Presidents not listed did not lose any races before winning the White House. Although prior to the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 senators were selected by state legislators, earlier failed campaigns for Senate seats—such as two waged by Abraham Lincoln, noted below—are included here even though they were not direct popular elections.
- Thomas Jefferson
Lost president, 1796 - James Madison
Lost VA legislative election, 1777
Lost Senate, 1788 - James Monroe
Lost House, 1789
Lost Democratic-Republican presidential nomination, 1808 - John Quincy Adams
Served in Senate, but removed by Massachusetts legislature in 1808 - Andrew Jackson
Lost presidency, 1824 - William Henry Harrison
Lost OH governor, two Senate seats and a House seat between 1820-1822
Lost presidency as part of regional Whig ticket, 1836 - John Tyler
Lost vice presidency as part of regional Whig ticket, 1836 - James K. Polk
Lost TN governor, 1841 and 1843 - Millard Fillmore
Lost NY governor, 1844 - James Buchanan
Lost House race, 1816
Lost presidential bids in 1844, 1848 and 1852 - Abraham Lincoln
Lost IL legislative race, 1832
Lost Whig nomination for House race, 1843
Lost Senate, 1855 and 1858 - Andrew Johnson
Lost reelection to TN legislature, 1837 - Rutherford B. Hayes
Lost House, 1872 - Grover Cleveland
Lost NY district attorney election, 1865
Lost presidential reelection bid in 1888; won presidency in 1892 - Benjamin Harrison
Lost Republican nomination for governor, 1872
Lost IN governor, 1876
Lost Senate, 1879
Lost reelection to Senate, 1887 - William McKinley
Lost reelection as OH county prosecutor, 1871
Lost reelection to House, 1882 and 1890 (he regained the seat in 1884 election and held it until 1890) - Theodore Roosevelt
Lost New York City mayoral race, 1886 - Warren G. Harding
Lost OH county auditor, 1892
Lost governor, 1910 - Calvin Coolidge
Lost MA Northampton School Board, 1905 - Herbert Hoover
Lost CA GOP primary for president, 1920. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Lost Senate primary, 1914
Lost presidential election as VP nominee, 1920 - Harry Truman
Lost MO county court, 1924 - John F. Kennedy
Lost Democratic nomination for vice president in open convention vote, 1956 - Lyndon Johnson
Lost special Democratic Senate primary, 1941
Lost Democratic presidential nomination, 1960 - Richard Nixon
Lost president, 1960
Lost governor, 1962 - Jimmy Carter
Lost GA governor primary, 1966 - Ronald Reagan
Lost GOP presidential nomination, 1968
Lost GOP presidential nomination, 1976 - George H.W. Bush
Lost Senate, 1964
Lost Senate, 1970
Lost GOP presidential nomination, 1980 - Bill Clinton
Lost House, 1974
Lost AR gubernatorial reelection bid, 1980 - George W. Bush
Lost House, 1978 - Barack Obama
Lost Democratic House primary, 2000