Under the popular leadership of Andrew Jackson , the Democrats had established a stable party . The 1835 Democratic National Convention chose a ticket of Van Buren , Jackson 's handpicked successor , and Congressman Richard Mentor Johnson . By contrast , the Whigs had only recently emerged and were primarily united by opposition to Jackson . Not yet sufficiently organized to agree on a single candidate , Whigs hoped to compel a contingent election in the House of Representatives by denying the Democrats an electoral majority , similarly to the election of 1824 . Thus , the Whigs ran two main tickets . Most Northern and border state Whigs supported the ticket led by former Senator William Henry Harrison of Ohio , while most Southern Whigs supported the ticket led by Senator Hugh Lawson White of Tennessee . Two other Whigs , Daniel Webster and Willie Person Mangum , carried Massachusetts and South Carolina respectively on single-state tickets . The Whig strategy failed , as Van Buren won both an electoral majority and a popular majority , though in South Carolina no popular vote was held and the state legislature chose Whig electors . The Whig strategy nearly succeeded in forcing the contingent election , as in 1835 , a severe state-level Democratic Party split in Pennsylvania had propelled the Whig-aligned Anti-Masonic Party to statewide power . Party alignments by state in the House of Representatives suggest that a contingent election would have had an uncertain outcome , with Van Buren favored but no candidate enjoying a clear path to victory . However , Van Buren overcame the split , narrowly carrying Pennsylvania and winning the Presidency
1835 Democratic National Convention
1835 Democratic National Convention
1836 United States presidential election