Vermonters for President

Every four years, voters in the United States elect a president and a vice president. Candidates(people who are running in an election and seeking votes) try to get people to vote for them during election campaigns(actions that candidates take to get votes during an election).

Two Vermonters have become president, Chester Arthur and Calvin Coolidge. Both were elected as vice presidents. Both became president unexpectedly(in a surprising way). Chester Arthur became president in 1881 after President James Garfield died. Calvin Coolidge became president in 1923 after the death of President Warren Harding. Coolidge won re-election as president in 1924.

Both Arthur and Coolidge were born in Vermont. Arthur spent most of his life in New York. Coolidge moved away from Vermont for college. He lived most of his adult life in Massachusetts.

In the 21st century, two Vermonters have campaigned to be the Democratic party nominee(the one person chosen by a political party to represent them in an election) for president. Former Governor Howard Dean ran in 2004. Senator Bernie Sanders ran in 2016 and 2020. Neither won the primary(the first round of elections to select a nominee) election to become the party nominee.