When John Delaney became the first major politician to announce their candidacy for president in 2020, he broke a record.
At just 189 days after the inauguration of the new president, 262 days after the election, 1,194 days until the next presidential election and 1,272 days until the next inauguration (but who’s counting!), John Delaney now holds the record for earliest candidacy declaration in history.
Since the modern primary system debuted in 1976, most candidates announced roughly a year before the first primaries. Hillary Clinton announced on April 12, 2015, ten months before the Iowa caucus, and Bernie Sanders announced two weeks later. Ted Cruz was the earliest announcer on the GOP side, on March 23. Donald Trump announced relatively late, in June.
For the 1976 race, Morris Udall and Jimmy Carter announced their campaigns respectively in late November and early December 1974, just after Democrats made gains in the midterm elections. No candidates before Spring 1979 announced for the 1980 race, and 1983 for the 1984 contest.
Pierre S. DuPont IV, the Governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985, announced his candidacy for the 1988 presidential campaign on September 16, 1986. Before the midterm elections. Until Delaney’s oped in the Washington Post was published, Governor DuPont’s announcement was the earliest presidential announcement in history, 784 days before the 1988 presidential election. No one else even came close.
Delaney has him beat by almost double that time.
So, John Delaney, anonymous centrist Democratic congressman no one had heard of, even if you don’t win the nomination, or a primary, or a delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, you can at least say you’ve won at being early.