1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries
From January 24 to June 20, 1972, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1972 United States presidential election. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections, caucuses, and state party conventions, culminating in the 1972 Democratic National Convention held from July 10 to July 13, 1972, in Miami, Florida.
Endorsements[edit]
Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan ran as Chisholm delegates in New York.[5] By the 1972 election, the women's movement was rapidly expanding its political power. Steinem, along with Congresswomen Chisholm and Bella Abzug, had founded the National Women's Political Caucus in July 1971.[47]
Nevertheless, Steinem was reluctant to re-join the McGovern campaign. Though she had brought in McGovern's single largest campaign contributor in 1968, she "still had been treated like a frivolous pariah by much of McGovern's campaign staff." And in April 1972, Steinem remarked that he "still doesn't understand the women's movement."[48]
Earlier in the primary campaign, Muskie had gained the support of Ohio Governor John Gilligan; Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp; Iowa Senator Harold Hughes and United Auto Workers president Leonard Woodcock.[49]