# List of unsuccessful major party candidates for President of the United States

Since the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, there have been 52 unsuccessful major party candidates for President of the United States. Additionally, since 1796, eight third party or independent candidates have won at least ten percent of the popular or electoral vote, but all failed to win the presidency.
Since the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment prior to the 1804 presidential election, the winner of any given presidential election is the candidate that receives the majority of the electoral vote. Under the rules established by the Twelfth Amendment, if no individual wins a majority of the electoral vote, then the United States House of Representatives holds a contingent election to determine the election winner; contingent elections have decided the winners of two presidential elections. Since 1824, the national popular vote has been recorded, but the national popular vote does not determine the winner of the presidential election. There have been five presidential elections in which the winner did not win a majority or a plurality of the popular vote.
The United States has had a two-party system for much of its history, and the major parties of the two-party system have dominated presidential elections for most of U.S. history. The two current major parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. At various points prior to the American Civil War, the Federalist Party, the Democratic-Republican Party, the National Republican Party, and the Whig Party were major parties. These six parties have nominated candidates in the vast majority of presidential elections, but six presidential elections deviate from the normal pattern of two major party candidates. There were no major party candidates for president in the presidential election of 1789 and the presidential election of 1792, both of which were won by George Washington. In the 1812 presidential election, DeWitt Clinton served as the de facto Federalist nominee even though he was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party; Clinton was defeated by Democratic-Republican President James Madison. In the presidential election of 1820, incumbent President James Monroe of the Democratic-Republican Party effectively ran unopposed. In the 1824 presidential election, four Democratic-Republicans competed in multiple states in the general election as the party was unable to agree on a single nominee. Similarly, in the presidential election of 1836, the Whig Party did not unify around a single candidate and two different Whig candidates competed in multiple states in the general election.
Several former, incumbent, or future presidents have unsuccessfully sought the presidency. Several individuals have unsuccessfully sought the presidency as the candidate of a major party multiple times; only Henry Clay and William Jennings Bryan have done so thrice. Seven different third parties have nominated a candidate who won at least ten percent of the electoral vote or at least ten percent of the popular vote in a single election, and who was not nominated by a major party in that election. Two of those candidates, Theodore Roosevelt and John C. Breckinridge, finished with the second-highest share of the electoral vote. Since 1796, just one independent candidate, Ross Perot, has accrued more than ten percent of the popular or electoral vote. One third-party candidate, Horace Greeley of the Liberal Republican Party, was nominated by a major party only after being nominated by a third party.

