Fillmore assured his running mate that the electoral prospects for the ticket looked good, especially in the Northeast.[75]
In the end the Taylor-Fillmore ticket won narrowly, with New York's electoral votes again key to the election.[76] The Whig ticket won the popular vote by 1,361,393 (47.3%) to 1,223,460 (42.5%) and triumphed 163 to 127 in the Electoral College.[d] Minor party candidates took no electoral votes,[77] but the strength of the burgeoning anti-slavery movement was shown by the vote for Van Buren, who won no states but earned 291,501 votes (10.1%) and finished second in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts.[78]

Vice presidency (1849–1850)[edit]
Further information: Compromise of 1850
Fillmore photographed in 1849 by Mathew Brady
Fillmore was sworn in as vice president on March 5, 1849, in the Senate Chamber. Since March 4 (which was then Inauguration Day) fell on a Sunday, the swearing-in was postponed to the following day. Fillmore took the oath from Chief Justice Roger B. Taney and, in turn, swore in the senators beginning their terms, including Seward, who had been elected by the New York legislature in February.