2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries

From January 3 to June 5, 2012, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2012 United States presidential election. President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2012, after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2012 Democratic National Convention on September 5, 2012, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The general expectation was that, with President Barack Obama having the advantage of incumbency and being the only viable candidate running, the race would be merely pro forma. Independent progressive Vermont senator Bernie Sanders reportedly considered challenging Obama in the primaries but decided not to run after then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked him out of it (He would later run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2016 and 2020).

Several of the lesser-known candidates made efforts to raise visibility. Some Occupy movement activists made an attempt to take over the Iowa caucuses, and got about 2% of the vote for Uncommitted. With nine minor candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire, there was a debate at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on December 19, 2011, in which seven candidates participated. Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry bought time on television in order to show graphic commercials denouncing abortion.

Three candidates – other than Obama – who had been on the ballot in New Hampshire were also on the ballot in Missouri. One such candidate, Randall Terry, attempted to air graphic TV commercials during Super Bowl XLIV, but was met with resistance from various TV stations in some locations. The Democratic National Committee also tried to stop the ads by claiming that Terry was not a legitimate Democratic candidate even though he was legally on the ballot.

A number of partisans of Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, challenging the legitimacy of Obama's birthright citizenship, attempted to have the President's name removed from the Georgia primary ballot. A state administrative judge upheld a subpoena, which was ignored by the President and his staff. In February 2012, the activists' legal challenge was rejected by a Georgia state law judge and by the Secretary of State of Georgia, and Obama remained listed on the primary ballot.

On May 8, 2012, Keith Russell Judd, an inmate serving a 17.5-year sentence, won 41% of the primary vote in West Virginia against incumbent Barack Obama, a higher percentage of the vote in one state than any other primary opponent of Obama had hitherto achieved in 2012. Shortly thereafter, attorney John Wolfe, Jr. won 42% of the primary vote in Arkansas after widespread speculation that Wolfe could possibly pull off an upset of the state.

Challengers to President Obama only qualified for the ballot in eight states – New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alaska – while a ninth (Ohio) was going to have Randall Terry on the ballot, but removed his name before the ballots were printed. Randall Terry also attempted to contest the Kansas caucus, but was denied a spot on the caucus ballot after the state's Democratic Party determined that he didn't meet the requirements.

Darcy Richardson suspended his bid for the nomination on April 28, 2012. He still appeared on the ballot in Texas and was an eligible write-in candidate in California after suspending his campaign.