1844 United States presidential election

1844 United States presidential election

November 1 – December 1, 1844
275 members of the Electoral College 138 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	79.2% 1.1 pp
Nominee James K. Polk Henry Clay Party Democratic Whig Home state Tennessee Kentucky Running mate George M. Dallas Theodore Frelinghuysen Electoral vote 170 105 States carried 15 11 Popular vote 1,339,494 1,300,005 Percentage 49.54% 48.08%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Polk/Dallas and Yellow by Cass/Butler. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes cast by each state.
President before election John Tyler Independent Elected President James K. Polk Democratic

The 1844 United States presidential election was the 15th election in the history of the United States. It occurred from November 1 to December 1, 1844. This election was between the Democratic nominee, Governor and former Speaker of the House James K. Polk of Tennessee and the Whig nominee, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky. Polk won the election with 170 electoral votes. Clay got only 105 electoral votes.

This would be the last election to not occur on a single day

Nominees

Democratic Party

1844 Democratic Party ticket
James K. Polk	George M. Dallas
for President	for Vice President
13th Speaker of the House (1835-1839) 9th Governor of Tennessee (1839–1841)	U.S. Minister To Russia (1837–1839)

Presidential

• James K. Polk, 9th Governor of Tennessee (1839-1841) and 13th Speaker of the House (1835-1839) (Nominee)
• Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States (1837-1841)
• Lewis Cass, 15th United States Minister to France (1836-1842) (1848 Nominee)
• Richard M. Johnson, 9th Vice President of the United States (1837-1841)
• James Buchanan, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1856 Nominee) (Later became POTUS in 1857)
• John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the United States (1825-1832) and 16th Secretary of State (1844-1845)
• Levi Woodbury, 13th Secretary of the Treasury (1834-1841)
• Charles Stewart, Rear Admiral of the U.S. Navy (1798-1861)
• Marcus Morton, 16th & 18th Governor of Massachusetts (1825, 1840-1841, 1843-1844)

Vice Presidential

• George M. Dallas, United States Minister to Russia from Pennsylvania (1837-1839) (Vice presidential nominee)
• Silas Wright, U.S. senator from New York (1833-1844) (Vice presidential nominee, declined)
• John Fairfield, U.S. senator from Maine (1843-1847)
• Levi Woodbury, 13th Secretary of the Treasury (1834-1841)
• Lewis Cass, 15th United States Minister to France (1836-1842) (1848 Presidential Nominee)
• Richard M. Johnson, 9th Vice President of the United States (1837-1841)
• Charles Stewart, Rear Admiral of the U.S. Navy (1798-1861)
• William L. Marcy, 11th Governor of New York (1833-1838)

Whig Party

1844 Whig Party ticket
Henry Clay	Theodore Frelinghuysen
for President	for Vice President
7th Speaker of the House (1811–1814, 1815–1820, 1823–1825)	2nd Chancellor Of New York University (1839–1850)

Presidential

• Henry Clay, former U.S. senator from Kentucky (1806-1807, 1810-1811, 1831-1842) and 7th Speaker of the House (1811–1814, 1815–1820, 1823–1825) (Nominee) (1832 National Republican Nominee) (1824 Democratic-Republican Nominee)

Vice Presidential

• Theodore Frelinghuysen, 2nd Chancellor of New York University (1839-1850), 2nd Mayor of Newark (1838-1839), and former U.S. senator from New Jersey (1829-1835) (Vice presidential nominee)
• John Davis, 14th & 17th Governor of Massachusetts (1834-1835, 1841-1843) and former U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1835-1841)
• Millard Fillmore, former Congressman from New York (1833-1835, 1837-1843) (1848 Vice Presidential Nominee) (Later became POTUS in 1850)
• John Sargeant, U.S. representative from Pennsylvania (1821-1829, 1831-1835, 1843-1849) (Clay's running mate in 1832 under the National Republican ticket)
• John M. Clayton, former U.S. senator from Delaware (1829-1836)
• John McLean, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from Ohio (1841–1861)
• George Evans, U.S. senator from Maine (1841-1849)