Main articles: United States presidential election, 2012 and Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2012
Former Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama shake hands in the Oval Office on November 29, 2012, following their first meeting since President Obama's reelection

On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission.[115][116][117] As the incumbent president he ran virtually unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential primaries,[118] and on April 3, 2012, Obama had secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.[119]

At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton, as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were Republicans Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.[120]

On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president.[121][122][123] With 51.1 percent of the popular vote,[124] Obama became the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to twice win the majority of the popular vote.[125][126] President Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago's McCormick Place after his reelection and said: "Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties."[127][128]