About PolitiFinder
A career vote record for American politics.
PolitiFinder is a searchable database of U.S. elections. Look up any president, senator, or governor and you’ll see every election they ran in, who they beat or lost to, and their career total popular votes, the headline number that ties a whole career together. Open any race to compare the popular vote against the electoral college.
What we cover
- President. Every election, popular votes (1824–2024) and electoral votes (1789–2024).
- U.S. Senate. All 50 states, 1914–2024 (the popular-vote era).
- Governor. All 50 states, 1789–2025.
- U.S. House. All 50 states, 1788–2024, by district.
A career follows the person across offices, so someone who served in more than one role (a governor who became president, a representative who became a senator) shows a single combined vote total.
Where the numbers come from
We lead with the popular vote because it’s the most comparable figure across eras and offices. Presidential popular votes come from official certified totals (1976–2024) and official public returns for earlier years. Senate and House totals come from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab and the Constituency-Level Elections Archive. Governor totals are compiled from official state canvasses (via Wikipedia). Figures are reconciled across sources. Always verify against the primary source before citing in formal work. For the full standard and limitations, see our methodology page.
For teachers, journalists & researchers
PolitiFinder is built to be quoted. Teachers can start with the page for educators, which has classroom activities and a plain-language overview. A few ways anyone can use it:
- Check our sources. The data & sources page lists exactly what we cover and where every vote total comes from.
- Link to a person or a race. Every profile and election has a clean, permanent URL you can cite or hand to students.
- Start from the records & rankings. Biggest landslides, closest races, career popular-vote leaders, and the presidents who won while losing the popular vote. Each links back to the underlying contests.
- Cite us. Suggested form: “politifinder.com, accessed [date].”
Nonpartisan by design
PolitiFinder reports results, not opinions. There are no endorsements, no commentary, and no party framing, just the record of who ran and how the vote came in.
Who’s responsible
PolitiFinder is built and maintained by 137 Finder LLC, a Massachusetts company. It is edited to one standard: report the verifiable record, lead with the popular vote, and cite the source. Compiling the data, reconciling it across sources, and issuing corrections are the company’s editorial responsibility, set out in our editorial policy.
Part of the 137 Finder network
PolitiFinder is published by 137 Finder LLC. Other 137 Finder sites: JudicialFinder (the U.S. judiciary), GravityFinder (a relational explorer of the universe), TheFiscalFinder (federal spending: the agencies, contractors, and awards behind every dollar), and MoleculeFinder (the molecules behind everything).
Contact
Corrections, data questions, and press inquiries: support@politifinder.com. Spotted a number that looks off? Tell us. Accuracy is the whole point.