This list lists achievements and distinctions of various presidential candidates. It does not include the accomplishments of vice presidential candidates nor distinctions achieved during presidencies, with the exception of those that directly relate to presidential elections. Records concerning party nominations go back to 1796, the first time that political parties nominated presidential tickets.^[1] Records concerning the national popular vote only go back to the 1824 election, when the national popular vote began to be officially recorded.^[2] Certain other records are noted as going back to the 1804 ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, which made significant alterations to the process of presidential elections.

1789

First victorious candidate to have served in the Continental Army: George Washington^[a]
First victorious candidate whose primary state of residence was in the Southern United States: George Washington^[4]

1796

First presidential nominee of the Federalist Party, and first Federalist to win a presidential election: John Adams^[b]
First major party candidate and first victorious candidate whose primary state of residence was in the Northeastern United States: John Adams^[4]
First presidential nominee of the Democratic-Republican Party: Thomas Jefferson^[b]
First recipient of a vote from a faithless elector: Thomas Jefferson^[6]

1800

First individuals to serve as the presidential nominee of a major party in two elections: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson^[c]

1808

First individual to win election during the presidency of another individual from the same party: James Madison^[d]

1812

First major party candidate to have served in the United States Senate: DeWitt Clinton^[e]

1816

First sitting U.S. senator and first sitting member of Congress to serve as a major party candidate: Rufus King^[f]

1824

First winning presidential candidate to not win a plurality of the national popular vote: John Quincy Adams^[11]
First victorious candidate with a spouse born outside of North America: John Quincy Adams^[g]
First losing presidential candidate to win a plurality of the national popular vote: Andrew Jackson^[11]

1828

First nominee of the Democratic Party, and first Democrat to win a presidential election: Andrew Jackson^[h]
First victorious candidate to have served in the United States Army after 1796: Andrew Jackson^[a]
First nominee of the National Republican Party: John Quincy Adams^[h]

1832

First individual nominated by a presidential nominating convention: William Wirt^[15]

1840

First major party nominee and first victorious candidate whose primary state of residence was in the Midwestern United States: William Henry Harrison^[4]
First presidential candidate to campaign with an official party platform: Martin Van Buren^[15]

1844

First dark horse candidate to win a major party's presidential nomination: James K. Polk^[15]^[16]^[17]
First sitting president to serve no more than one term and not win a major party's presidential nomination: John Tyler^[18]
First sitting president to be nominated by a third party: John Tyler^[i]

1848

First sitting president to serve no more than one term and decline to seek another term: James K. Polk^[20]
First major party nominee and first victorious candidate who had never previously held elective office: Zachary Taylor^[21]
First former president to run for president as a third party nominee: Martin Van Buren^[i]
First third party candidate to win at least ten percent of the national popular vote: Martin Van Buren^[11]

1856

First sitting, elected president to lose a bid for re-nomination: Franklin Pierce^[18]
First major party candidate whose primary state of residence was in the Western United States: John C. Frémont^[4]
First third party candidate to win at least twenty percent of the national popular vote: Millard Fillmore^[11]^[j]

1860

First Republican to win a presidential election: Abraham Lincoln^[28]
First victorious candidate born outside of the original thirteen states of the United States: Abraham Lincoln
First major party candidates that resided in the same home state: Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas
First victorious major party nominee to win less than 40 percent of the national popular vote: Abraham Lincoln^[11]
First third party candidate to finish second in the electoral vote: John C. Breckinridge^[k]
First third party nominee to win at least ten percent of the national popular vote, but finish fourth in the national popular vote: John Bell^[11]

1864

First individual from the Northern states to win two presidential elections: Abraham Lincoln^[34]

1872

First woman to run for president: Victoria Woodhull^[35]
First major party nominee to die before the official tallying of electoral votes: Horace Greeley^[15]^[l]

1876

First losing presidential candidate to win a majority of the popular vote: Samuel J. Tilden^[m]

1880

First individual to seek a third presidential term: Ulysses S. Grant^[37]

1884

First former mayor to win a presidential election: Grover Cleveland^[38]

1892

First individual to run on a major party ticket with three different running mates during their career: Grover Cleveland^[n]
First individual to win two presidential elections without winning a majority of the national popular vote: Grover Cleveland^[11]

1904

First individual to succeed to the presidency following the death or resignation of a predecessor, and then win election in his own right: Theodore Roosevelt^[40]
First African American to run for president: George Edwin Taylor^[41]

1912

First individual to win a presidential preference primary: Robert M. La Follette^[o]

1916

First Supreme Court justice to win a major party's presidential nomination: Charles Evans Hughes^[44]^[p]

1928

First Roman Catholic to be nominated for President of the United States by a major party: Al Smith^[45]^[46]
First victorious candidate born west of the Mississippi River: Herbert Hoover^[47]
First victorious candidate whose primary state of residence was in the Western United States: Herbert Hoover^[4]

1940

First major party nominee who had never held elective office, served as a Cabinet secretary, or held the rank of general: Wendell Willkie^[48]

1944

First major party nominee born in the 20th century: Thomas E. Dewey^[49]

