John McCain

★ U.S. Senator

Born: August 29, 1936
Died: August 25, 2018
Age at death: 81
Home state: Arizona
Party: Republican
On the ballot: 1982–2016

Career timeline

1982Rep 1984Rep 1986Sen 1992Sen 1998Sen 2004Sen

2008Pres 2010Sen 2016Sen

8-1

RecordWin–Loss

Total Popular Votes

McCain66.1M

Opponents74.4M

Total Electoral Votes

McCain173

Opponents365

Elections run

Between 1982 and 2016, John McCain ran in 9 elections across 3 offices (U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and President), winning 8 and losing 1. McCain's biggest single-election total was 59,948,323 votes, in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. McCain's closest win came in the 1982 U.S. House election in Arizona's District 1, decided by 47,855 votes.

Browse every U.S. Senate election in Arizona, every U.S. presidential election, or every U.S. House race in Arizona's District 1.

How many votes has John McCain received?

John McCain has received 66,059,933 popular votes across 9 U.S. elections, with a career record of 8–1, plus 173 electoral votes.

Election history

John McCain’s election history
Year	Office	Result	Votes	Opponent(s)
2016	U.S. SenateArizona	Won	1,359,26753.71%	Ann Kirkpatrick Gary Swing Sydney Dudikoff Leonard Clark Anthony Camboni
2010	U.S. SenateArizona	Won	1,005,61558.86%	Rodney Glassman David F. Nolan Jerry Joslyn
2008	Presidentwith Sarah Palin	Lost	59,948,323 (45.7%)173 EV	Barack Obama Ralph Nader Bob Barr
2004	U.S. SenateArizona	Won	1,505,37276.74%	Stuart Starky Ernest Hancock
1998	U.S. SenateArizona	Won	696,57768.74%	Ed Ranger John C. Zajac Bob Park
1992	U.S. SenateArizona	Won	771,39555.82%	Claire Sargent Evan Mecham Kiana Delamare Ed Finkelstein
1986	U.S. SenateArizona	Won	521,85060.47%	Richard Kimball
1984	U.S. HouseArizona	Won	162,41878.08%	Harry W. Braun III
1982	U.S. HouseArizona	Won	89,11665.9%	William E. Bill Hegarty Richard K. Dodge

Identity & sources. Identity verified against the Congressional Bioguide (M000303) and Wikidata (Q10390). Election results come from official certified totals and the MIT Election Data and Science Lab; see methodology.

Cite this profile. PolitiFinder, “John McCain: election history & vote totals.” https://politifinder.com/p/john-mccain. Accessed [date].

Compiled by PolitiFinder. Election results from official certified sources and the MIT Election Lab. See Data & sources and methodology. Data last verified July 28, 2026.