1836 presidential election results. Blue denotes states won by Van Buren, Yellow
denotes states won by Harrison, purple denotes states won by White, coral pink denotes states won by Webster, and bluegrass green denotes states won by Mangum. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
In the presidential election, the Whigs ran multiple candidates designed to deny the Democratic candidate a majority of the electoral vote, and carried a scattering of states in the South, West, and Northeast. However, Democratic Vice President Martin Van Buren still took a majority of the popular and electoral vote, defeating Whig candidates William Henry Harrison of Ohio, Hugh Lawson White of Tennessee, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, and Willie Person Mangum of North Carolina.[4] Virginia's electors refused to vote for Richard Mentor Johnson, Van Buren's running mate, leaving Johnson short of a majority of electoral votes for vice president. The Senate elected Johnson in a contingent election, the only time the Senate has ever chosen the vice president. Van Buren was the last sitting vice president to win election as president until George H. W. Bush's election in 1988; this is also the most recent election in which a Democrat was elected to the U.S. presidency succeeding a Democrat who had served two terms as U.S. president.[5]
In the House, Whigs won moderate gains, but Democrats retained a solid majority in the chamber.[6]
In the Senate, Democrats gained many seats, boosting their majority.[7]
^Van Buren won by a popular vote margin of 14.2 percent over Harrison. He won by a popular vote margin of 1.7 percent over the combined popular vote total of all the Whig candidates.
