Favorite son (or favorite daughter) is a
political
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
term referring to a presidential candidate, either one that is nominated by a state but considered a nonviable candidate or a politician whose electoral appeal derives from their native state, rather than their political views. The technique was widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Description
At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates a presidential candidate from the state—or less often from the state's region— who is not a viable candidate in the view of other delegations, and votes for this candidate in the initial ballot. The technique allows state leaders to negotiate with leading candidates in exchange for the delegation's support in subsequent ballots.
The nominated individual is known as a ''favorite son'' or ''favorite daughter''. The terms are also used for politicians whose electoral appeal derives from their native state, rather than their political views;
for example, in the United States, a presidential candidate will
usually win the support of their home
state(s).
Serious candidates usually, but not always, avoided campaigning in favorite sons' states. If a party's leader in a state—usually the governor—was unsure of whom to support, supporting the favorite son could allow the state party to avoid disputes. Conversely, a party leader who has chosen a candidate might become a favorite son to keep other candidates' campaigns out of the state, or prevent a rival local politician from becoming a favorite son.
The favorite son may explicitly state that the candidacy is not viable, or that the favorite son is not a candidate at all. The favorite son may hope to receive the vice-presidential nomination,
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filin ...
post or other job, increase support for the favorite son's region or policies, or just the publicity from being nominated at the convention.
History
The technique was widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Since nationwide campaigns by candidates and binding
primary election
Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...
s have replaced
brokered convention
In United States politics, a brokered convention (sometimes referred to as an open convention and closely related to a contested convention) occurs when no candidate is nominated on the first ballot of a party's nominating convention.
In many ca ...
s, the technique has fallen out of use,
as party rule changes in the early 1970s required candidates to have nominations from more than one state.
A particularly notable instance of a politician whose electoral appeal derives from their native state occurred in
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
, when challenger
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928April 19, 2021) was the 42nd vice president of the United States serving from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976. ...
lost 49 of 50 states against popular incumbent
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
, winning only his home state of
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
and
Washington D.C
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
.
See also
*
List of major-party United States presidential candidates who lost their home state
*
Home state advantage
Home state advantage, in electoral politics, and particularly in United States presidential elections, is the presumption that a candidate will receive a higher proportion of votes in their home state as compared to other states with similar pop ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
* {{cite book , last=Safire , first=William , title=Safire's Political Dictionary , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&q=%22Favorite+son%22&pg=PA237 , publisher=
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, date=14 November 2017 , isbn=9780195343342 , via=Google Books
Political terminology of the United States
Political terminology
Political concepts
Political people