House Members Who Received Electoral College Votes
Since 1789, 84 individual Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have received at least one Electoral College vote in the race for President or Vice President. The following charts identify these individuals and the office they sought. While many other House Members have organized presidential campaigns, either for a major party or independently, these charts note only those Members whose candidacies led to Electoral College votes.
Early in the republic, House Members frequently campaigned for or were rewarded with places on presidential tickets. The 1824 election featured three former, current, and future Representatives all running and receiving Electoral College votes for President, culminating in an indecisive election that was sent to the House of Representatives. Each candidate ran as a Democratic-Republican and received sharply divided regional support, resulting in the controversial House compromise in 1825.
House Members running on presidential tickets declined with the rise of the Senate in the 1840s and 1850s, then narrowed further with the crystallization of the two-party structure in the 1870s. Over time, voters placed an increasing importance on governance over legislating experience in the nation’s highest office, and as a result, many more candidates were likely to be former governors or military leaders rather than legislators. However, the House of Representatives remains a fertile ground for future presidential and vice-presidential candidates, as the accompanying charts demonstrate.