Winning statewide after losing

[JMT]

I thought of this after seeing some comments in the FL-Sen thread. Can you think of examples of candidates who ran for a smaller office and lost, and then ran successfully statewide? One would think it would be harder to win statewide after failing at a smaller office, and this makes sense, but I was curious if there were candidates out there who managed to pull this off. One example I can think of is Maggie Hassan, who lost reelection for her state senate seat in 2010 and then successfully ran for governor two years later.

[Ebsy]

Heitkamp and McCaskill both lost Gubernatorial elections and went on to win Senate seats.

[Heisenberg]

Heitkamp and McCaskill both lost Gubernatorial elections and went on to win Senate seats.

Those were statewide elections, too. Interesting thread subject. Barack Obama unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for IL-01 in 2000, the successfully won the Senate race in 2004, and later, the presidency.

[heatcharger]

In the famous Warner-Warner VA senate race in 1996, Mark Warner lost to unbeatable titan John Warner 52%-47%, then came back and won the Governor election in 2001 and then won John Warner's old seat in 2008 by whooping Jim Gilmore.

John Thune lost the 2002 SD senate race by 524 votes, then came back two years later and beat the Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, and then in 2010 Democrats didn't even try.

Jeanne Shaheen lost to John Sununu in the 2002 NH senate race, won the rematch in 2008.

Charlie Baker ran for Governor of Mass. in 2010, lost to Deval Patrick, was given an absolute gift by getting to run against Martha Coakley, won the mansion in 2014, and is now the most popular governor in America.

Those are the examples I could think of immediately.

[BuckeyeNut]

So, my comment sparked this thread.

I think running statewide, losing, and then running statewide again is different than someone losing a run for the State House and then running for Governor. JMT brought up Hassan in the FL thread, and in the OP here, but that's also at least somewhat different. Hassan may have lost her State Senate seat in '10, but she had at least won her Senate seat.

This DeRenzo guy in Florida couldn't even make it into the State House.

[Higgs]

Does Matt Bevin count?

[Mr.Phips]

Dianne Feinstein lost the governor's race in 1990 before winning the Senate race in 1992.

[JMT]

Does Matt Bevin count?

Sure! We could also bring up examples of candidates who lost statewide then won statewide

[RogueBeaver]

Evan Mecham, Asa Hutchinson, Pete Wilson, Charlie Crist, Pat Quinn, Bobby Jindal, Bob Casey, Bill Walker, Scott Walker. Dunno how to classify Lowell Weicker.

[JoeyJoeJoe]

There's also Maria Cantwell (lost WA-1 in 1994), Bill Clinton (AR-3 in 1974), George W. Bush (TX-19 in 1978), Joe Heck (lost his State Senate seat in 2008), Joe Lieberman (CT-3 in 1980), Frank Keating (OK-1 in 1984), Christopher Bond (MO-9 in 1968), John Ashcroft (MO-7 primary in 1972), and Mike Kriedler (WA-9 in  1994), to name a few others.

[JMT]

He never won or even ran statewide (to my knowledge), but Kerry Bentivolio lost a race for a lower office (Michigan State Senate) in 2010, then won election to Congress in 2012. 

[Miles]

Mary Landrieu was a close third in the LA Governor primary in 1995 and was elected to the Senate in 1996 (which also featured a very competitive jungle primary).

Similar with Susan Collins; she was third in the ME Gov race in 1994, the bounced back in 1996 to win her Senate seat.

Even Huey Long lost his first Gubernatorial primary in 1924 before winning in 1928.

Then there's the two more recent examples of Pat McCrory and Bobby Jindal. They were actually really similar. Both lost close races to the first female Governors of their state, then were elected easily after the women they beat retired after one term.

[NerdyBohemian]

Schweitzer ran for senate in 2000 and lost. Then he ran for governor in 2004 and won.

[Miles]

I didn't realize that no one has mentioned Bernie Sanders.

He ran 6 times for federal/statewide office before winning his House seat in 1990 (and had a very close race in 1994).

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Imagine a Democrat from New York is on a ticket that loses New York by 38 points. Some great home state advantage there. Now imagine that said Democrat manages to get elected President 4 times. I know, too crazy to be real.

Lincoln and Nixon both lost their previous race before winning as President. Well, as much as you can be considered to lose a Senate race pre 17th amendment.

[JMT]

Just thought of another example: Larry Hogan. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress twice (in 1981 and and 1992), then was elected Governor in 2014.