Presidential campaign announcements in the United States

A campaign announcement is the formal public launch of a political campaign, often delivered in a speech by the candidate at a political rally.

Formal campaign announcements play an important role in United States presidential elections, particularly in shaping the start of a campaign season.^[1]^[2]^[3] They became more significant with the introduction of presidential primaries (as opposed to state caucuses) in the early 20th century. The expression to "throw one's hat in the ring", describing a challenger in boxing, was popularized by the Theodore Roosevelt 1912 presidential campaign.^[4] There has been a trend of announcements coming earlier, and even being preceded by an invisible primary phase^[5] and often as a first public step by an exploratory committee.^[6]

A pledge to not run, the opposite of a campaign announcement, is known as a Shermanesque statement.^[7]

^ "A Look Through History of Presidential Announcements". ABC News. April 10, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
^ Trent, Judith S.; Friedenberg, Robert V.; Denton, Robert E. Jr. (2011). Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 210. ISBN 9781442206717.
^ Denton, Robert E. Jr. (2017). Studies of Communication in the 2016 Presidential Campaign. Lexington Books. ISBN 9781498560306.
^ Gooden, Philip; Lewis, Peter (June 30, 2013). Idiomantics: The Weird and Wonderful World of Popular Phrases. A&C Black. ISBN 9781408157435.
^ Parlapiano, Alicia (April 16, 2015). "How Presidential Campaigns Became Two-Year Marathons". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
^ Elving, Ron (December 5, 2012). "Declaring for President is a Dance of Seven Veils". NPR.
^ Delahunty, Andrew; Dignen, Sheila (2012). "Shermanesque". Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion. Oxford University Press. p. 328. ISBN 9780199567461.