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

The United States has had a two-party system for much of its history, and the two major parties have nominated vice presidential candidates in most presidential elections. Since the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1789, there have been 59 unsuccessful major party candidates for Vice President of the United States. Eight other individuals have served as the main running mate to a third party or independent presidential candidate who won at least ten percent of the popular or electoral vote.

Prior to the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, each member of the Electoral College cast two votes for president; whichever individual who won the most electoral votes would become president, while the individual with the second-most electoral votes would become vice president. In the elections of 1792, 1796, and 1800, at least one of the major parties ran a candidate whom they intended to elect vice president. The Twelfth Amendment changed the presidential election process, requiring members of the Electoral College to cast separate votes for president and vice president. Since then, the two major parties have almost always nominated a ticket consisting of a single presidential candidate and a single vice presidential candidate. Before the election of 1832, both major parties used a congressional nominating caucus, or nominations by state legislatures, to determine presidential and vice presidential candidates. Since 1840, each major party has consistently nominated a single ticket at their respective presidential nominating conventions.

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. In the 1872 presidential election, the Liberal Republican Party put forward an unsuccessful major party vice presidential nominee, Benjamin Gratz Brown. Brown and his running mate, Horace Greeley, were also nominated by the Democratic Party.

List of unsuccessful major party candidates

These unsuccessful vice presidential candidates served as the main running mate of a major party presidential candidate who competed in multiple states, or they were a major party's main vice presidential candidate in multiple states.

