Fact check: Have Warren and Klobuchar ever lost an election?
Winning is the name of the game in politics. But at one point on the Iowa debate stage, there was also talk of losing – and losing and losing.
It came up during a back and forth between U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont over the question of whether Sanders had once told her that a woman cannot win the presidency.
During the debate, Warren said, "I think the best way to talk about who can win is by looking at people's winning record. So, can a woman beat Donald Trump? Look at the men on this stage. Collectively, they have lost 10 elections. The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women, Amy and me." Warren was referring to U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Readers asked us to track down the math behind this assertion. We found that Warren’s count was correct.
Here’s a rundown of the electoral win-loss records of the six candidates on stage during the CNN-Des Moines Register debate on Jan. 14. The 10 losses are listed in boldface.
Warren
- 2012 Elected to U.S. Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Scott Brown
- 2018 Re-elected to U.S. Senate.
Klobuchar
- 1998 Elected Hennepin County Attorney
- 2002 Re-elected Hennepin County Attorney
- 2006 Elected to U.S. Senate (open seat)
- 2012 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 2018 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
Pete Buttigieg (one loss)
- 2010 Lost race for Indiana state treasurer against Republican incumbent Richard Mourdock
- 2011 Elected mayor of South Bend, Ind.
- 2015 Re-elected as mayor
Joe Biden (two losses)
- 1972 Elected to U.S. Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Caleb Boggs
- 1978 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 1984 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 1988 Ran and lost for president
- 1990 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 1996 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 2002 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 2008 Ran and lost for president
- 2008 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 2008 Won the vice presidency
- 2012 Re-elected to the vice presidency
Sanders (seven losses)
- 1972 Lost U.S. Senate special election (running on the Liberty Union party line)
- 1972 Lost election for Vermont governor (running on the Liberty Union party line)
- 1974 Lost Senate election (running on the Liberty Union party line)
- 1976 Lost gubernatorial election (running on the Liberty Union party line)
- 1981 Elected mayor of Burlington, Vt.
- 1983 Re-elected Burlington mayor
- 1985 Re-elected Burlington mayor
- 1986 Lost election for Vermont governor (running as an independent)
- 1987 Re-elected Burlington mayor
- 1988 Lost U.S. House election to incumbent Republican Rep. Peter Smith
- 1990 Elected to U.S. House, defeating Smith
- 1992 Re-elected to U.S. House
- 1994 Re-elected to U.S. House
- 1996 Re-elected to U.S. House
- 1998 Re-elected to U.S. House
- 2000 Re-elected to U.S. House
- 2002 Re-elected to U.S. House
- 2004 Re-elected to U.S. House
- 2006 Elected to U.S. Senate (open seat)
- 2012 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
- 2016 Ran and lost for president
- 2018 Re-elected to U.S. Senate
Tom Steyer
This is Steyer’s first race for public office.
Warren’s '30 years' line
Meanwhile, after that exchange, Warren and Sanders faced off on another piece of their electoral win-loss records.
Warren said that she was "the only person on this stage who has beaten an incumbent Republican any time in the past 30 years."
The two candidates sparred over the meaning of "at any time in the past 30 years."
As the list above shows, Sanders defeated an incumbent Republican in 1990. That’s right on Warren’s cutoff of 30 years.
PolitiFact ruling
Warren said, "Look at the men on this stage. Collectively, they have lost 10 elections. The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women, Amy and me."
We checked the electoral histories of the candidates on stage and found that Warren spoke accurately. We rate her statement True.
