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Almost every president of the United States has had a career in politics and most lost at least one general election race during their time in politics.
This list of elections lost by presidents of the United States does not include individual presidential primary losses.
Washington first stood for election to the Virginia House of Burgesses from Frederick County, Virginia in 1757 at the age of 25. Two burgesses were elected from each Virginia county by and among the male landowners. Members of the House of Burgesses did not serve fixed terms, unlike its successor the Virginia House of Delegates, and it remained sitting until dissolved by the governor or until seven years had passed, whichever occurred sooner. [1]
Elections during this time were not conducted by secret ballot but rather by viva voce. The sheriff of the county, a clerk, and a representative of each candidate would be seated at a table, and each elector would approach the table and openly declare his vote. In elections to the House of Burgesses, each voter cast two votes and two candidates were elected who received the greatest number of votes. [2]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | Hugh West | 271 | 46.64 | |
Independent | Thomas Swearingen | 270 | 46.47 | |
Independent | George Washington | 40 | 6.88 |
With the Federalist Party deeply split over his negotiations with France, and the opposition Republican Party enraged over the Alien and Sedition Acts and the expansion of the military, Adams faced a daunting reelection campaign in 1800. [4] The Federalist congressmen caucused in the spring of 1800 and nominated Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The Republicans nominated Jefferson and Burr, their candidates in the previous election. [5]
The campaign was bitter and characterized by malicious insults by partisan presses on both sides. Federalists claimed that the Republicans were the enemies of "all who love order, peace, virtue, and religion." They were said to be libertines and dangerous radicals who favored states' rights over the Union and would instigate anarchy and civil war.
When the electoral votes were counted, Adams finished in third place with 65 votes, and Pinckney came in fourth with 64 votes. Jefferson and Burr tied for first place with 73 votes each. Because of the tie, the election devolved upon the House of Representatives, with each state having one vote and a supermajority required for victory. On February 17, 1801 – on the 36th ballot – Jefferson was elected by a vote of 10 to 4 (two states abstained). [4] [6] Hamilton's scheme, although it made the Federalists appear divided and therefore helped Jefferson win, failed in its overall attempt to woo Federalist electors away from Adams. [7] [lower-alpha 1]
Thomas Jefferson lost the presidential election of 1796 to John Adams.
Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote(a), (b), (c) | Electoral vote | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Count | Percentage | ||||
John Adams | Federalist | Massachusetts | 35,726 | 53.4% | 71 |
Thomas Jefferson | Democratic-Republican | Virginia | 31,115 | 46.6% | 68 |
Thomas Pinckney | Federalist | South Carolina | — | — | 59 |
Aaron Burr | Democratic-Republican | New York | — | — | 30 |
Samuel Adams | Democratic-Republican | Massachusetts | — | — | 15 |
Oliver Ellsworth | Federalist | Connecticut | — | — | 11 |
George Clinton | Democratic-Republican | New York | — | — | 7 |
John Jay | Federalist | New York | — | — | 5 |
James Iredell | Federalist | North Carolina | — | — | 3 |
George Washington | None | Virginia | — | — | 2 |
John Henry | Federalist [11] | Maryland | — | — | 2 |
Samuel Johnston | Federalist | North Carolina | — | — | 2 |
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney | Federalist | South Carolina | — | — | 1 |
Total | 66,841 | 100.0% | 276 | ||
Needed to win | 70 |
Madison lost re-election to the Virginia House of Delegates in the 1777 election. [12]
Nominations for the 1808 presidential election were made by congressional caucuses. With Thomas Jefferson ready to retire, supporters of Secretary of State James Madison of Virginia worked carefully to ensure that Madison would succeed Jefferson. Madison's primary competition came from former Ambassador James Monroe of Virginia and Vice President George Clinton. Monroe was supported by a group known as the tertium quids, who supported a weak central government and were dissatisfied by the Louisiana Purchase and the Compact of 1802. Clinton's support came from Northern Democratic-Republicans who disapproved of the Embargo Act (which they saw as potentially leading towards war with Great Britain) and who sought to end the Virginia Dynasty. The Congressional caucus met in January 1808, choosing Madison as its candidate for president and Clinton as its candidate for vice president. [13]
Many supporters of Monroe and Clinton refused to accept the result of the caucus. Monroe was nominated by a group of Virginia Democratic-Republicans, and although he did not actively try to defeat Madison, he also refused to withdraw from the race. [14] Clinton was also supported by a group of New York Democratic-Republicans for president even as he remained the party's official vice presidential candidate. [15]
Presidential ballot | Total | Vice presidential ballot | Total |
---|---|---|---|
James Madison | 83 | George Clinton | 79 |
James Monroe | 3 | John Langdon | 5 |
George Clinton | 3 | Henry Dearborn | 3 |
John Quincy Adams | 1 |
Adams lost.
