Most U.S. vice presidents in recent decades have sought the presidency, but relatively few have won

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Al Gore, Bill Clinton’s second-in-command, was the Democratic nominee. Gore won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College and conceded to George W. Bush.

Vice President Kamala Harris has launched her bid for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. While most U.S. vice presidents in recent decades have sought the presidency, relatively few of them have won.

Overall, 29 of the 49 people who have served as vice president since the country’s founding have gone on to formally seek a party’s presidential nomination, either immediately after leaving the vice presidency or in the years that followed. Ten of these 29 vice presidents – about a third – have been elected to the nation’s top political office.

Until the 1930s, it was less common for the vice president to seek the presidency. Many returned to a lower elected office or retired after serving as vice president. Still, earlier well-known presidents including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt had previously served as vice president.

Among modern vice presidents, running for the top job has become more of the norm. Starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term in 1933, 15 of 18 vice presidents have launched presidential campaigns of their own after serving in the deputy role. But only five of these 15 emerged victorious: Democrats Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Joe Biden, and Republicans Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush.

Two of these five modern vice presidents-turned-presidents initially took office after incumbent presidents died and they subsequently ran for election at the top of the ticket:Three modern vice presidents have won their party’s nomination but lost the general election.

In 1948, FDR’s third-term vice president, Henry Wallace, was the Progressive Party nominee. Jimmy Carter’s vice president, Walter Mondale, secured the 1984 Democratic nomination. And in 2000, Al Gore, Bill Clinton’s second-in-command, was the Democratic nominee. Gore won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College and conceded to George W. Bush.

Will Kamala Harris stop the migration of the Latino vote to the Republicans?