--- title: Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, and How a Woman Was First Nominated description: Carly Fiorina would be the third woman to be a major-party nominee for vice-president canonical: https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-27T18:38:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:53.657Z article:section: History og:title: How a Major Party First Nominated a Woman for Vice President og:description: Carly Fiorina would be the third woman to be a major-party nominee for vice-president og:url: https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f79377ad14e180b/698890e6196cf4e08803b60f/ferraro-fiorina-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ferraro-fiorina-palin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How a Major Party First Nominated a Woman for Vice President twitter:description: Carly Fiorina would be the third woman to be a major-party nominee for vice-president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f79377ad14e180b/698890e6196cf4e08803b60f/ferraro-fiorina-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How a Major U.S. Party First Nominated a Woman for Vice President ## Video: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Ted Cruz [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Things You Didn't Know About Ted Cruz](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8gN5zniR.m3u8) (1:33)  _Published 2016-01-12. 5 Things Ted Cruz-v2_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 27, 2016 6:38 PM UTC  Geraldine Ferraro in Chicago, on May 4, 2007 (L); Sarah Palin in Ames, Iowa on Jan. 19, 2016 (C); Carly Fiorina in Nashua, NH on Jan. 23, 2016. Geraldine Ferraro in Chicago, on May 4, 2007 (L); Sarah Palin in Ames, Iowa on Jan. 19, 2016 (C); Carly Fiorina in Nashua, NH on Jan. 23, 2016.Charles Rex Arbogas—AP (L); Mary Altaffer—AP (C); Matt Rourke—AP  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 27, 2016 6:38 PM UTC The [news](http://time.com/4309812/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-vice-president-running-mate) that Ted Cruz will select former rival Carly Fiorina as his running mate should he win the Republican nomination for the presidency means that Fiorina would join an elite group. The list of women who have been nominated for vice president by a major U.S. party numbers just two: Geraldine Ferraro, who ran on the Democratic ticket with Walter Mondale in 1984, and Sarah Palin, who ran with John McCain on the Republican ticket in 2008. But not that long ago, when Ferraro was first [introduced](http://time.com/vault/issue/1978-11-06/page/52/) to TIME readers in 1978, as she sought a seat in Congress, it was with a sadly familiar trope: she was frying eggs for her family’s breakfast, trying to be a “good mother and wife” while doing something that “few women in Queen—or elsewhere—have considered.” More than a decade of feminist activism had only produced a relative handful of women in Congress. The reasons for the lack of progress were many. Women lacked an in at the literal old-boys’ clubs where politics took place, they tended not to have union support and they had trouble raising money because they were seen as unelectable. (As TIME pointed out, there’s a vicious cycle at work with that last component: raising less money actually _can_ make a candidate less likely to be elected.) And, just as importantly, old stereotypes about women’s proper roles were still very much in play. Case in point: Ferraro frying the eggs. So what changed between 1978 and 1984? For one thing, putting a woman on a major ticket had started to seem like what DNC political director Ann Lewis [called](http://time.com/vault/issue/1983-10-17/page/26/) “the logical next step.” Lewis wasn’t just talking about making strides for women; she was also talking about the logic of politics. Women making up slightly more than half of the population wasn’t new, but by the early 1980s they were turning up on Election Day just as often as men were and, among some age groups, more often. And though there were still far fewer women in elected office than would have represented their share of the population, there were a couple of high-profile women (like Ferraro) who would be [possibilities](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-06-04/page/30/). More philosophical observers [posited](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-06-04/page/20/) that the post-Vietnam War world had soured on masculinity. Meanwhile, as President Reagan’s popularity among women [suffered](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-07-23/page/18/) during his first term, many women—especially Democrats—were starting to feel [their specific needs did make them](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-06-04/page/20/) a “special-interest group” worth acknowledging when he was up for reelection. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) And secondly, there were the specific needs of the Mondale campaign. In the run-up to that summer’s nominating convention, Mondale’s candidacy was seen by some as unexciting and stale. (TIME said that June that his campaign “so far has sounded like a large, heavy suitcase being tumbled, slow motion, down an interminable flight of stairs.”) Analysts guessed that if he got to the point of selecting a VP and was polling close to the incumbent Reagan, he would make a safe bet to select a man whose home state might swing to the Democratic side; if he were lagging, he would cross his fingers and pick a woman, in hopes that the history-making angle would inject some interest into his campaign. Ferraro herself [admitted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-06-04/page/26/) that she knew she was being considered primarily because of her gender, but said she didn’t think that meant she couldn’t do the job. It was Ann Lewis, once again, who [summed up](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-07-23/page/28/) the feeling among Ferraro’s supporters: “Your token,” she said, “is my pioneer.” ### See Carly Fiorina's Career in Photographs  Carly Fiorina during a news conference on Dec. 31, 1999 at HP headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. AP  Carly Fiorina rang a bell to virtually open the New York Stock Exchange from HP's headquarters on May 6, 2002 in Palo Alto, Calif. Chris Preovolos—AP  Carly