The history of Presidential Elections shows a total of 13 individuals who have been nominated more than twice for the White House.
Seven of these individuals ended up in the Presidency, and six others never made it to the White House.
This includes four nominees of third or minor parties who were on the ballot more than twice in a Presidential election.
The all time “champion” is Franklin D. Roosevelt, nominated and winning four times–1932, 1936, 1940, 1944–before the 22nd Amendment, ratified by 1951, prevented any future candidate to have more than two terms.
Thomas Jefferson was nominated for President in 1796, when he lost to John Adams but became his combative Vice President, and 1800 and 1804, when he twice won the Presidency.
Andrew Jackson was nominated for President in 1824, when he won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College to John Quincy Adams. Then, he won the Presidency in the next two elections, 1828 and 1832.
Martin Van Buren was nominated for and won the Presidency in 1836, but then lost the Election of 1840, and later ran as the third party Free Soil nominee in 1848.
Grover Cleveland won the Presidency in 1884, but although winning the popular vote in 1888, lost the Electoral College to Benjamin Harrison, but then came back and defeated Harrison in a rematch in 1892, making him the first of two Presidents to have nonconsecutive terms of office.
Richard Nixon lost the Presidential Election of 1960 to John F. Kennedy, but came back and won the Presidency in both 1968 and 1972.
Donald Trump won the Electoral College in 2016, despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, and then was defeated by Joe Biden in 2020. In 2024, although not winning a majority of the popular vote, he finally accomplished winning the popular vote edge over Kamala Harris, and is now serving his second nonconsecutive term, sharing that distinction with Grover Cleveland
Two major party nominees were nominated three times, but lost all those elections—Henry Clay in 1824, 1832, and 1844—and William Jennings Bryan in 1896, 1900, and 1908.
Two Socialist nominees were nominated and ran five and six times—Eugene Debs in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920—and Norman Thomas in
1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948.
Ralph Nader ran as either the Green Party candidate, or as an Independent, in four consecutive elections—1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008, with his impact being significant in the Presidential Election of 2000, in “throwing” the election in Florida to George W. Bush over Al Gore.
Jill Stein ran as the Green Party nominee three times, in 2012, 2016 and 2024.
Of the seven Presidents who were nominees more than twice, five of these Presidents were elected twice (Jefferson, Jackson, Cleveland, Nixon, and Trump) with Van Buren only winning once, and FDR being the lone exception of four times being elected, which now can never happen again in the future.