  • * indicates that the candidate served as Vice President of the United States at some point in their career
 Federalist      Democratic-Republican      National Republican      Whig      Liberal Republican      Democratic      Republican
Election Candidate Running mate
Candidate
(Birth–death)
Party Office at time
of election
Home
state
EV%
1792 George Clinton*
(1739–1812)
George Clinton by Ezra Ames (cropped 4x3 closein).jpg Democratic-Republican   Governor NY 37% None
1796 Thomas Pinckney
(1750–1828)
Thomas Pinckney (cropped 3x4).jpg Federalist   Fmr. Ambassador SC 43.7% John Adams
Aaron Burr*
(1756–1836)
Burr (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic-Republican   Senator NY 22.2% Thomas Jefferson
1800 Charles C. Pinckney
(1746–1825)
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Federalist   Fmr. Ambassador SC 36.4% John Adams
1804 Rufus King
(1755–1827)
Unsuccessful 1816.jpg Federalist   Fmr. Ambassador NY 8% Charles C. Pinckney
1808 26.7%
1812 Jared Ingersoll
(1749–1822)
Jared Ingersoll (cropped 3x4).jpg Federalist   State attorney general PA 39.4% DeWitt Clinton
1816 John E. Howard
(1752–1827)
Johneagerhoward (cropped).jpg Federalist   Fmr. Senator MD 10% Rufus King
1824 Nathan Sanford
(1777–1838)
NathanSanford (cropped 3x4).JPG Democratic-Republican   State judge NY 11.5% Henry Clay
Nathaniel Macon
(1757–1837)
NC-Congress-NathanielMacon (cropped 3x4).jpg Senator GA 9.2% William H. Crawford
1828 Richard Rush
(1780–1859)
Richard Rush engraving (cropped 3x4).png National Republican   Secretary of the Treasury PA 31.8% John Quincy Adams
1832 John Sergeant
1779–1852
JohnSergeant (cropped 3x4).png National Republican   Fmr. Representative PA 17.1% Henry Clay
1836 Francis Granger
(1792–1868)
Francis Granger (cropped 3x4).jpg Whig   Representative NY 26.2% William Henry Harrison
John Tyler*
(1790–1862)
John Tyler (cropped 3x4).png Fmr. Senator VA 16% Hugh Lawson White
1840 Richard M. Johnson*
(1780–1850)
Richard Mentor Johnson A29919 (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Vice President KY 16.3% Martin Van Buren
1844 Theodore Frelinghuysen
(1787–1862)
Theodore Frelinghuysen - Brady-Handy (3x4 cropped).jpg Whig   Fmr. Senator NJ 38.2% Henry Clay
1848 William O. Butler
(1791–1880)
WilliamOButler (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Representative KY 43.8% Lewis Cass
1852 William A. Graham
(1804–1875)
William Alexander Graham - Brady-Handy (cropped 3x4).jpg Whig   Secretary of the Navy NC 14.2% Winfield Scott
1856 William L. Dayton
(1807–1864)
WLDayton-1856 (cropped 3x4).png Republican   Fmr. Senator NJ 38.5% John C. Frémont
1860 Herschel V. Johnson
(1812–1880)
HerschelVespasianJohnson.png Democratic   Fmr. Governor GA 4% Stephen A. Douglas
1864 George H. Pendleton
(1825–1889)
GeorgeHPendleton (cropped 3x4).png Democratic   Representative OH 9% George B. McClellan
1868 Francis P. Blair Jr.
(1821–1875)
Francis P. Blair cph.3a02329 (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Representative MO 25.2% Horatio Seymour
1872 Benjamin G. Brown
(1826–1885)
B. Gratz Brown - Brady-Handy (cropped 3x4).jpg Liberal Republican
and Democratic
  Governor MO 13.4% Horace Greeley
1876 Thomas A. Hendricks*
(1819–1885)
Thomas Andrews Hendricks (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Governor IN 49.9% Samuel Tilden
1880 William H. English
(1822–1896)
WHEnglish photo (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Representative IN 42% Winfield Scott Hancock
1884 John A. Logan
(1826–1886)
John Alexander Logan crop.jpg Republican   Senator IL 45.4% James G. Blaine
1888 Allen G. Thurman
(1813–1895)
Allen G. Thurman - Brady-Handy (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Senator OH 41.9% Grover Cleveland
1892 Whitelaw Reid
(1837–1912)
Whitelaw Reid by Rockwood (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Fmr. Ambassador NY 32.7% Benjamin Harrison
1896 Arthur Sewall
(1835–1900)
ArthurSewall (cropped 3x4).png Democratic   None ME 33.3% William Jennings Bryan
1900 Adlai Stevenson I*
(1835–1914)
Adlai Stevenson I by Saroney c1892 (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Vice President IL 34.7%
1904 Henry G. Davis
(1823–1916)
Henry Gassaway Davis Crop (cropped closein 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Senator WV 29.4% Alton B. Parker
1908 John W. Kern
(1849–1917)
JohnWKern.jpg Democratic   Fmr. state senator IN 33.5% William Jennings Bryan
1912 James S. Sherman*
(1855–1912)
James Schoolcraft Sherman.jpg Republican   Vice President NY 1.5% William Howard Taft
1916 Charles W. Fairbanks*
(1852–1918)
Charles W Fairbanks by Harris & Ewing (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Fmr. Vice President IN 47.8% Charles Evans Hughes
1920 Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1882–1945)
Roosevelt20 (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Assistant
Secretary of the Navy
NY 23.9% James M. Cox
1924 Charles W. Bryan
(1867–1945)
CharlesBryan.png Democratic   Governor NE 25.6% John W. Davis
1928 Joseph T. Robinson
(1872–1937)
AR Joseph Robinson (3x4).jpg Democratic   Senator AR 16.4% Al Smith
1932 Charles Curtis*
(1860–1936)
Charles Curtis-portrait (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Vice President KS 11.1% Herbert Hoover
1936 Frank Knox
(1874–1944)
FrankKnox c1943 g399009 (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   None IL 1.5% Alf Landon
1940 Charles L. McNary
(1874–1944)
Charles Linza McNary cph.3b18950 (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Senator OR 15.4% Wendell Willkie
1944 John W. Bricker
(1893–1986)
John W. Bricker cph.3b31299 (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Governor OH 18.6% Thomas E. Dewey
1948 Earl Warren
(1891–1974)
Earl Warren Portrait, half figure, seated, facing front, as Governor (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Governor CA 35.6%
1952 John Sparkman
(1899–1985)
Alabama Sen. John Sparkman (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Senator AL 16.8% Adlai Stevenson II
1956 Estes Kefauver
(1903–1963)
SenatorKefauver(D-TN) (3x4).jpg Democratic   Senator TN 13.7%
1960 Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
(1902–1985)
Cabot Lodge (1964) (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Fmr. Ambassador MA 40.8% Richard Nixon
1964 William E. Miller
(1914–1983)
Representative William E. Miller (cropped 3x4).png Republican   Representative NY 9.7% Barry Goldwater
1968 Edmund Muskie
(1914–1996)
Edmund Muskie (1).jpg Democratic   Senator ME 35.5% Hubert Humphrey
1972 Sargent Shriver
(1915–2011)
Sargent Shriver 1961 (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Fmr. Ambassador MD 3.2% George McGovern
1976 Bob Dole
(1923–2021)
Robert J. Dole (cropped2).jpg Republican   Senator KS 44.8% Gerald Ford
1980 Walter Mondale*
(1928–2021)
Unsuccessful 1984.jpg Democratic   Vice President MN 9.1% Jimmy Carter
1984 Geraldine Ferraro
(1935–2011)
GERALDINE FERRARO.jpg Democratic   Representative NY 2.4% Walter Mondale
1988 Lloyd Bentsen
(1921–2006)
LloydBentsen (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Senator TX 20.6% Michael Dukakis
1992 Dan Quayle*
(born 1947)
Dan Quayle (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Vice President IN 31.2% George H. W. Bush
1996 Jack Kemp
(1935–2009)
Jack Kemp official portrait (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Fmr. Secretary of HUD NY 29.6% Bob Dole
2000 Joe Lieberman
(born 1942)
Joe Lieberman official portrait 2 (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Senator CT 49.4% Al Gore
2004 John Edwards
(born 1953)
John Edwards, official Senate photo portrait.jpg Democratic   Senator NC 46.8% John Kerry
2008 Sarah Palin
(born 1964)
Sarah Palin by Gage Skidmore 2 (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Governor AK 32.2% John McCain
2012 Paul Ryan
(born 1970)
Paul Ryan official portrait (cropped 3x4).jpg Republican   Representative WI 38.3% Mitt Romney
2016 Tim Kaine
(born 1958)
Tim Kaine, official 113th Congress photo portrait (cropped 3x4).jpg Democratic   Senator VA 42.2% Hillary Clinton
2020 Mike Pence*
(born 1959)
Mike Pence official Vice Presidential portrait (cropped).jpg Republican   Vice President IN 43.1% Donald Trump

