Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln

This is the electoral history of Abraham Lincoln. A member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Lincoln later served one term in the United States House of Representatives, lost election to the United States Senate, and became the 16th President of the United States.

Illinois House of Representatives

1832 - Lost
1834 - Won
1836 - Won
1838 - Won
1840 - Won

United States House of Representatives

See also: Illinois's 7th congressional district

1844 - Lost Whig Party nomination to Edward Dickinson Baker

Illinois's 7th congressional district general election, 1846
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Whig	Abraham Lincoln	6,340	55.53
	Democratic	Peter Cartwright	4,829	42.29
	Liberty	Elihu Walcott	249	2.18
Majority
	Whig hold

Illinois House of Representatives

1854 - Wins seat in Illinois House of Representatives, declines seat to focus on future candidacy for United States Senate

1855 Senate election

February 8, 1855

Note: At this time, U.S. Senators were elected by the state legislatures, not by popular vote of the people

Candidate	Round 1	...	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10
Lyman Trumbull, Democrat	5		?	?	35	51
Joel Matteson, Democrat	0		44	46	47	?
Abraham Lincoln, Whig	45		?	?	15	Withdrew
James Shields (inc.), Democrat	41		?	?	?	Withdrew

51 votes needed for election

     Candidate won that Round of voting

     Candidate withdrew

     Candidate won Senate seat

Note: Five anti-Nebraska Act Democrats voted for Trumbull rather than vote for Lincoln, a Whig. When pro-Nebraska Act Democrats were unable to reelect Shields, they switched their allegiance to Matteson, who had no stance on the Act. Lincoln then withdrew and threw his support to Trumbull, so that an anti-Nebraska candidate would be assured victory.

1856 Presidential election

See also: United States presidential election, 1856

Vice Presidential nomination for the Republican Party

• William Lewis Dayton: 523 (64.73%)
• Abraham Lincoln: 110 (13.61%)
• Nathaniel Prentice Banks: 46 (5.69%)
• David Wilmot: 43 (5.32%)
• Charles Sumner: 35 (4.33%)
• Jacob Collamer: 15 (1.86%)
• John Alsop King: 9 (1.11%)
• Samuel C. Pomeroy: 8 (0.99%)
• Thomas Ford: 7 (0.87%)
• Henry Charles Carey: 3 (0.37%)
• Cassius M. Clay: 3 (0.37%)
• Joshua R. Giddings: 2 (0.25%)
• Whitfield Johnson: 2 (0.25%)
• Aaron Pennington: 1 (0.12%)
• Henry Wilson: 1 (0.12%)

1858 Senate election

Note: At this time, U.S. Senators were elected by the state legislatures, not by popular vote of the people

United States Senate election in Illinois, 1858
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Stephen A. Douglas (inc.)	54	54.00
	Republican	Abraham Lincoln	46	46.00
Majority			8	8.00
	Democratic hold

1860 Presidential election

See also: United States presidential election, 1860

Republican Party nomination

Presidential Ballot

Nominee	Home State	1st	2nd	3rd	3rd "corrected"
Seward, William H.William H. Seward	New York	173.5	184.5	180	111.5
Lincoln, AbrahamAbraham Lincoln	Illinois	102	181	231.5	349
Cameron, SimonSimon Cameron	Pennsylvania	50.5	2	0	0
Chase, Salmon P.Salmon P. Chase	Ohio	49	42.5	24.5	2
Bates, EdwardEdward Bates	Missouri	48	35	22	0
Dayton, William L.William L. Dayton	New Jersey	14	10	1	1
McLean, JohnJohn McLean	Ohio	12	8	5	0.5
Collamer, JacobJacob Collamer	Vermont	10	0	-	-
Wade, Benjamin F.Benjamin F. Wade	Ohio	3	0	-	-
Read, John M.John M. Read	Pennsylvania	1	0	-	-
Sumner, CharlesCharles Sumner	Massachusetts	1	0	-	-
Fremont, John C.John C. Fremont	California	1	0	-	-
Clay, Cassius M.Cassius M. Clay	Kentucky	-	2	1	1

Upon seeing how close Lincoln was to the 233 votes needed after the third ballot, a delegate from Ohio switched 4 votes from Chase to Lincoln. This triggered an avalanche towards Lincoln with a final count of 364 votes out of 466 cast.

General election

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote(a)		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Pct		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Elect. vote
Abraham Lincoln	Republican	Illinois	1,865,908	39.8%	180	Hannibal Hamlin	Maine	180
John C. Breckinridge	Southern Democratic	Kentucky	848,019	18.1%	72	Joseph Lane	Oregon	72
John Bell	Constitutional Union/Whig	Tennessee	590,901	12.6%	39	Edward Everett	Massachusetts	39
Stephen A. Douglas	Northern Democratic	Illinois	1,380,202	29.5%	12	Herschel Vespasian Johnson	Georgia	12
Other			531	0.0%	—	Other		—
Total			4,685,561	100%	303			303
Needed to win					152			152

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1860 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).

^(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.

1864 presidential election

See also: United States presidential election, 1864

Republican Party nomination

Presidential Ballot
Ballot	1st Before Shifts	1st After Shifts
Abraham Lincoln	484	506
Ulysses S. Grant	22	0

General election

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote(a)		Electoral vote(a), (b)	Running mate
			Count	Pct		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Elect. vote(a), (b)
Abraham Lincoln	National Union(c)	Illinois	2,218,388	55.0%	212	Andrew Johnson(c)	Tennessee	212
George Brinton McClellan	Democratic	New Jersey	1,812,807	45.0%	21	George Hunt Pendleton	Ohio	21
Other			692	0.0%	—	Other		—
Total			4,031,887	100%	233			233
Needed to win					117			117

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1864 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005). ^(a) The states in rebellion did not participate in the election of 1864.
^(b) One Elector from Nevada did not vote
^(c) Andrew Johnson had been a Democrat, and after 1869 was a Democrat. The Republican Party called itself the National Union Party to accommodate the War Democrats in this election.