## List of unsuccessful candidates
### Major parties

* * indicates that the candidate served as the president of the United States at some other point in their career
* † indicates that the candidate won a majority or plurality of the popular vote
* ‡ indicates that the candidate won a plurality of the electoral vote
* PV% indicates the share of the popular vote won by that candidate
* EV% indicates the share of the electoral vote won by that candidate
Democratic-Republican       Federalist       National Republican       Whig       Liberal Republican       Democratic       Republican :
| Election | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Vote | Vote | Running mate | Defeated by |
| Election | Candidate (Birth–death) | Candidate (Birth–death) | Party | Party | Office at time of election | Home state | PV% | EV% | Running mate | Defeated by |
| 1796 | Thomas Jefferson* (1743–1826) | | Democratic-Republican | | Fmr. Secretary of State | VA | NR | 49.3% | Aaron Burr | John Adams |
| 1800 | John Adams* (1735–1826) | | Federalist | | President | MA | NR | 47.1% | Charles C. Pinckney | Thomas Jefferson |
| 1804 | Charles C. Pinckney (1746–1825) | | Federalist | | Fmr. Ambassador | SC | NR | 8% | Rufus King | Thomas Jefferson |
| 1808 | Charles C. Pinckney (1746–1825) | | Federalist | | Fmr. Ambassador | SC | NR | 26.7% | Rufus King | James Madison |
| 1812 | DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828) | | Democratic-Republican and Federalist | | Lieutenant Governor and Mayor | NY | NR | 40.8% | Jared Ingersoll | James Madison |
| 1816 | Rufus King (1755–1827) | | Federalist | | Senator | NY | NR | 15.4% | John E. Howard | James Monroe |
| 1824 | Andrew Jackson* (1767–1845) | | Democratic-Republican | | Senator | TN | 41.4%† | 37.9%‡ | John C. Calhoun | John Quincy Adams |
| 1824 | William H. Crawford (1772–1834) | | Democratic-Republican | | Secretary of the Treasury | GA | 11.2% | 15.7% | Nathaniel Macon | John Quincy Adams |
| 1824 | Henry Clay (1777–1852) | | Democratic-Republican | | Speaker of the House | KY | 13.0% | 14.2% | Nathan Sanford | John Quincy Adams |
| 1828 | John Quincy Adams* (1767–1848) | | National Republican | | President | MA | 43.7% | 31.8% | Richard Rush | Andrew Jackson |
| 1832 | Henry Clay (1777–1852) | | National Republican | | Senator | KY | 36.7% | 17.1% | John Sergeant | Andrew Jackson |
| 1836 | William Henry Harrison* (1773–1841) | | Whig | | Fmr. Senator | OH | 36.6% | 24.8% | Francis Granger | Martin Van Buren |
| 1836 | Hugh Lawson White (1773–1840) | | Whig | | Senator | TN | 9.7% | 8.8% | John Tyler | Martin Van Buren |
| 1840 | Martin Van Buren* (1782–1862) | | Democratic | | President | NY | 46.9% | 20.4% | Richard M. Johnson | William Henry Harrison |
| 1844 | Henry Clay (1777–1852) | | Whig | | Fmr. Senator | KY | 48.1% | 38.2% | Theodore Frelinghuysen | James K. Polk |
| 1848 | Lewis Cass (1782–1866) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Senator | MI | 42.5% | 43.8% | William O. Butler | Zachary Taylor |
| 1852 | Winfield Scott (1786–1866) | | Whig | | Major General | NJ | 43.9% | 14.2% | William A. Graham | Franklin Pierce |
| 1856 | John C. Frémont (1813–1890) | | Republican | | Fmr. Senator | CA | 33.1% | 38.5% | William L. Dayton | James Buchanan |
| 1860 | Stephen A. Douglas (1813–1861) | | Democratic | | Senator | IL | 29.5% | 4% | Herschel V. Johnson | Abraham Lincoln |
| 1864 | George B. McClellan (1826–1885) | | Democratic | | Major General | NJ | 45.0% | 9% | George H. Pendleton | Abraham Lincoln |
| 1868 | Horatio Seymour (1810–1886) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Governor | NY | 47.3% | 27.2% | Francis Preston Blair Jr. | Ulysses S. Grant |
| 1872 | Horace Greeley (1811–1872) | | Liberal Republican and Democratic | | Fmr. Representative | NY | 43.8% | 18.8% | Benjamin Gratz Brown | Ulysses S. Grant |
| 1876 | Samuel J. Tilden (1814–1886) | | Democratic | | Governor | NY | 50.9%† | 49.9% | Thomas A. Hendricks | Rutherford B. Hayes |
| 1880 | Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–1886) | | Democratic | | Major General | PA | 48.2% | 42% | William H. English | James A. Garfield |
| 1884 | James G. Blaine (1830–1893) | | Republican | | Fmr. Secretary of State | ME | 48.3% | 45.4% | John A. Logan | Grover Cleveland |
| 1888 | Grover Cleveland* (1837–1908) | | Democratic | | President | NY | 48.7%† | 41.9% | Allen G. Thurman | Benjamin Harrison |
| 1892 | Benjamin Harrison* (1833–1901) | | Republican | | President | IN | 43.0% | 32.7% | Whitelaw Reid | Grover Cleveland |
| 1896 | William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Representative | NE | 46.7% | 39.4% | Arthur Sewall | William McKinley |
| 1900 | William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Representative | NE | 45.5% | 34.7% | Adlai Stevenson I | William McKinley |
| 1904 | Alton B. Parker (1852–1926) | | Democratic | | Fmr. state judge | NY | 37.6% | 29.4% | Henry G. Davis | Theodore Roosevelt |
| 1908 | William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Representative | NE | 43.0% | 33.5% | John W. Kern | William Howard Taft |
| 1912 | William Howard Taft* (1857–1930) | | Republican | | President | OH | 23.2% | 1.5% | James S. Sherman | Woodrow Wilson |
| 1916 | Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) | | Republican | | Fmr. Associate Justice | NY | 46.1% | 47.8% | Charles W. Fairbanks | Woodrow Wilson |
| 1920 | James M. Cox (1870–1957) | | Democratic | | Governor | OH | 34.1% | 23.9% | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Warren G. Harding |
| 1924 | John W. Davis (1873–1955) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Ambassador | WV | 28.8% | 25.6% | Charles W. Bryan | Calvin Coolidge |
| 1928 | Al Smith (1873–1944) | | Democratic | | Governor | NY | 40.8% | 16.4% | Joseph T. Robinson | Herbert Hoover |
| 1932 | Herbert Hoover* (1874–1964) | | Republican | | President | CA | 39.7% | 11.1% | Charles Curtis | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 1936 | Alf Landon (1887–1987) | | Republican | | Governor | KS | 36.5% | 1.5% | Frank Knox | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 1940 | Wendell Willkie (1892–1944) | | Republican | | None | NY | 44.8% | 15.4% | Charles L. McNary | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 1944 | Thomas E. Dewey (1902–1971) | | Republican | | Governor | NY | 45.9% | 18.6% | John W. Bricker | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 1948 | Thomas E. Dewey (1902–1971) | | Republican | | Governor | NY | 45.1% | 35.6% | Earl Warren | Harry S. Truman |
| 1952 | Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) | | Democratic | | Governor | IL | 44.3% | 16.8% | John Sparkman | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 1956 | Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Governor | IL | 42.0% | 13.7% | Estes Kefauver | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 1960 | Richard Nixon* (1913–1994) | | Republican | | Vice President | CA | 49.6% | 40.8% | Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. | John F. Kennedy |
| 1964 | Barry Goldwater (1909–1998) | | Republican | | Senator | AZ | 38.5% | 9.7% | William E. Miller | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 1968 | Hubert Humphrey (1911–1978) | | Democratic | | Vice President | MN | 42.7% | 35.5% | Edmund Muskie | Richard Nixon |
| 1972 | George McGovern (1922–2012) | | Democratic | | Senator | SD | 37.5% | 3.2% | Sargent Shriver | Richard Nixon |
| 1976 | Gerald Ford* (1913–2006) | | Republican | | President | MI | 48.0% | 44.6% | Bob Dole | Jimmy Carter |
| 1980 | Jimmy Carter* (1924–2024) | | Democratic | | President | GA | 41.0% | 9.1% | Walter Mondale | Ronald Reagan |
| 1984 | Walter Mondale (1928–2021) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Vice President | MN | 40.6% | 2.4% | Geraldine Ferraro | Ronald Reagan |
| 1988 | Michael Dukakis (born 1933) | | Democratic | | Governor | MA | 45.7% | 20.6% | Lloyd Bentsen | George H. W. Bush |
| 1992 | George H. W. Bush* (1924–2018) | | Republican | | President | TX | 37.5% | 31.2% | Dan Quayle | Bill Clinton |
| 1996 | Bob Dole (1923–2021) | | Republican | | Fmr. Senator | KS | 40.7% | 29.6% | Jack Kemp | Bill Clinton |
| 2000 | Al Gore (born 1948) | | Democratic | | Vice President | TN | 48.4%† | 49.4% | Joe Lieberman | George W. Bush |
| 2004 | John Kerry (born 1943) | | Democratic | | Senator | MA | 48.3% | 46.7% | John Edwards | George W. Bush |
| 2008 | John McCain (1936–2018) | | Republican | | Senator | AZ | 45.6% | 32.2% | Sarah Palin | Barack Obama |
| 2012 | Mitt Romney (born 1947) | | Republican | | Fmr. Governor | MA | 47.2% | 38.3% | Paul Ryan | Barack Obama |
| 2016 | Hillary Clinton (born 1947) | | Democratic | | Fmr. Secretary of State | NY | 48.2%† | 42.2% | Tim Kaine | Donald Trump |
| 2020 | Donald Trump* (born 1946) | | Republican | | President | FL | 46.8% | 43.1% | Mike Pence | Joe Biden |
| 2024 | Kamala Harris (born 1964) | | Democratic | | Vice President | CA | 48.4% | 42% | Tim Walz | Donald Trump |

