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 | To be determined |
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] | |||
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] |
James Earl Carter Jr. is an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975, and as a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967.
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William Howard Taft was an American politician and lawyer who was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected president in 1908, the chosen successor of Theodore Roosevelt, but was defeated for reelection in 1912 by Woodrow Wilson after Roosevelt split the Republican vote by running as a third-party candidate. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be chief justice, a position he held until a month before his death.
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The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution limits the number of times a person can be elected to the office of President of the United States to two terms, and sets additional eligibility conditions for presidents who succeed to the unexpired terms of their predecessors. Congress approved the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947, and submitted it to the state legislatures for ratification. That process was completed on February 27, 1951, when the requisite 36 of the 48 states had ratified the amendment, and its provisions came into force on that date.
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William Howard Taft III was an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1953 to 1957, and was a grandson of President William Howard Taft and First Lady Helen Louise "Nellie" Taft.
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The 13th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was a unit of volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The unit was created when four infantry companies were added to the Battalion of Governor's Guards in September 1861. It served during the war in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Shiloh, Farmington, and Perryville in 1862. After being reduced in numbers, the regiment was consolidated with the 20th Louisiana Infantry Regiment and served at Stones River, Jackson, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge in 1863. The 13th-20th Louisiana fought at Resaca, New Hope Church, Ezra Church, and Nashville in 1864. The consolidation with the 20th Louisiana was discontinued in February 1865 and the regiment was re-consolidated with other units. It fought its final battle at Spanish Fort one month before surrendering in May 1865.
The 16th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was a unit of volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment organized in September 1861 and served during the war in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Shiloh, Corinth, and Perryville in 1862. In November 1862, the regiment was consolidated with the 25th Louisiana Infantry Regiment and served at Stones River, Jackson, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge in 1863. The unit fought at Resaca, New Hope Church, Atlanta, Ezra Church, Jonesborough, and Nashville in 1864. The consolidation with the 25th Louisiana was discontinued in February 1865 and the regiment was re-consolidated with the 1st Louisiana Regulars and 20th Louisiana Infantry Regiments. The unit fought its final battle at Spanish Fort. The regiment was again consolidated into the Chalmette Regiment shortly before surrendering in May 1865.
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