# U.S. Politics history question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-politics-history-question/551547>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 26, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-politics-history-question/551547 "2010-08-26T16:16:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-politics-history-question/551547/1 "2010-08-26T16:16:46Z")

</div>

I’m watching the re-runs of _West Wing_ on Bravo and in the last season there is a whole new election process as the Bartlett presidency runs out. In the series, a third term Congressman, Matt Santos, beats out the incumbent Vice President to become to Democratic candidate (and ultimately, the President).

Has it ever happened that an incumbent has been shut-out by someone within his own party for the Presidency?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-politics-history-question/551547/2 "2010-08-26T17:27:24Z")

</div>

[This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=574680&highlight=incumbent) from 10 days ago details incumbents defeated for the nomination of their own party.

On Vice Presidents running for the top slot, it’s even more weird. The elder Adams in 1800, Van Buren in 1836, and the elder Bush in 1988 were the only ones to move from incumbent VP to President-Elect, AFAICT. Nixon in 1960, Humphrey in 1968, and Gore in 2000 were I think the only ones to run for the Presidency as incumbent VPs and lose.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-politics-history-question/551547/3 "2010-08-26T18:12:10Z")

</div>

Thanks - I hadn’t read through that thread…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-politics-history-question/551547/4 "2010-08-26T21:06:00Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> On Vice Presidents running for the top slot, it’s even more weird. The elder Adams in 1800, Van Buren in 1836, and the elder Bush in 1988 were the only ones to move from incumbent VP to President-Elect, AFAICT. Nixon in 1960, Humphrey in 1968, and Gore in 2000 were I think the only ones to run for the Presidency as incumbent VPs and lose.

I’d say the West Wing scenario was closer to what happened with Alben Barkley in 1952. He was an incumbent Vice President who failed to get his own party’s nomination (Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson was the Democratic nominee).