page_title: Presidency of Barack Obama
section_title: 2008 presidential election
hierarchical_section_title: Presidency of Barack Obama / 2008 presidential election
context_page_description: The presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following a decisive victory over Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 election, he defeated Republican Mitt Romney to win re-election. He was the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first president to have been born in Hawaii. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election.
  Obama's first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis and included a major stimulus package, a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts, legislation to reform health care, a major financial regulation reform bill, and the end of a major US military presence in Iraq. Obama also appointed Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the latter of whom became the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court.
context_section_description: After winning election to represent the state of Illinois in the Senate in 2004, Obama announced that he would run for president in February 2007. In the 2008 Democratic primary, Obama faced Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Several other candidates, including Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and former Senator John Edwards, also ran for the nomination, but these candidates dropped out after the initial primaries. In June, on the day of the final primaries, Obama clinched the nomination by winning a majority of the delegates, including both pledged delegates and superdelegates. Obama and Biden, whom Obama selected as his running mate, were nominated as the Democratic ticket at the August 2008 Democratic National Convention.
  With Republican President George W. Bush term limited, the Republicans nominated Senator John McCain of Arizona for the presidency. In the general election, Obama defeated McCain, taking 52.9% of the popular vote and 365 of the 538 electoral votes. In the Congressional elections, Democrats added to their majorities in both houses of Congress, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both remained in their posts. Republicans John Boehner and Mitch McConnell continued to serve as House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader, respectively.
caption: Obama defeated Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.