[154] Tyler used his vast presidential patronage power,[154] and formed a third party, the National Democratic, with the officeholders and political networks he had built over the previous year. Multiple supportive newspapers across the country issued editorials promoting his candidacy throughout the early months of 1844. Reports of meetings held throughout the country suggest that support for the president was not limited to officeholders, as is widely assumed. Just as the Democratic Party was holding its presidential nomination in Baltimore, Maryland, the Tyler supporters, in that very city, were holding signs reading "Tyler and Texas!", and with their own high visibility and energy, they gave Tyler their nomination. His new Democratic-Republican Party renominated Tyler for the presidency on May 27, 1844.[155] However, Tyler's party was loosely organized, failed to nominate a Vice President, and had no platform.[156]
Regular Democrats were forced to call for annexation of Texas in their platform, but there was a bitter battle for the presidential nomination. Ballot after ballot, Van Buren failed to win the necessary super-majority of Democratic votes, and slowly fell in the rankings. 