At the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach , Florida , there were still efforts taking place by the campaign of former Vice President Hubert Humphrey to stop the nomination of Senator George McGovern . After that failed and McGovern 's nomination was assured , as a symbolic gesture , Humphrey released his black delegates to Chisholm . This , combined with defections from disenchanted delegates from other candidates , as well as the delegates she had won in the primaries , gave her a total of 152 first-ballot votes for the nomination during the July 12 roll call . ( Her precise total was 151.95 . ) Her largest support overall came from Ohio , with 23 delegates ( slightly more than half of them white ) , even though she had not been on the ballot in the May 2 primary there . Her total gave her fourth place in the roll call tally , behind McGovern 's winning total of 1,728 delegates . Chisholm said she ran for the office " in spite of hopeless odds ... to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo "
1972 Democratic National Convention
1972 Democratic National Convention
Shirley Chisholm