A brief history of former presidents running for reelection: 3 losses, 1 win and 1 still TBD

By Graeme Mack, University of Richmond Theodore Roosevelt speaks during the Progressive campaign of 1912. AP Photo This year’s presidential election has a former president, Donald Trump, running for a nonconsecutive term. It’s the fifth time in U.S. history that’s happened. Historically, a former president running for a nonconsecutive term has prompted voters to change their party allegiances. In 1848, Martin Van Buren, a former Democratic president, ran as a candidate for the newly formed Free Soil Party and attracted many Northern Democrats who had grown disillusioned with their party’s pro-slavery stance. The Free Soil Party outperformed Democrats in three Northern states and enabled the other major party, the Whigs, to win the presidency. And in 1856, former Whig President Millard Fillmore headed the newly formed American Party, otherwise known as the Know-Nothing party. When faced with a choice between two candidates, Fillmore and Democrat James Buchanan, who both seemed deeply complicit with slavery’s expansion, many Northerners voted for the new antislavery Republican Party. Fillmore’s candidacy in 1856 made a Republican sweep of the North virtually impossible, ensuring victory for Buchanan, who only won 45% of the popular vote. Theodore Roosevelt’s run in 1912 also saw dramatic changes in voter...