List of unsuccessful major third party and independent candidates

These third party and independent candidates won at least ten percent of the electoral vote for vice president, or served as the main running mate to a third party or independent presidential candidate who won at least ten percent of the popular vote for president.

 Free Soil      American      Southern Democratic      Constitutional Union
      Progressive (1912)      Progressive (1924)      American Independent      Independent
Election Candidate Running mate
Candidate
(Birth–death)
Party Office at time
of election
Home
state
EV%
1848 Charles Francis Adams Sr.
(1807–1886)
C. F. Adams - Warren. LCCN2013651550 (cropped closein 3x4).jpg Free Soil   Fmr. state senator MA 0% Martin Van Buren
1856 Andrew Jackson Donelson
(1800–1874)
Andrew J. Donelson portrait (cropped 3x4).jpg American   Fmr. Ambassador TN 2.7% Millard Fillmore
1860 Joseph Lane
(1801–1881)
Joseph Lane (cwpbh-02170) (cropped closein 3x4).jpg Southern Democratic   Senator OR 23.8% John C. Breckinridge
1860 Edward Everett
(1794–1865)
Edward Everett, 1794-1865, three-quarter length portrait, standing, facing left (cropped closein 3x4).jpg Constitutional Union   Fmr. Secretary of State MA 12.9% John Bell
1912 Hiram Johnson
(1866–1945)
Hiram Johnson 2 (cropped closein 3x4).jpg Progressive   Governor CA 16.6% Theodore Roosevelt
1924 Burton K. Wheeler
(1882–1975)
BurtonKWheeler.jpg Progressive   Senator MT 2.4% Robert La Follette
1968 Curtis LeMay
(1906–1990)
Curtis LeMay (USAF) (cropped closein 3x4).jpg American Independent   General CA 8.6% George Wallace
1992 James Stockdale
(1923–2005)
James Stockdale Formal Portrait (cropped closein 3x4).jpg Independent   Vice Admiral CA 0% Ross Perot

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-03-12 00:39 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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