This is a list of former United States Presidents who actively campaigned to regain political office (the presidency, a seat in congress or governor) after leaving office. It is believed to be complete.
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 | 1837–1841 | defeated in the General Election | 1844 | Lost | Failed in his attempt to win the nomination of the Democratic Party |
| 1848 | Lost | First candidate of the newly formed Free Soil Party | |||
| Millard Fillmore | 1850–1853 | denied nomination by his party | 1856 | Lost | Nominee for the American Party (Know Nothing) |
| Ulysses S. Grant | 1869–1877 | retired | 1880 | Lost | Failed in his attempt to win the nomination of the Republican Party |
| Grover Cleveland | 1885–1889 | defeated in the General Election | 1892 | Won | Only president to succeed at his comeback attempt, he won in 1892 and served four more years |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 1901–1909 | retired | 1912 | Lost | Nominee of the Progressive Party (Bull Moose), after he was denied the nomination of the Republican Party |
| Herbert Hoover | 1929–1933 | defeated in the General Election | 1940 | Lost | Failed in his attempt to win the nomination of the Republican Party |
| Gerald Ford | 1974–1977 | defeated in the General Election | 1980 | Lost | Withdrew after entering the Republican primaries. |
| President | Previous term | Reason first left office | Year of election | Office | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Quincy Adams | 1825–1829 | defeated in the General Election | 1830–1846 (9 elections) |
United States House of Representatives | Won | Only former President to serve in the House, served until his death |
| 1834 | Governor of Massachusetts | Lost | Continued in House after defeat | |||
| John Tyler | 1841–1845 | denied nomination by his party/withdrew from race | 1861 | Confederate House of Representatives | Won | Died before he could take office (had served in unelected Provisional Congress); only former President to ever run for an office outside the United States (the Union) |
| Andrew Johnson | 1865–1869 | denied nomination by his party | 1868 | United States Senate | Lost | Ran for the Senate while President. |
| 1872 | United States House of Representatives | Lost | ||||
| 1874 | United States Senate | Won | Only former President to serve in the Senate, served until his death |
| President | Previous term | Reason first left office | Year of appointment |
Office | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Howard Taft | 1909–1913 | defeated in the General Election | 1921 | Chief Justice of the United States | Confirmed | Only ex-President ever to serve on the Supreme Court, and only ex-President ever to be Chief Justice. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||