The Harrison family

The only grandfather and grandson to both be elected president of the United States.
Ohio · Indiana · President · Governor · House
Combined career popular votes
12,653,126
Combined electoral votes
685
Members on the ballot
2
Combined W–L
3–3
Years on the ballot
1816–1892

William Henry Harrison won the presidency in 1840 (and died a month into his term). Forty-eight years later his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, a former Civil War general from Indiana, won the White House in 1888, making the Harrisons the only grandfather-grandson pair of presidents in American history.

The Harrison family members, ranked by career popular votes
MemberOfficesYearsCareer popular votesRecord
Benjamin HarrisonRPresident · Governor1876–189210,824,04112
William Henry HarrisonWPresident · House1816–18401,829,08521

How this is measured

Combined career popular votes are summed across the 2 family members we track, each counted once across every presidential, U.S. Senate, governor, and U.S. House election in our data. Family membership is hand-curated and verified against primary sources, never matched by surname alone, so unrelated namesakes are never folded in. A vote for a presidential ticket counts for both the president and the vice-presidential candidate, matching how each profile reports its own totals.

Compiled by PolitiFinder · published June 14, 2026 · sources: Data & sources.