[88] The Democrats charged that, by running several candidates, the Whigs sought to prevent a Van Buren victory in the electoral college, and force the election into the House.[89] In any case the plan, if there was one, failed. In the end, Harrison came in second, and carried nine of the twenty-six states in the Union.[88][89][90]
Harrison ran in all the non-slave states except Massachusetts, and in the slave states of Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky. White ran in the remaining slave states except for South Carolina. Daniel Webster ran in Massachusetts, and Mangum in South Carolina.[91] Van Buren won the election with 170 electoral votes.[89] A swing of just over 4,000 votes in Pennsylvania would have given that state's 30 electoral votes to Harrison and the election would have been decided in the House of Representatives.[92][89][90]

1840 presidential campaign
Main article: William Henry Harrison 1840 presidential campaign
1840 Electoral Vote Map
Harrison faced incumbent Van Buren as the sole Whig candidate in the 1840 election. The Whigs saw in Harrison a born southerner and war hero, who would contrast well with the aloof, uncaring, and aristocratic Van Buren.