Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign
The 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney officially began on June 2, 2011, when former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney formally announced his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States, at an event in Stratham, New Hampshire. Having previously run in the 2008 Republican primaries, this was Romney's second campaign for the presidency.
He filed his organization with the Federal Elections Commission as an exploratory committee and announced the organization in a video message on April 11, 2011. He became the party's presumptive nominee with his victory in the Texas primary on May 29, 2012.
On August 11, 2012, in Norfolk, Virginia, Romney announced that Paul Ryan, the long-time U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, would be his running mate for vice president. (Later, in October 2015, Ryan was elected Speaker of the House.)[12][13]
On August 30, 2012, in Tampa, Florida, Romney formally accepted the Republican Party's nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention.[14]
Romney's campaign came to an end on November 6, 2012, upon defeat by incumbent President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.[15] Romney received 60,933,500 votes, or 47.2% of the total votes cast, winning 24 states and 206 electoral votes.
Had he won, Romney would have been the first Michigan native to serve as president (as Gerald Ford was born in Nebraska), the first Mormon president, and the second governor of Massachusetts to do so, after Calvin Coolidge. Ryan would have been the first vice president from Wisconsin.