Fiorina, as an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, works inside the "Straight Talk Express" on April 24, 2008 in New Orleans. Mary Altaffer—AP  Carly Fiorina, listens as Sen. John McCain speaks during a town hall-style meeting on May 20, 2008 in Miami. Lynne Sladky—AP  Carly Fiorina holds a roundtable discussions with reporters in on Nov. 18, 2009 in Washington. Gerald Herbert—AP  Carly Fiorina and her husband Frank take a tour with Earthfriendly Products vice president, Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, right, on Nov. 4, 2009, in Garden Grove, Calif. Damian Dovarganes—AP  Carly Fiorina talks to a potential voter during her visit to a phone bank during her Senate campaign on June 5, 2010 in Gold River, Calif. Rich Pedroncelli—AP  Meg Whitman, left center, winner of the Republican nomination for governor of California, and Carly Fiorina, the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate from California, are joined by Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, left, and California state senator Tony Strickland as they celebrate at a post-primary election celebration on June 9, 2010 in Anaheim, Calif. Reed Saxon—AP  Carly Fiorina listens to a group of small business owners during a press conference on June 24, 2010 in San Francisco. Eric Risberg—AP  Barbara Boxer speaks as Republican challenger Carly Fiorina looks on during a debate on the campus of Saint Mary's College on Sept. 1, 2010 in Moraga, Calif. Justin Sullivan—AP  Gabriel Lerner, center, asks Carly Fiorina, left, a question during the debate with Barbara Boxer who is in Washington, on Sept. 29, 2010 in Pasadena. Anne Cusack—AP  Carly Fiorina leaves with her husband, Frank, after she campaigned on Oct. 29, 2010 in Menlo Park, Calif. Paul Sakuma—AP  Carly Fiorina speaks to senior citizens at Leisure World on Oct. 30, 2010 in Seal Beach, Calif. Christine Cotter—AP  Carly Fiorina at CPAC on Feb. 26, 2015 in National Harbor, Md. Bill Clark—AP  Carly Fiorina leaves Clear Creek Amana High School after speaking on April 24, 2015 in Tiffin, Iowa. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Carly Fiorina on June 6, 2015 in Boone, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall—AP  Carly Fiorina, shakes hands with employees during a tour of Cirtronics on June 10, 2015, in Milford, N.H. Jim Cole—AP  Carly Fiorina greets fairgoers during a visit to the Iowa State Fair, on Aug. 17, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall—AP  Carly Fiorina marches with her family in the Labor Day parade on Sept. 7, 2015 in Milford, N.H. Kayana Szymczak—Getty Images  Carly Fiorina mingles amid the crowd following the Presidential debate on Sept. 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, Calif. Frederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty Images  Carly Fiorina speaks to the media after a national security forum on Sept. 22, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. Sean Rayford—Getty Images  Carly Fiorina speaks on Sept. 18, 2015 in Greenville, S.C. Sean Rayford—Getty Images And sure enough, the choice of Ferraro _did_ [earn](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-07-23/page/28/) headlines and accolades for the Mondale campaign. The headlines didn’t pay off on Election Day (especially after Ferraro’s husband’s [finances became a distracting scandal](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-09-03/page/26/)) but, from the beginning, her supporters had said that she would be be a successful [symbol](http://time.com/vault/issue/1985-01-07/page/64/) of progress even if she were a failure in that particular race. After 1984, though any number of pros and cons might figure into the choice of a running mate, the first step had been taken. Win or lose, Ferraro had broken a significant barrier. That’s a feeling that is likely familiar to Fiorina. When she was [mentioned](http://time.com/vault/issue/1999-08-02/page/72/) in the pages of TIME, in 1999, it was thus: “Pay no attention to the noise, Carleton (Carly) Fiorina was saying last week, as she was crashing through the highest of glass ceilings to become the CEO of computer maker Hewlett-Packard. Although her appointment has not been so ballyhooed as Sandra Day O’Connor’s becoming the first woman Supreme Court Justice or Geraldine Ferraro’s running for Vice President—or, for that matter, America’s women winning the soccer World Cup—it is arguably more important than any of those milestones.” **_Read a 1984 interview with Geraldine Ferraro, on being the first woman chosen as a first major-party vice-presidential nominee:_** [An Interview with Ferraro](http://time.com/vault/issue/1984-07-23/page/34/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/"},"headline":"How a Major U.S. Party First Nominated a Woman for Vice President","datePublished":"2016-04-27T18:38:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:41:53.657Z","description":"Carly Fiorina would be the third","url":"https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/","keywords":["politics","2016 Election topic","John McCain","ted cruz","Sarah Palin","Carly Fiorina"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f79377ad14e180b/698890e6196cf4e08803b60f/ferraro-fiorina-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f79377ad14e180b/698890e6196cf4e08803b60f/ferraro-fiorina-palin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ferraro-fiorina-palin","caption":"Geraldine Ferraro in Chicago, on May 4, 2007 (L); Sarah Palin in Ames, Iowa on Jan. 19, 2016 (C); Carly Fiorina in Nashua, NH on Jan. 23, 2016.","creditText":"Charles Rex Arbogas—AP (L); Mary Altaffer—AP (C); Matt Rourke—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/","name":"How a Major U.S. Party First Nominated a Woman for Vice President"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Things You Didn't Know About Ted Cruz","description":"5 Things Ted Cruz-v2","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8gN5zniR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-01-12T19:54:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8gN5zniR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/","duration":"PT1M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4309688/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-geraldine-ferraro-sarah-palin/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```