The United States presidential election of 2012 was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It was the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United States on December 17, 2012, were chosen. Incumbent President John McCain ran for a second and final term during this election. His Democratic and major party challenger was Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. Two other candidates had attained ballot access sufficient enough to mathematically win the election by a majority of the electoral college: Libertarian Party nominee, Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.