Ever tried to win a bar trivia night by guessing the number of Democratic commanders-in-chief? It’s harder than it looks. Most people just start counting backwards from Joe Biden and eventually get tangled up in the 1800s when the party names sounded like a word salad.
So, here is the short answer. There have been 16 Democratic presidents in U.S. history.
That number might sound lower than you'd expect, especially since the Democratic Party is often called the world's oldest active political party. But the road from Andrew Jackson to the modern era is full of weird gaps, one-term wonders, and a guy who was actually a Democrat but ran on a different ticket entirely. Politics is messy. Always has been.
How Many Democrat Presidents Have There Been Since the Beginning?
To understand the count, you have to know where the starting line is. We don't count Thomas Jefferson or James Madison. Even though they founded something called the "Democratic-Republican Party," historians generally treat that as a separate beast.
The modern Democratic Party—the one with the donkey and the big conventions—really kicked off with Andrew Jackson in 1828. Before him, the "Era of Good Feelings" basically saw one party running everything until it imploded. Jackson was the firebrand who picked up the pieces.
Since Jackson took the oath in 1829, 16 men have held the office under the Democratic banner. Here is how they stack up across the centuries:
- The Jacksonian Era: Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
- The Pre-Civil War Years: James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan.
- The Reconstruction Outlier: Andrew Johnson.
- The Gilded Age: Grover Cleveland (the only guy to count as two different presidencies, but still just one human being).
- The Progressive & World War Era: Woodrow Wilson.
- The New Deal & Cold War Giants: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
- The Modern Era: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.
The Andrew Johnson Conundrum
You might see some lists skip Andrew Johnson. Why? Because he didn't run as a Democrat in 1864. He was a "War Democrat" from Tennessee who joined Abraham Lincoln (a Republican) on a "National Union Party" ticket to show unity during the Civil War. When Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson took over. He was a Democrat at heart—and a pretty controversial one—but his time in the White House was technically under that temporary Union label. Most historians, including the folks at the White House Historical Association, still put him in the Democratic column because he never actually became a Republican.
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The First Democratic President: Old Hickory’s Revolution
Andrew Jackson wasn't just the first; he was a total wrecking ball. He felt the 1824 election was stolen from him in a "corrupt bargain" when John Quincy Adams won despite Jackson having more popular votes. Jackson spent the next four years building a grassroots machine.
He basically invented the modern campaign.
When he finally won in 1828, he opened the White House to the "common man." It got so rowdy that people were literally climbing through windows to get a drink, and Jackson had to escape to a hotel to avoid being crushed by his own fans. That was the birth of the party. It was messy, populist, and focused on breaking the power of the elites in Washington.
The Successors and the Slide Toward War
After Jackson, the party had a decent run but hit a wall. James K. Polk was a workaholic who added a massive amount of territory to the U.S., including California and the Southwest. He promised to only serve one term and actually kept his word, then died three months after leaving office. Talk about commitment.
Then things got dark. Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan are usually ranked near the bottom of presidential lists. They struggled to deal with the slavery crisis. Buchanan, in particular, is often blamed for sitting on his hands while the country drifted toward the Civil War. By the time he left in 1861, the Democratic Party was fractured, and the newly formed Republican Party under Lincoln took the reins for a long, long time.
The Long Dry Spell and the Grover Cleveland Anomaly
For a huge chunk of the late 1800s, Democrats couldn't catch a break. Between 1860 and 1912, only one Democrat managed to win the White House: Grover Cleveland.
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Cleveland is a trivia legend. He won in 1884, lost the Electoral College in 1888 (despite winning the popular vote), and then came back to win again in 1892. Because his terms weren't consecutive, he is officially the 22nd and 24th president. This is why Joe Biden is called the 46th president even though only 45 people have actually held the job. Cleveland basically broke the numbering system.
The 20th Century: From New Deals to Great Societies
The 1900s flipped the script. Woodrow Wilson broke the Republican streak in 1912, largely because the GOP split in half between William Howard Taft and Teddy Roosevelt. Wilson led the U.S. through WWI and tried to set up the League of Nations, but his health failed him at the end.
Then came the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) didn't just win; he dominated. He’s the only president ever elected four times. He fundamentally changed what it meant to be a Democrat, shifting the party toward big government programs and the social safety net we know today.
His successor, Harry Truman, had to follow that act while ending WWII and starting the Cold War. Truman’s 1948 win is still one of the biggest upsets in history—the newspapers literally printed "Dewey Defeats Truman" before the votes were all counted.
The Sixties and Beyond
The 1960s gave us the "Camelot" era of JFK and the "Great Society" of LBJ. This was a turning point. When Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, he famously told an aide that the Democrats had "delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come." He was right. The map of who votes for which party flipped almost overnight.
Since then, Democratic wins have been more spaced out.
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- Jimmy Carter won as an outsider after the Watergate scandal.
- Bill Clinton brought the party back to the center in the 90s.
- Barack Obama made history as the first Black president.
- Joe Biden took office in 2021 during a global pandemic.
Why Does the Count Matter?
Knowing there have been 16 Democrat presidents helps you see the cycles of American power. It’s not a 50/50 split. The Republicans have had more presidents (19) largely because they dominated the post-Civil War era. The Whigs, the Federalists, and even the "Democratic-Republicans" all took their turns before the current two-party system locked in.
Honestly, the party of Andrew Jackson would barely recognize the party of Joe Biden. The issues shifted from "hard money" and "manifest destiny" to "healthcare" and "climate change." But the name on the ticket has stayed the same for nearly 200 years.
Practical Takeaways for Your Next History Debate
If you're talking politics and someone asks about the Democratic track record, remember these three things to sound like the smartest person in the room:
- Count the people, not the terms. There have been 16 Democrats, but Grover Cleveland counts as two "presidencies" (22 and 24).
- Don't forget the "War Democrat." Andrew Johnson is the wildcard. He was a Democrat on a fusion ticket, but he’s usually included in the total of 16.
- The 1828 Divide. Always distinguish between "Democratic-Republicans" (like Jefferson) and "Democrats" (starting with Jackson). They aren't the same thing, even if the names are confusingly similar.
Next time you see a list of presidents, look at the gaps. You'll see how the Democrats often win in times of massive social change or economic crisis, while Republicans often hold the wheel during periods of industrial growth or post-war stability. It’s a pattern that has defined the U.S. for two centuries.
Actionable Insight: To get a deeper look at how these 16 men shaped the country, check out the official archives at WhiteHouse.gov or the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. They provide the most granular breakdown of party affiliations and the specific policy shifts that occurred under each Democratic administration.