Yes, Grant was promoted as a possible candidate during the 1880 Republican party nomination. Senator Roscoe Conkling and other so-called members of the Stalwart wing of the Republican Party advanced Grant as their candidate. The Stalwarts were named for their ardent opposition to many of the policies of President Rutherford B. Hayes (Grant’s successor as president) regarding Reconstruction. However, Grant lost the nomination to James A. Garfield on the thirtieth-sixth ballot by a vote of 399 to 306. Garfield later won the presidential election and became the country’s twentieth president.