Republican incumbent President Ronald Reagan won re-election , defeating Democratic former Vice President Walter Mondale . Reagan carried every state except for Washington , D.C. and Mondale 's home state of Minnesota , won 58.8 percent of the popular vote , and defeated Mondale by a popular vote margin of eighteen points . Reagan remains the only presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972 to win at least 55 percent of the popular vote . Mondale defeated Colorado Senator Gary Hart and Reverend Jesse Jackson of Illinois to take the Democratic nomination . Mondale selected New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate , making Ferraro the first woman to appear on a major party presidential ticket
Democratic nomination
1984 Democratic National Convention
1984 United States elections