1948

First individual to run for president in six elections: Norman Thomas^[15]

1960

First Roman Catholic to win a presidential election: John F. Kennedy^[50]
First individual who had served in the United States Navy to win a presidential election: John F. Kennedy^[51]
First African American to run for president in a major party primary: Frank R. Beckwith^[52]

1964

First woman to seek a major party's presidential nomination: Margaret Chase Smith^[35]

1972

First African-American woman to seek a major party's presidential nomination: Shirley Chisholm^[35]
First woman to seek the Democratic Party's presidential nomination: Shirley Chisholm^[35]

1980

First Latino American to seek a major party's presidential nomination: Ben Fernandez^[53]

1984

First African-American man to seek a major party's presidential nomination: Jesse Jackson^[54]
First woman to serve as a major party vice presidential nominee and vice presidential nominee for the Democratic Party: Geraldine Ferraro

1988

First woman to appear on the general election ballot of all fifty states: Lenora Fulani^[55]
First Greek American and Greek Orthodox to run for President: Michael Dukakis^[56]

1992

First independent candidate to win at least ten percent of the national popular vote: Ross Perot^[11]

2008

First African American major party presidential nominee and first African American to win a presidential election: Barack Obama^[57]
First victorious presidential candidate born outside of the Contiguous United States: Barack Obama^[q]
First major party presidential nominees born outside of the Contiguous United States: Barack Obama and John McCain^[q]
First Latino American to seek the Democratic Party's presidential nomination: Bill Richardson^[59]
First former First Lady to run for president: Hillary Clinton^[60]

2012

First member of LDS Church to serve as a major party presidential nominee: Mitt Romney^[61]
First openly gay candidate for president: Fred Karger^[62]^[63]

2016

First woman to serve as a major party's presidential nominee: Hillary Clinton^[35]
First women to receive electoral votes for president: Hillary Clinton^[64] and Faith Spotted Eagle^[65]
First woman to win the popular vote in a presidential election: Hillary Clinton^[66]
First Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary contest: Bernie Sanders^[67]
First Jewish candidate to receive electoral college votes for president: Bernie Sanders^[65]
First Native American to receive electoral college votes for president: Faith Spotted Eagle^[65]
First Latino American to win a presidential primary contest: Ted Cruz^[12]
First Cuban American to win a presidential primary contest: Marco Rubio
First Indian American candidate to seek a major party's presidential nomination: Bobby Jindal^[68]

2020

First openly gay candidate to win a major party's presidential primary contest: Pete Buttigieg^[69]
First Hindu and millennial candidate to seek a major party's presidential nomination: Tulsi Gabbard^[70]

Notes

^ ^a ^b The modern United States Army traces its origins to the Continental Army, but did not become known as the United States Army until 1796. Washington had served in the Continental Army prior to the 1789 election, but did not serve in the United States Army until 1798.^[3]
^ ^a ^b In the 1796 election, the Democratic-Republicans may or may not have officially nominated Jefferson for president through a congressional nominating caucus, but Jefferson was widely regarded as the party's main presidential candidate. The Democratic-Republicans did not select an official vice presidential candidate, though Aaron Burr finished with the second-most electoral votes among individuals affiliated with the party. The Federalists informally nominated Adams for president and Thomas Pinckney for vice president.^[5]
^ In the 1800 election, the Democratic-Republican congressional nominating caucus nominated Thomas Jefferson for president and Aaron Burr for vice president. The Federalist congressional nominating caucus nominated a ticket of Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Though the party did not officially nominate either candidate for president or vice president, most Federalists favored Adams for president and Pinckney for vice president.^[5]
^ President George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, and Federalist John Adams won election during Washington's presidency. However, Washington remained officially non-partisan during his entire presidency.^[7]^{[page needed]}
^ Clinton was a Northern Democratic-Republican who challenged the incumbent Democratic-Republican president, James Madison, in the general election.^[8] Clinton was nominated for president by a legislative caucus of New York Democratic-Republicans, and much of his support came from Democratic-Republicans dissatisfied with Madison's leadership in the War of 1812. The Federalist Party did not officially nominate Clinton, but most Federalist leaders tacitly supported Clinton's candidacy, making him the de facto Federalist candidate in the election.^[9]
^ The Federalists did not nominate a ticket in 1816, though some Federalists were elected to serve as presidential electors. A majority of the Federalist electors cast their presidential vote for King, making him the de facto Federalist candidate.^[10]
^ Adams's wife, Louisa Adams, was born in Great Britain.^[12]
^ ^a ^b The Democratic-Republican Party split into two factions during the 1820s, and these factions eventually coalesced into the Democratic Party and the National Republican Party. There is not a clear founding date for the Democratic Party or the National Republican Party, but Jackson is generally considered to be the founder of the Democratic Party^[13] and supporters of Adams labeled themselves as the National Republicans during his presidency.^[14]
^ ^a ^b In 1844, John Tyler's followers formed a short-lived third party that nominated him for president. Before the election took place, Tyler dropped out of the race and endorsed Democrat James K. Polk.^[19] In 1848, Martin Van Buren became the first individual who had served as president to run for president on a third party ticket and not drop out before the election.
^ In 1856, the American Party, along with a rump convention of Whigs, nominated a presidential ticket led by former President Millard Fillmore.^[22] By 1856, neither the Republican Party nor the American Party had truly supplanted the Whig Party as the second major political party in the United States.^[23] Nonetheless, the American Party is frequently described as a third party.^[24]^[25]^[26] After the 1856 election, the Republican Party firmly established itself as one of the two major parties alongside the Democratic Party, while the American Party collapsed.^[27]
^ The Democratic Party fractured along sectional lines in 1860 and held multiple national conventions. The Northern Democrats nominated Douglas and the Southern Democrats nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge.^[29]^[30] Many sources include Breckinridge as a third party candidate,^[31]^[32] but other sources do not.^[33]^[2]
^ The electoral votes that Greeley would have won had he lived were distributed among several candidates, including Thomas A. Hendricks and Greeley's running mate, Benjamin Gratz Brown.
^ Though other losing candidates have won a plurality of the national popular vote, Tilden is the only candidate in American history to lose a presidential election despite receiving a majority of the national popular vote.^[36]
^ Cleveland ran with Thomas A. Hendricks in 1884, Allen G. Thurman in 1888, and Adlai Stevenson I in 1892. Henry Clay had previously run for president three times, but he was not on a major party ticket in 1824 and may not have had an official running mate in that election (though Nathan Sanford served as his de facto running mate).^[39]
^ North Dakota held the first ever contested presidential primary on March 19, 1912. La Follette defeated President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt in that primary contest.^[42]^[43]
^ William Howard Taft also served on the Supreme Court, but did so only after winning the Republican presidential nomination in the elections of 1908 and 1912. Other individuals who served on the Supreme Court, including John Jay, have won electoral votes.
^ ^a ^b Obama was born in Hawaii and McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone.^[58] Numerous earlier presidential candidates were born in parts of British America that later became part of the United States.