### Major third parties and independents

These third-party and independent candidates won at least ten percent of the electoral vote or at least ten percent of the popular vote.
* * indicates that the candidate served as the president of the United States at some point in their career
* † indicates that the candidate finished with the second highest share of the popular vote
* ‡ indicates that the candidate finished with the second highest share of the electoral vote
* PV% indicates the share of the popular vote won by that candidate
* EV% indicates the share of the electoral vote won by that candidate
Free Soil       American       Southern Democratic       Constitutional Union        Progressive (1912)       Progressive (1924)       American Independent       Independent :
| Election | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Candidate | Vote | Vote | Running mate |
| Election | Candidate (Birth–death) | Candidate (Birth–death) | Party | Party | Office at time of election | Home state | PV% | EV% | Running mate |
| 1848 | Martin Van Buren* (1782–1862) | | Free Soil | | Fmr. President | NY | 10.1% | 0% | Charles F. Adams Sr. |
| 1856 | Millard Fillmore* (1800–1874) | | American | | Fmr. President | NY | 21.5% | 2.7% | Andrew J. Donelson |
| 1860 | John C. Breckinridge (1821–1875) | | Southern Democratic | | Vice President | KY | 18.2% | 23.8%‡ | Joseph Lane |
| 1860 | John Bell (1796–1869) | | Constitutional Union | | Fmr. Senator | TN | 12.6% | 12.9% | Edward Everett |
| 1912 | Theodore Roosevelt* (1858–1919) | | Progressive | | Fmr. President | NY | 27.4%† | 16.6%‡ | Hiram Johnson |
| 1924 | Robert La Follette (1855–1925) | | Progressive | | Senator | WI | 16.6% | 2.4% | Burton K. Wheeler |
| 1968 | George Wallace (1919–1998) | | American Independent | | Fmr. Governor | AL | 13.5% | 8.6% | Curtis LeMay |
| 1992 | Ross Perot (1930–2019) | | Independent | | None | TX | 18.9% | 0% | James Stockdale |