In United States politics and government, the term presidential nominee has two different meanings: # A candidate for

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

who has been selected by the delegates of a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

at the party's

national convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year Nation ...

(also called a ''presidential nominating convention'') to be that party's official candidate for the presidency. # A person nominated by a sitting U.S. president to an executive or judicial post, subject to the

advice and consent Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts. It describes either of two situations: where a weak executive branch of a government enacts something previ ...

of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. (See

Appointments Clause The Appointments Clause of Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, of the United States Constitution empowers the President of the United States to nominate and, with the advice and consent (confirmation) of the United States Senate, appoint public offi ...

List of positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation This is a list of positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation. Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution and law of the United States, certain federal positions appointed by the president of the U ...

Presumptive nominee

United States presidential election The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dir ...

s, the presumptive nominee is a presidential candidate who is assumed to be their party's nominee, but has not yet been formally nominated or elected by their

at the party's nominating convention. Sabato, Larry; Ernst, Howard R. Wiessler, David (March 4, 2008
"Factbox: Presidential political terms"
Reuters. Ordinarily, a candidate becomes the presumptive nominee of their party when their "last serious challenger drops out" or when the candidate "mathematically clinches—whichever comes first. But there is still room for interpretation."Nathaniel Rakich
"What Makes a Presidential Nominee 'Presumptive'?"
''The New Republic'' (May 3, 2016). A candidate mathematically clinches a nomination by securing a simple majority (i.e., more than 50 percent) of delegates through the

primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

and

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

es prior to the convention. The time at which news organizations begin to refer to a candidate as the "presumptive nominee" varies from election to election. The shift in media usage from "

front-runner In politics, a front-runner (also spelled frontrunner or front runner) is a leader in an electoral race. While the front-runner in athletic events (the namesake of the political concept) is generally clear, a political front-runner, particularly i ...

" to "presumptive nominee" is considered a significant change for a campaign. In the modern era, it is the norm for the major political parties' nominees to be "clear well before the conventions"; in the past, however, some conventions have begun with the outcome in doubt, requiring multiple rounds of balloting to select a nominee. The last major party conventions with more than one ballot for president occurred in 1972 for the Democrats and

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

for the Republicans. Losing candidates, after withdrawing from the primary race, often "release" their delegates, who frequently declare support for the presumptive nominee. A presumptive nominee typically will have already selected a vice presidential

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a p ...

before the convention—see veepstakes. In the past, the choice of vice presidential nominee has been made by the convention itself. The term "presumptive nominee" is disliked by some writers; language commentator

William Safire William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He ...

called it a "bogus title" and preferred the phrase ''presumed nominee'', which was used by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2004. Ben Zimmer (June 10, 2008)
"The Presumptive Nominee, I Presume?"
Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidential Nominee United States presidential elections terminology

Presumptive nominee

See also

References