Republican Party presidential primaries, 1944

Republican Party presidential primaries, 1944

← 1940 March 14 to May 19, 1944 1948 →
Candidate Thomas E. Dewey Douglas MacArthur Earl Warren Home state New York Wisconsin California Contests won 3 2 1 Popular vote 278,272 662,127 594,439 Percentage 12.2% 28.9% 26.0%   Candidate John W. Bricker W. Chapman Revercomb Harold Stassen Home state Ohio West Virginia Minnesota Contests won 1 1 1 Popular vote 366,444 91,602 67,508 Percentage 16.0% 4.0% 3.0%   Candidate Charles A. Christopherson Home state South Dakota Contests won 1 Popular vote 33,497 Percentage 1.6%
Results map by state.
Previous Republican nominee Wendell Willkie Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey

Wendell Willkie

Thomas E. Dewey

The 1944 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1944 U.S. presidential election. The nominee was selected through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1944 Republican National Convention held from June 26 to June 28, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois.

As 1944 began the frontrunners for the Republican nomination appeared to be Wendell Willkie, the party's 1940 candidate, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the leader of the party's conservatives, New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, the leader of the party's powerful, moderate eastern establishment, General Douglas MacArthur, then serving as an Allied commander in the Pacific theater of the war, and former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen, then serving as a U.S. naval officer in the Pacific. However, Taft surprised many by announcing that he was not a candidate; instead he voiced his support for a fellow conservative, Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio. With Taft out of the race some GOP conservatives favored General MacArthur. However, MacArthur's chances were limited by the fact that he was leading Allied forces against Japan, and thus could not campaign for the nomination. His supporters did enter his name in the Wisconsin primary. The Wisconsin primary proved to be the key contest, as Dewey won by a surprisingly wide margin; he took 14 delegates to four for Harold Stassen, while MacArthur won the three remaining delegates. Willkie was shut out in the Wisconsin primary; he did not win a single delegate. His unexpectedly poor showing in Wisconsin forced him to withdraw as a candidate for the nomination.