Donald Trump could win election without his home state, and that's pretty rare
The list of presidents who have won the White House without winning their home state is short, but it could get one name longer tonight.
CBS News has projected that Donald Trump will lose his home state of New York to Hillary Clinton. That means if he wins, he’ll take the White House without the support of his state of residency.
Only three candidates have done that before.
James Polk lost his home state of Tennessee to Henry Clay in 1844, and Woodrow Wilson lost New Jersey to Charles Evan Hughes in 1916.
Richard Nixon is the third candidate to lose at home, but win the country. He lost New York in 1968, his state of residency at the time.
Most people think of California when they think of Nixon, which is the state he represented in the House and Senate. He even ran a failed bid for governor there. But when he lost the governor’s race in 1962, he moved to New York to work for a law firm. When he won the presidency in 1968, that was his legal home.
So while a home state loss might be embarrassing, it doesn’t make winning the White House impossible... just rare.