This is a list of former presidents of the United States who ran for office (the presidency, a seat in Congress, or governor) after leaving office as president. It does not include presidents who sought reelection to a consecutive term while still in office. Prior to the passage of the 22nd Amendment, presidents could run for re-election without restriction; [1] Donald Trump is the first president to seek a non-consecutive term since its passage. [2]
Some presidents have been recruited, requested, or drafted to run again. This list, however, only includes those presidents who actively campaigned.
This list only includes former presidents who ran again for president.
President | Previous term | Reason the president first left office | Year of attempted comeback | Result | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Martin Van Buren [3] | 1837–1841 | Defeated in the general election | 1844 | Lost | Failed in his attempt to win the nomination of the Democratic Party |
1848 | Lost | First nominee of the newly formed Free Soil Party | |||
Millard Fillmore [4] | 1850–1853 | Denied nomination by his party | 1856 | Lost | Nominee for the American Party (Know Nothing) |
Ulysses S. Grant [5] | 1869–1877 | Retired | 1880 | Lost | Failed in his attempt to win the nomination of the Republican Party |
Grover Cleveland [6] | 1885–1889 | Defeated in the general election | 1892 | Won | Only president to succeed at his comeback attempt, served four more years. |
Theodore Roosevelt [7] | 1901–1909 | Retired | 1912 | Lost | Nominee of the Progressive Party (Bull Moose), after he was denied the nomination of the Republican Party. |
Herbert Hoover [8] | 1929–1933 | Defeated in the general election | 1940 | Lost | Failed in his attempt to win the nomination of the Republican Party |
Donald Trump [9] | 2017–2021 | Defeated in the general election | 2024 | To be determined | Officially became the nominee of the Republican Party in July 2024. |
President | Presidential term | Reason for leaving office | Year of election | Office | Result | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Quincy Adams | 1825–1829 | Defeated in the general election [10] | 1830–1846 (9 elections) | U.S. House of Representatives | Won | Only former president to serve in the House, served until his 1848 death. |
1833 | Governor of Massachusetts | Lost [11] | Continued in House after defeat. | |||
John Tyler | 1841–1845 | Denied nomination by his party/withdrew from race | 1861 | Confederate States Congress | Won | Died before he could take office (had served in unelected Provisional Congress). [12] Only former president to ever run for an office outside the United States. |
Andrew Johnson | 1865–1869 | Denied nomination by his party | 1872 | U.S. House of Representatives | Lost | Ran as an Independent and finished 3rd in the general election. [13] |
1874 | U.S. Senate | Won | Only former president to serve in the Senate, served until his 1875 death. [14] | |||
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | Term-limited | 2008 | First Gentleman of the United States (indirect campaign) | Lost | Indirect campaign as the spouse of former First Lady Hillary Clinton, supporting her during her own presidential campaign, lost nomination to Barack Obama. |
2016 | First Gentleman of the United States (indirect campaign) | Lost | Spouse succeeded in gaining presidential nomination, lost general election to Donald Trump | |||
President | Previous term | Reason first left office | Year of appointment | Office | Result | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
William Howard Taft | 1909–1913 | Defeated in the general election | 1921 [15] | Chief Justice of the United States | Confirmed | Only former president ever to serve on the Supreme Court, served until his 1930 resignation. [16] |
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