In his bid for re-election to the presidency, John Quincy Adams was defeated by Andrew Jackson in the 1828 United States presidential election.
The Anti-Masonic Party nominated Adams in the 1833 Massachusetts gubernatorial election in a four-way race between Adams, the National Republican candidate, the Democratic candidate, and a candidate of the Working Men's Party. The National Republican candidate, John Davis, won 40% of the vote, while Adams finished in second place with 29%. Because no candidate won a majority of the vote, the state legislature decided the election. Rather than seek election by the legislature, Adams withdrew his name from contention, and the legislature selected Davis. [16]
Adams was nearly elected to the Senate (to represent Massachusetts) in 1835 by a coalition of Anti-Masons and National Republicans, but his support for Jackson in a minor foreign policy matter annoyed National Republican leaders enough that they dropped their support for his candidacy. [17] After 1835, Adams never again sought higher office, focusing instead on his service in the House of Representatives. [18]
Andrew Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams, despite winning a greater share of the popular vote.
President Van Buren lost to William Henry Harrison.
Harrison lost the race for Ohio governor.
Harrison lost to James W. Gazlay to represent Ohio's 1st congressional district.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic-Republican | James W. Gazlay | 3,176 | 52.85% | |
Democratic-Republican | William H. Harrison | 2,834 | 47.15% | |
Total votes | 6,010 | 100% |
Harrison lost to Martin van Buren. He would go on to defeat Van Buren in the 1840 presidential election.
Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote(a) | Electoral vote | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Count | Percentage | ||||
Martin Van Buren | Democratic | New York | 764,176 | 50.83% | 170 |
William Henry Harrison | Whig | Ohio | 550,816 | 36.63% | 73 |
Hugh Lawson White | Whig | Tennessee | 146,107 | 9.72% | 26 |
Daniel Webster | Whig | Massachusetts | 41,201 | 2.74% | 14 |
Willie Person Mangum | Whig | North Carolina | —(b) | — | 11 |
Other | 1,234 | 0.08% | 0 | ||
Total | 1,503,534 | 100.0% | 294 | ||
Needed to win | 148 |
Not including presidential re-election attempts made while in office.
Grover Cleveland is the only former president to successfully be elected to a non-consecutive term in office, which occurred in the 1892 election.
President | Office and jurisdiction | Year | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
John Tyler | Vice President of the United States | 1836 | One of two Whig vice presidential candidates. Came in third behind Richard Mentor Johnson and Francis Granger. Later elected in 1840. |
Millard Fillmore | Whig nomination for Vice President of the United States | 1844 | Lost to Theodore Frelinghuysen. Later won in 1848. |
Abraham Lincoln | Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States | 1856 | Lost to William L. Dayton |
Grover Cleveland | District Attorney for Erie County, New York | 1865 | Lost to Lyman K. Bass |
Theodore Roosevelt | Mayor of New York City | 1886 | Placed in distant third behind Abram S. Hewitt and Henry George. |
Calvin Coolidge | School board of Northampton [20] | 1904 | |
Franklin D. Roosevelt | Vice President of the United States | 1920 | Lost to Calvin Coolidge. |
Harry S. Truman | Judge of Jackson County, Missouri | 1924 | Lost to Henry Rummel |
John F. Kennedy | Democratic nomination for Vice President of the United States | 1956 | Lost to Estes Kefauver. |
James Monroe was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was the last president of the Virginia dynasty; his presidency coincided with the Era of Good Feelings. He is perhaps best known for issuing the Monroe Doctrine, a policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas. He also served as the governor of Virginia, a member of the United States Senate, the U.S. ambassador to France and Britain, the seventh Secretary of State, and the eighth Secretary of War.
