DARK HOUSE CANDIDATES IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Dark Horse candidates represent a happy medium between all factions battling for the party nomination. In 1844 their intransigence enabled James K. Polk to be nominated as a Democrat, facing Whig candidate Henry Clas. The Barnburners, associated with New York Democrats, would rather burn down the barn with att the rats inside.

Unlike the favored frontrunners,dark horse candidates come out of the tumult of a chaotic national convention at a time other party factions are strong, but not strong enough to ensure the nomination of their man or woman. James K Polk was the first dark horse, promising to serve only one term. Polk was the political gesture that held together Jackson's followers against Henry Clay. Other dark horses included Franklin Pierce, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Warren Harding.

James K Polk entered the 1844 presidential race promising to annex Texas and settle the Oregon boundary dispute with Great Britain. A rabid expansionist, he vowed to acquire Mexico's western continental territories, completing what many believed was part of an American "Manifest Destiny." And he promised not to seek reelection.  

"General" Pierce was selected at a time the Democratic Party was fracturing following the Compromise of 1850. Unlike Polk, this dark horse failed to impact U.S. history - for good or ill, helping to postpone the inevitable crisis resulting in Civil War.  

Hayes, the third "dark horse," was the product of the "stolen election of 1876." Strong factions within the Republican Party, unable to agree on a candidate, selected Hayes in order to buy political time.  

Warren G. Harding was the last Dark Horse. A candidate to come out of the backroom bickering and negotiating, he was a notorious womanizer and drinker whose only positive act may have been eating bad fish while in California and ending his life. Yet This dark horse candidate is equated with America's "return to normalcy" after World War I. Harding died in office and is still considered one of the least effective presidents in U.S. History. 

 

Michael Streich - Former Adjunct Instructor, History & Global Studies Dark Horse Candidates in U.S. Presidential Elections