References

Works cited

Akers, Charles W. (2002). "John Adams". In Graff, Henry (ed.). The Presidents: A Reference History (7th ed.). New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 23–38. ISBN 0-684-80551-0.
Brands, Henry William (1997), TR: The Last Romantic (full biography), New York: Basic Books, ISBN 978-0-465-06958-3, OCLC 36954615
Burner, David (1996) [1979]. Herbert Hoover: The Public Life. Easton Press. Originally published as Burner, David (1979). Herbert Hoover: The Public Life. Knopf Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-394-46134-2.
Cooper, John Milton Jr. (2009). Woodrow Wilson. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307273017.
Deskins, Donald Richard; Walton, Hanes; Puckett, Sherman (2010). Presidential Elections, 1789–2008: County, State, and National Mapping of Election Data. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472116973.
Faber, Richard B.; Bedford, Elizabeth A. (2008). Domestic Programs of the American Presidents: A Critical Evaluation. McFarland. ISBN 9780786431830.
Gienapp, William E. (1985). "Nativism and the Creation of a Republican Majority in the North before the Civil War". The Journal of American History. 72 (3): 529–555. doi:10.2307/1904303. JSTOR 1904303. S2CID 159570266.
Hicks, John D. (1933). "The Third Party Tradition in American Politics". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 20 (1): 3–28. doi:10.2307/1902325. JSTOR 1902325.
Holt, Michael F. (2010). Franklin Pierce. Times Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-8719-2.
McPherson, James M. (1988). Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199743902.
Morgan, William G. (1969). "The Origin and Development of the Congressional Nominating Caucus". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 113 (2): 184–196. JSTOR 985965.
Remini, Robert V. (2002). John Quincy Adams. New York: Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-6939-9.
Rosenstone, Steven J.; Behr, Roy L.; Lazarus, Edward H. (2018). Third Parties in America: Citizen Response to Major Party Failure (2nd ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691190525.
Simon, James F. (2012). FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1416573289.
Smith, Richard Norton. Thomas E. Dewey and His Times. Simon & Schuster, (1982)
Smith, Elbert B. (1975). The Presidency of James Buchanan. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0132-5.
Theisen, Lee Scott (1971). "James K. Polk, Not So Dark a Horse". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 30 (4): 383–401. JSTOR 42623261.

Lists related to the presidents and vice presidents of the United States

Presidents

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Personal life	Age Ancestry Autobiographies Burial places Coats of arms Death in office Education Facial hair Families first ladies children Firsts Freemasons Home state Left-handed Multilingualism Net worth Nicknames Pets Religious affiliation Residences Scouts Slave owners Vacations
Depictions and honors	Actor portrayals fictional Currency Educational institutions Libraries Memorials in other countries Military vessels Portraits Sculptures U.S. counties U.S. postage stamps

Vice presidents

Succession

Elections

Candidates

Political affiliation	Democratic Democratic-Republican Federalist Green Libertarian National Republican / Whig Republican Third party / independent
Distinctions	African American Campaign slogans Female Firsts Height Lost their home state Number of votes received in primaries Received at least one electoral vote Unsuccessful major party presidential candidates Unsuccessful major party vice presidential candidates