It's happened several times. Most recently in 1980 when Ted Kennedy challenged the incumbent President Jimmy Carter. Kennedy fought all the way to the convention.
The last sitting Republican President to be seriously challenged was Gerald Ford in 1976 by . . . future President Ronald Reagan. Reagan also fought all the way to the convention.
Notably, in both of these cases, the challenged President managed to earn his Party's nomination but was unsuccessful in the general election.
That does happen, and it's not as rare as I thought. Those who do challenge an incumbent President for the party nomination are usually not a serious threat, but there have been a few challenges in the past half century worth mentioning. For example, in 1976, Ronald Reagan competed against incumbent President Gerald Ford for the Republican Party Nomination. That race was too close to call right until the Republican National Convention, where Ford narrowly won the nomination. He lost the election, however. Also, in 1992 Pat Buchanan ran against incumbent President George H. W. Bush for the Republican Nomination. 73% of Republicans voted for Bush in the primaries. In 1980 Ted Kennedy (the U.S. Senator from Mass. who died in 2009 and brother of the former President) competed for the Democratic Nomination against incumbent Jimmy Carter. Although Carter had 24 Primary wins to Kennedy's 10, Kennedy refused to concede until he lost the nomination in a 2129 to 1146 vote at the Convention. Many were surprised when Eugene McCarthy ran against Lyndon Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination. Four years earlier Johnson had the highest percentage of popular votes of any U.S. presidential candidate since George Washington. After Johnson received only 49% of the vote at the New Hampshire primaries to McCarthy's 42%, Robert Kennedy also entered the race against Johnson. It became obvious to Johnson that the Democratic nomination was something that he was going to have to work for, but all his time was consumed by the war in Vietnam as well as the urban racial unrest domestically, so he withdrew from the election at the end of March 1968. Pete McCloskey and John Ashbrook challenged Richard Nixon for the 1972 Republican nomination. Out of 1324 delegates to the Republican Convention, Nixon won 1323 and McCloskey won 1.
Yes, they can be challenged, but only for the nomination. A political party nominates only one candidate for president and all party members do their best to support the candidate of their party. ( A person can desert his party and run against his old party's candidate, as did Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. )
A Democrat could run for the Democratic nomination against an incumbent Democratic President. This happened in 1980 , for example, when Ted Kennedy ran against President Carter. A democrat would not run on the same party lines as another Democrat since the Democratic party can only nominate one candidate themselves. So a third party could nominate a Democrat to run for president if that Democrat lost the Democratic nomination to someone else.
The 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution limits a US President to two elected terms in office. However, he may also serve up to 2 years of another President's term. However, if he has already served more than 2 years, he is limited to one elected term.
vice president, Joe Brown
incumbent, in politics, is the holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W. Bush was the incumbent, because he was the president in the current term while the election sought to determine the president for the following term.
The most recent example was the 1976 Election run of Eugene McCarthy as an Independent against the Incumbent Republican Gerald Ford and the Democratic Party challenger Jimmy Carter.
An incumbent is someone holding an official post in office. An example sentence would be: He will have to have the incumbent take a look.
The existing holder of an office. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W. Bush was the incumbent, because he was the president in the current term while the election sought to determine the president for the following term.
where there is no incumbent running in an election. Like when a president leaves office after his second term. another example is when a senator, like Ted Kennedy, dies and so the seat is "open"
Often, an incumbent president (no matter which party he is from) will not have someone in his party challenging him when he runs for his second term. For example, when President Bush ran for a second term in 2004, the Republican party did not put up any serious opposition (although there were some unsuccessful third-party efforts). Similarly, there is not a serious effort from the Democrats to run a challenger to President Obama as he seeks a second term. This is not unusual: the incumbent is usually given the chance to seek re-election.
An incumbent is an elected official who currently holds an office. As an example, in the Lincoln - Douglas debates for the senate seat in Illinois, Douglas was the sitting senator who held that senate seat at the time of the debates. He was thus the incumbent.
This is purely up to the party leaders to decide. An example in the latest primaries is Florida, which was not allowed by the Democratic Party to take place in the primary as punishment for moving up their primary voting date.
That does happen, and it's not as rare as I thought. Those who do challenge an incumbent President for the party nomination are usually not a serious threat, but there have been a few challenges in the past half century worth mentioning. For example, in 1976, Ronald Reagan competed against incumbent President Gerald Ford for the Republican Party Nomination. That race was too close to call right until the Republican National Convention, where Ford narrowly won the nomination. He lost the election, however. Also, in 1992 Pat Buchanan ran against incumbent President George H. W. Bush for the Republican Nomination. 73% of Republicans voted for Bush in the primaries. In 1980 Ted Kennedy (the U.S. Senator from Mass. who died in 2009 and brother of the former President) competed for the Democratic Nomination against incumbent Jimmy Carter. Although Carter had 24 Primary wins to Kennedy's 10, Kennedy refused to concede until he lost the nomination in a 2129 to 1146 vote at the Convention. Many were surprised when Eugene McCarthy ran against Lyndon Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination. Four years earlier Johnson had the highest percentage of popular votes of any U.S. presidential candidate since George Washington. After Johnson received only 49% of the vote at the New Hampshire primaries to McCarthy's 42%, Robert Kennedy also entered the race against Johnson. It became obvious to Johnson that the Democratic nomination was something that he was going to have to work for, but all his time was consumed by the war in Vietnam as well as the urban racial unrest domestically, so he withdrew from the election at the end of March 1968. Pete McCloskey and John Ashbrook challenged Richard Nixon for the 1972 Republican nomination. Out of 1324 delegates to the Republican Convention, Nixon won 1323 and McCloskey won 1.
Thought I'd improve upon the answer someone else provided below. To clarify the differences between encumber and incumbent:Encumber, is to impede, hamper or burden someone or something.Encumberance, something that is an impediment or burden.Incumbent, can mean the holder of an office; or: of being imposed upon somebody as their duty or obligation. (As in It is incumbent upon you to do the right thing.)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Incorrect spelling of incumbent.From WikiPedia:The incumbent, in politics, is the holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent(s). For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W. Bushwas the incumbent, because he was the president in the current term while the election sought to determine the president for the following term.The word "incumbent" is derived from the Latin verb incumbere, literally meaning "to lean or lie upon," with the present participle stem incumbent-, "leaning or lying upon."
Democrat Jimmy Carter who ran as a "Washington outsider" won a narrow victory over Republican incumbent Gerald Ford in the 1976 Presidential election.1976 U. S. Presidential / Vice Presidential Election Results:270 votes (50.2%) - minimum required297 votes (55.2%) - Gov. Jimmy Carter of GA / U. S. Sen. Walter Mondale of MN (Dem. Pty.)240 votes (44.6%) - Pres. Gerald R. Ford of MI / U. S. Sen. Bob Dole of KS (Rep. Pty.)1 vote (0.2%) - Gov. Ronald Reagan of CA / U. S. Sen. Bob Dole of KSThis was the last U. S. Presidential/ Vice Presidential election to date in which the incumbent president was nominated for reelection but the incumbent vice president (Nelson Rockefeller) was not.This was the second of two U. S. Presidential/ Vice Presidential elections to date in which the runners-up carried more states than the winners.This is an example of the relatively rare occurrence of a "faithless elector" not voting as pledged. In this case an elector from Washington State voted for Ronald Reagan, who competed against the incumbent President for the Republican nomination.
Yes, they can be challenged, but only for the nomination. A political party nominates only one candidate for president and all party members do their best to support the candidate of their party. ( A person can desert his party and run against his old party's candidate, as did Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. )