1876 United States presidential election

1876 United States presidential election

November 7, 1876
369 members of the Electoral College 185 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	82.6% 10.5 pp
Nominee Rutherford B. Hayes Samuel J. Tilden Party Republican Democratic Home state Ohio New York Running mate William A. Wheeler Thomas A. Hendricks Electoral vote 185 184 States carried 21 17 Popular vote 4,034,142 4,286,808 Percentage 47.9% 50.9%
Presidential election results map. Red denotes those won by Hayes/Wheeler, blue denotes states won by Tilden/Hendricks. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election Ulysses S. Grant Republican Elected President Rutherford B. Hayes Republican

The 1876 United States presidential election was the 24th election in the history of the United States. It occurred on November 7, 1876. This election was between Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio and Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York.

Garfield won the election in the closest margin in U.S History, securing 185 electoral votes, while Hancock got 184 electoral votes, 1 less than needed to win. Its resolution involved negotiations between the two major parties (Republicans and Democrats) resulting in the Compromise of 1877, and on March 2, 1877, the House and Senate counted the electoral votes and confirmed Hayes as President-Elect. It was the second of five U.S. presidential elections in which the winner did not win a plurality of the national popular vote (the first since 1824).

Candidates

Nominee

Republican Party (United States) Republican Party Ticket, 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes	William A. Wheeler
for President	for Vice President
29th and 32nd Governor of Ohio(1861-1863; 1869-1877)	Congressman from New York(1861-1863; 1869-1877)

Runners-up

• James G. Blaine, former Speaker of the House (1869-1875) and Congressman from Maine (1863-1876)
• Benjamin Bristow, Secretary of the Treasury (1874-1876) and former Solicitor General of the United States from Kentucky (1870-1872)
• Oliver P. Morton, Senator from Indiana (1867-1877)
• Roscoe Conkling, Senator from New York (1867-1881)
• John F. Hartranft, Governor of Pennsylvania (1873-1879)
• Marshall Jewell, Postmaster General of the United States (1874-1876)

Vice-presidential

• William A. Wheeler, Congressman from New York (1861-1863; 1869-1877) (Vice-Presidential Nominee)
• Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Senator of New Jersey (1866-1869; 1871-1877) (Nephew of Theodore Frelinghuysen; 1844 Whig VP Nominee)
• Marshall Jewell, Postmaster General of the United States (1874-1876)
• Stewart L. Woodford, former Congressman of New York's 3rd Congressional District (1873-1874) (Declined)
• Joseph R. Hawley, Senator from Connecticut (1881-1905)

Nominee

Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party Ticket, 1876
Samuel J. Tilden	Thomas A. Hendricks
for President	for Vice President
25th Governor of New York(1875–1876)	25th Governor of Indiana(1873–1877)

Withdrawn candidates

• Thomas A. Hendricks, former Governor of Indiana (1873-1877) (Vice-Presidential Nominee)
• Winfield Scott Hancock, Major General of the United States Army (1866-1886)
• William Allen, former Governor of Ohio (1874-1876)
• Thomas F. Bayard, Senator of Delaware (1869-1885)
• Joel Parker, former Governor of New Jersey (1869-1885)

Vice-presidential nominee

• Thomas A. Hendricks, former Governor of Indiana (1873-1877) (Vice-Presidential Nominee)