The Democratic-Republican Party, also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party and known at the time under various other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s that championed republicanism, political equality, and expansionism. The party became increasingly dominant after the 1800 elections as the opposing Federalist Party collapsed. The Democratic-Republicans later splintered during the 1824 presidential election. The majority faction of the Democratic-Republicans eventually coalesced into the modern Democratic Party, while the minority faction ultimately formed the core of what became the Whig Party.
The 1792 United States presidential election was the second quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, November 2, to Wednesday, December 5, 1792. Incumbent President George Washington was elected to a second term by a unanimous vote in the electoral college, while John Adams was re-elected as vice president. Washington was essentially unopposed, but Adams faced a competitive re-election against Governor George Clinton of New York.
The 1800 United States presidential election was the fourth quadrennial presidential election. It was held from October 31 to December 3, 1800. In what is sometimes referred to as the "Revolution of 1800", Vice President Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party defeated incumbent President John Adams of the Federalist Party. The election was a political realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican leadership.
The 1804 United States presidential election was the fifth quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 2, to Wednesday, December 5, 1804. Incumbent Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson defeated Federalist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. It was the first presidential election conducted following the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reformed procedures for electing presidents and vice presidents.
The 1808 United States presidential election was the sixth quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 4, to Wednesday, December 7, 1808. The Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney decisively. Madison's victory made him the first individual to succeed a president of the same party.
The 1812 United States presidential election was the seventh quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, October 30, 1812 to Wednesday, December 2, 1812. Taking place in the shadow of the War of 1812, incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Madison defeated DeWitt Clinton, who drew support from dissident Democratic-Republicans in the North as well as Federalists. It was the first presidential election to be held during a major war involving the United States.
The 1816 United States presidential election was the eighth quadrennial presidential election. It was held from November 1 to December 4, 1816. In the first election following the end of the War of 1812, Democratic-Republican candidate James Monroe defeated Federalist Rufus King. The election was the last in which the Federalist Party fielded a presidential candidate.
The 1820 United States presidential election was the ninth quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Wednesday, November 1, to Wednesday, December 6, 1820. Taking place at the height of the Era of Good Feelings, the election saw incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Monroe win re-election without a major opponent. It was the third and last United States presidential election in which a presidential candidate ran effectively unopposed. It was also the last election of a president from the revolutionary generation.
The congressional nominating caucus is the name for informal meetings in which American congressmen would agree on whom to nominate for the Presidency and Vice Presidency from their political party.
The presidency of John Adams, began on March 4, 1797, when John Adams was inaugurated as the second president of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1801. Adams, who had served as vice president under George Washington, took office as president after winning the 1796 presidential election. The only member of the Federalist Party to ever serve as president, his presidency ended after a single term following his defeat in the 1800 presidential election. He was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.
The Federalist Era in American history ran from 1788–1800, a time when the Federalist Party and its predecessors were dominant in American politics. During this period, Federalists generally controlled Congress and enjoyed the support of President George Washington and President John Adams. The era saw the creation of a new, stronger federal government under the United States Constitution, a deepening of support for nationalism, and diminished fears of tyranny by a central government. The era began with the ratification of the United States Constitution and ended with the Democratic-Republican Party's victory in the 1800 elections.
The United States elections of 1788–1789 were the first federal elections in the United States following the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788. In the elections, George Washington was elected as the first president and the members of the 1st United States Congress were selected.
Political eras of the United States refer to a model of American politics used in history and political science to periodize the political party system existing in the United States.