Talk Elections

Looking at every single election they ever ran in. I'm pretty sure it's Nixon right?

1946 (Congressional): 65,586
1948 (Congressional): 141,509
1950 (Senate): 2,183,454
(1952 (Vice President): 34,075,529) Not sure if VP votes should count?
(1956 (Vice President): 35,579,180)
1960 (President): 34,108,157 (+4,975,938 in the primaries)
1962 (Governor): 2,740,351
1968 (President): 31,783,783 (+1,679,443 in the primaries)
1972 (President): 47,168,710 (+5,378,704 in the primaries)

Total: 130,225,635 (or 199,880,344 if we count VP votes)

I suppose I should also add votes won in the Republican primaries for House, Senate and Governor. Probably wouldn't change things by more than a few hundred thousand though.

Second place would be Barack Obama I think:

2004 (Senate): 3,597,456 (+655,923 in the primary)
2008 (President): 69,498,516 (+17,584,692 in the primaries)
2012 (President): 65,915,796 (+6,158,064 in the primaries)

Total: 163,410,447 (+ a few hundred thousand from Illinois state senate elections)

So Obama is first if you don't count VP votes for Nixon, second if you do.

The only other candidate I can think of that might be in contention is Reagan.

1966 (Governor): 3,742,913 (+1,417,623 in the primary)
1968 (President): 1,696,632 in the primaries
1970 (Governor): 3,439,174 (No primary?)
1976 (President): 4,760,222 in the primaries
1980 (President): 43,903,230 (+7,709,793 in the primaries)
1984 (President): 54,455,472 (+6,484,987 in the primaries)

Total: 111,996,643

Doesn't really come close. I wonder who won the most votes without ever becoming president? Mondale must be the answer if you count VP votes. But otherwise, I'm not sure.

I think third place is FDR. He nets about 118,000,000 from his four presidential victories, his four Democratic primary victories and his 2 victories as New York governor (this excludes the 9,000,000 votes from his failed run as VP with Cox against Harding in 1920)

Yeah, FDR just edges out Reagan it looks like. I underestimated just how many votes you could get winning four landslides in the 30s and 40s.

And if you do count VP votes, then it looks like George H.W. Bush actually comes in second, beating Obama.

1964 (Senate): 1,134,337 (+62,985 in primary and +49,751 in runoff)
1966 (House): 53,756
1968 (House): 110,455
1970 (Senate): 1,035,794 (+96,806 in the primary)
1980 (Vice President): 43,903,230 (+3,070,033 in the primaries)
1984 (Vice President): 54,455,472
1988 (President): 48,886,097 (+8,253,512 in the primaries)
1992 (President): 39,104,550 (+9,199,463 in the primaries)

Total: 191,962,546 (but only 93 million if you don't count VP votes)

How many votes did LaGuardia and Daley rack up all those years as mayors? Are there any sites to find out? They won't beat a Presidential candidate but it'd be interesting to see who ended up with more.

I added up Jerry Brown's totals from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Jerry_Brown as 37,709,873 general and primary votes. That has to be the most for a statewide official. I can't  think of anyone else who would come close. Nelson Rockefeller only adds up to 13,549,757.

NYC Mayors estimates is a tie

LaGuardia 3,769,000
Wagner 3,769,000
Dwyer 3,446,000
Giuliani 2,416,000
Bloomberg 2,082,000

Oh yeah, I didn't think of Jerry Brown. He's probably the highest to never be pres or VP>

Joe Biden has blown this record out of the water, counting every Delaware senate race, his three presidential primaries (although in one of them he received zero votes), and his VP and now presidential runs, I have him at 225,241,791 (with the 2020 PV count currently at 69,759,833 and climbing)

Biden really shouldn't count, since people don't vote for Pres/VP separately

For non-presidential candidates, I'd guess....Dianne Feinstein?

1971 (mayoral):  53,911
1975 (mayoral):  39,344
1979 (mayoral):  183,348*
1983 (mayoral):  117,489
1990 (gubernatorial):  1,361,360 (D primary)
1990 (gunernatorial):  3,525,197
1992 (senate):  1,775,124 (D primary)
1992 (senate):  5,853,651
1994 (senate):  1,635,837 (D primary)
1994 (senate):  3,979,152
2000 (senate):  3,759,560 (D primary)
2000 (senate):  5,932,522
2006 (senate):  2,176,888 (D primary)
2006 (senate):  5,076,289
2012 (senate):  10,257,446*
2018 (senate):  8,923,475*

Total:  54,650,593

*these races include runoff totals 

Now doing this for Jerry Brown:

1970 (statewide):  1,632,886 (D primary)
1970 (statewide):  3,234,788
1974 (gubernatorial):  1,085,752 (D primary)
1974 (gubernatorial):  3,131,648
1976 (presidential):  2,449,374 (D pri5mary)
1978 (gubernatorial):  2,567,067 (D primary)
1978 (gubernatorial):  3,878,812
1980 (presidential):  575,296 (D primary)
1982 (senate):  1,392,660 (D primary)
1982 (senate):  3,494,968
1992 (president):  4,071,232 (D primary)
1998 (mayoral):  48,129
2002 (mayoral):  42,892
2006 (statewide):  1,552,922 (D primary)
2006 (statewide):  4,756,184
2010 (gubernatorial):  2,021,189 (D primary)
2010 (gubernatorial):  5,428,149
2014 (gubernatorial):  6,743,137*

Total: 48,107,355 

*includes runoff totals

So Feinstein actually beats Brown by ~6 million votes, which is not something I was expecting

It's because some of her elections were in presidential years.