Claim: George H. W. Bush was the 41st President of the United States.

The United States presidential election of 2000 was the 54th quadrennial presidential election . It was held on Tuesday , November 7 , 2000 . Republican candidate George W. Bush , then-incumbent governor of Texas and the eldest son of the 41st President George H. W. Bush , narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee Al Gore , then-incumbent vice president and former Senator for Tennessee , as well as various third-party candidates including Ralph Nader .   Incumbent Democratic President Bill Clinton was ineligible to serve a third term due to term limitations in the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution , and Vice President Gore was able to secure the Democratic nomination with relative ease . Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination and , despite a contentious primary battle with Senator John McCain and other candidates , secured the nomination by Super Tuesday . Bush chose former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as his running mate , while Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman as his . Both major party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues , such as the budget , tax relief , and reforms for federal social insurance programs , although foreign policy was not ignored . Clinton and Gore often did not campaign together , a deliberate decision resulting from the Lewinsky sex scandal two years prior .   This was the closest presidential election in the nation 's history , with a .009 % margin , 537 votes , separating the two candidates in the decisive state , Florida . The narrow margin there triggered a mandatory machine recount the next day , after which Gore requested recounts in four counties , including populous South Florida , as permitted by law . Litigation ensued in numerous counties in both state and federal courts , ultimately reaching the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court . The high court 's contentious 5 -- 4 decision in Bush v. Gore , announced on December 12 , 2000 , ended a statewide recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court on December 8 , effectively awarding Florida 's votes to Bush and granting him the victory . Nationwide , this was the fourth presidential election in which the winner received fewer votes than his opponent .   After the election , recounts conducted by various news media organizations continued a primary focus on ballots that machines read as not showing a vote . Based on the review of these ballots , their results indicated that Bush would have won if certain recounting methods had been used -LRB- including the one favored by Gore at the time of the Supreme Court decision -RRB- , but that Gore might have won under other standards and scenarios . In contrast , according to Lance deHaven-Smith of Florida State University , based on `` the definitive study of the uncounted ballots '' -LRB- the Florida Ballot Project by NORC at the University of Chicago -RRB- , if all the legally valid votes in Florida had been counted statewide , Al Gore would have been the winner , a conclusion deHaven-Smith calls `` unambiguous and unavoidable . ''   The Green Party gained widespread public attention during the 2000 presidential election when the ticket composed of Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke won 2.7 % of the popular vote . Nader was vilified by some Democrats , who accused him of spoiling the election for Al Gore . Nader 's impact on the 2000 election has remained controversial .   Until 2016 , this was the last time a Republican candidate won an electoral vote in the region of New England , with Donald Trump winning the 2nd Congressional District of Maine . As of 2017 , this was the last election where a Republican candidate won New Hampshire .