed by a power struggle between Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley and Governor Dan Walker.
He won a more dominant victory over Wallace in the North Carolina primary on March 23, winning his first majority in any state and thus neutralizing his main rival in the South.
Carter easily won the nomination on the first ballot; he then chose Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota, a liberal and a protege of Hubert Humphrey, as his running mate.
African American leadership within the Democratic Party had sought to potentially place Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Congressman Ron Dellums, or Congresswoman Barbara Jordan on the ticket with Carter.