1988 Republican Party presidential primaries

Primary race[edit]

Vice President George H. W. Bush had the private support of President Ronald Reagan and publicly pledged to continue Reagan's policies, but also pledged a "kinder and gentler nation"^[1] in an attempt to win over some more moderate voters. Bush faced some prominent challengers for the GOP nomination, despite his front-runner status.


In 1987, Donald Trump, then known as a New York real estate executive and registered as a Republican, hinted in various television interviews that he was considering running for President.^[2] He took out a series of newspaper ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe criticizing Reagan's foreign policy for being too expensive.^[3][4] He also vocally advocated reducing foreign aid to Japan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia; accelerating nuclear disarmament negotiations with the Soviet Union; and eliminating the federal deficit.^[5] Mike Dunbar, an important Republican operative, started a "draft Donald Trump" movement to try to convince him to run in the New Hampshire primaries.^[4] However, Trump eventually announced at a political rally arranged by Dunbar in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that he would not seek the Republican nomination.^[6] Later, Trump approached Bush's campaign manager Lee Atwater asking to be considered as a possible choice for running mate. Bush found the request "strange and unbelievable."^[7] Apparently contradicting this report, Trump later asserted it was Atwater who approached him asking if he was interested in the position.^[8] Trump would eventually win the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and go on to win the presidential election against his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He would later lose the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, who was running for the Democratic nomination in 1988, but dropped out before the primaries began. Trump is currently seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2024.


Robertson's campaign got off to a strong second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, ahead of Bush. Robertson did poorly in the subsequent New Hampshire primary, however, and was unable to be competitive once the multiple-state primaries like Super Tuesday began. Robertson ended his campaign before the primaries were finished. His best finish was in Washington, winning the majority of caucus delegates. However, his controversial win has been credited to procedural manipulation by Robertson supporters who delayed final voting until late into the evening when other supporters had gone home. He later spoke at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans and told his remaining supporters to cast their votes for Bush, who ended up winning the nomination and the election. He then returned to the Christian Broadcasting Network and would remain there as a religious broadcaster until his death in 2023.


Bush unexpectedly came in third in the Iowa caucus (that he had won back in 1980), behind Senator Bob Dole and Robertson. Dole was also leading in the polls of the New Hampshire primary, and the Bush camp responded by running television commercials portraying Dole as a tax raiser, while Governor John H. Sununu stumped for Bush. These efforts enabled the Vice President to defeat Dole and gain crucial momentum. Embittered by his loss in New Hampshire, Dole told Bush directly, on live television that evening, to "stop lying about my record."^[9]


Once the multiple-state primaries began, Bush's organizational strength and fundraising lead were impossible for the other candidates to match, and the nomination was his. The Republican party convention was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Bush was nominated unanimously.


In his acceptance speech, Bush made an energetic pledge, "Read my lips: No new taxes", a comment that would come to haunt him in the 1992 election.