Candidate

John McCain

Republican

Elections

Won

Electoral votes, all elections

173

Years

2008

Record

John McCain: result of each presidential election
Year	Electoral votes	Popular vote	Result
2008	173 of 538	59,948,283 45.6%	Lost

Popular vote is the sum of the sourced state counts, shown only where every state that held a popular vote has one; sums from county returns (1868–1972) can run a few tenths of a point below national totals published elsewhere.

Electoral votesNational Archives, Electoral College results: 2008 (public domain, read 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled

SourceMIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. President 1976–2024 (CC0 1.0, retrieved 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled

Election by election

2008Republican · Lost

States carried · 22 of 51

Closest states won

Missouriby 3,903 · 0.1 pts
Montanaby 11,096 · 2.3 pts
Georgiaby 204,636 · 5.2 pts

Closest states lost

North CarolinaObama by 14,177 · 0.3 pts
IndianaObama by 28,391 · 1.0 pts
FloridaObama by 236,450 · 2.8 pts

Margins computed for 51 of 51 states: those with a sourced popular vote that names McCain.

SourceMIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. President 1976–2024 (CC0 1.0, retrieved 2026-10-03). How these figures were compiled

From the National Archives

Nebraska distributes its electoral votes proportionally, with two at-large electors representing the statewide winning presidential and vice presidential candidates and one elector each representing the winners from its three Congressional districts. For the first time since adopting this system, Nebraska's five electoral votes were split between the two major party tickets.

National Archives, Electoral College results for 2008, archives.gov, read October 3, 2026. Quoted as published.