House Members Who Became President
or Presidential Candidates*

Since 1789, 19 Presidents and 33 major presidential nominees served in the U.S. House of Representatives at some point in their career. This chart identifies these individuals, listing their dates of House service and party affiliation while in the House; and it includes the other major offices they held. In this chart, successful candidates for President are identified in bold.¹ Only in the case of John Quincy Adams (1824) did a President become a Representative after White House service.

Only Henry Clay (1824), James A. Garfield (1880), and John Anderson (1980) ran for President in the general election as sitting House Members. In Garfield’s case, the only successful instance of a sitting Representative becoming President, he had already been elected by the Ohio legislature to the U.S. Senate. Anderson ran as an independent challenger, and Clay’s candidacy predated the rise of the modern two-party system.

Oil on Canvas, Edwin Ahlstrom (after Jean-Baptiste-Adolphe Gibert), 2002, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

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Sixth President of the United States, John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives in 1831. He served nine terms in the House until his passing at the age of 81.

Election	Individual (House Service)	Other Service
2008	John S. McCain III, Republican of Arizona (1983-1987)	Senator from Arizona (1987-present)
2004	---	---
2000